Hurriyya. That's the Arabic word for Freedom. Contrary to how it is usually portrayed in the mainstream media, the conflict in Palestine/Israel is ultimately a struggle for freedom, for justice, not an ethnic conflict.
A mix of events is making it clear that nonviolence direct action is gathering strength in Palestine. First by the growing attention of world leaders and people of conscience as to this important movement in Palestine.
Another sign, ironically, are the growing attempts at suppression by the Occupation Forces, that are trying, desperately and without success, to break the movement.
First a look at the visit last month by a group of "The Elders", a group put together by Nelson Mandela, that includes Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu and Former President Mary Robinson of Ireland (the last two both recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom awards by President Obama, much to the chagrin of anti-Human Rights right-wing groups) as they support a nonviolent protest in a Palestinian village of Bil'in, where Israel has built the wall that has taken most of their farmland.
The "Elders" not only consist of the distinguished folks named above, but also includes top businesspeople, including Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group, and Jeff Skoll, founding president of eBay. Its goal is to "support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity."
They were all in Palestine last month, and paid a visit to Bil'in, West Bank. (remember the name of that village, history is being made there). For those who are still not familiar with this village, it has had weekly protests since January 2005 against the illegal seizure of its land by Israel's Annexation Wall, that separates the farmers from much of their land. They face tear gas, rubber bullets, and sometimes live ammunition... but there is always a protest the next week, sometimes after the burial of a protester.
The Carters and Archbishop Tutu came to Bil’in together with their colleagues from The "Elders" delegation, former Brazilian president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former Norwegian prime minister Gro Brundtland, former Irish president and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, Indian human rights activist Ela Bhatt, and renowned businessmen Richard Branson and Jeff Skoll.
Former president Carter pointed to the land on the other side of the wall where the settlement of Modi’in Illit is being built: "This is not Israel; this is Palestine and settlements must be removed from Palestinian land so that justice will be restored in the area."
Desmond Tutu encouraged the Palestinian activists: "Just as a simple man named Ghandi led the successful non-violent struggle in India and simple people such as Rosa Parks led the struggle for civil rights in the United States, simple people here in Bil’in are leading a non-violent struggle that will bring them their freedom. The South Africa experience proves that injustice can be dismantled." here.
The attention of such a distinguished group bodes well for the future of Bil'in, and it is unlikely now that there will be any success by the Israeli authorities in attempting to smash this movement. It won't be for lack of trying, however.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. - Mahatma Gandhi.
They are definitely in "fight you" phase.
The Israeli military’s most recent attempt to crush Bil’in village’s ongoing popular non-violent resistance campaign against the Apartheid Wall is a wave of night raids and arrests targeting protesters and the leadership of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.
The recent raids began concurrently with the opening of a legal trial in Montreal. The village of Bil’in has taken two companies registered in Canada (Green Park International & Green Mount International) to court for participating in war crimes by building settlements on Bil’in’s land under the 2000 Canadian Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Statute (which incorporates both the articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute into Canadian federal law)....
Since the trail began Israeli forces have arrested 30 people (most of which are under 18). Twenty-one residents of Bil’in remain in Israeli detention. Here.
Read more about the trial and Emily Schaeffer here.
Emily describes a leader in the movement, who was shot earlier this year by Occupation Forces.
Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmah, or "Pheel," which was his nickname, was killed on April 17 at one of the Friday weekly demonstrations against the wall and settlements. Pheel was always at the forefront of all the protests and was really one of the main activists from within the community and eventually lost his life to being part of this non-violent resistance. We are all mourning his loss and I think in some ways this lawsuit is dedicated to him.
JR: I know that you’ve seen footage of when Pheel was shot. Was he doing anything violent or resisting in a way that would cause the Israeli soldiers to react like that?
ES: For four and a half years Pheel has been at the front of every single demonstration and he’s never, to the knowledge of any witness or any video that I’ve seen, thrown a stone or done anything violent. Pheel was always carrying a flag and he was always speaking to the soldiers. In fact he would try to speak to them in Hebrew, he would try to speak their language both literally and in terms of treating them like human beings, treating them like people. At the moment that Pheel was shot, he was shot with a tear gas canister — I just want to point that out because that’s illegal use of a crowd disbursement tactic. At the moment he was shot, he was telling the soldiers in Hebrew: ‘Stop, stop shooting, you’ve injured an Israeli protestor.’
According to this Haaretz article, the shooting of Bassem was declared to be unauthorized fire, yet there has been no known punishment for the perpetrators of the crime.
Yesterday in Bi'lin the protesters, and journalists, also were victims of Israeli military violence against civilians. The same day that this dramatic video below was filmed, in the nearby village of Ni'lin, Israeli forces shot an Israeli and Palestinian demonstrator with live ammunition. Neither the Palestinian or Israeli protester was injured too seriously, fortunately. Ni'lin is the place where American Tristan Anderson was shot by a teargas canister after a protest, while he was photographing hundreds of meters away from where the protest had taken place. Tristan is recovering from very critical wounds in an Israeli hospital, now for 6 months. The power of Palestinians, Israelis, and Americans and other internationals joining in this historic struggle together is the hope for a decent future for all in the Middle East.