December 31, 2010: New Years Eve 2010 in Bil'in: "The Last Day of The Wall" Jan. 2, 2011 UPDATE LEADS
Published first @ +972 magazine
Israeli activists protesting the killing of Bil’in’s Jawaher Abu Rahmah
‘returned’ spent tear gas canisters to the residence of the American
ambassador to Israel late Saturday evening. Jawaher Abu Rahmah, 36, was
evacuated to the Ramallah hospital on Friday after inhaling massive
amounts of tear-gas during the weekly protest in Bil’in, and died of
poisoning Saturday morning. The tear gas used by the Israeli forces in
Bil’in is manufactured by Combined Systems Inc.; a United States company
based in Jamestown, Pennsylvania. This is the first protest where empty
tear gas canisters have been returned to an ambassador’s home.
Approximately 25 five Israeli protesters gathered in front of the
residence of U.S. Ambassador to Israel, James B. Cunningham, around 1am
local time. The protesters ‘returned’ loads of spent tear gas canisters
collected in the West Bank village of Bil’in. The demonstrators also
made noise throughout the ambassador’s neighborhood, informing residents
of how American military aid to Israel is being used to kill unarmed
and nonviolent demonstrators in the West Bank. They chanted, “one, two,
three, four stop the occupation stop the war. Five, six, seven, eight
end the funding (US) end the hate.” This action is one of the first by
Israeli activists demanding accountability of a foreign government.
Instead of targeting the Israeli public, activists did a symbolic act
aimed at the United States. This could signal the future of targeted
BDS-style actions (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction) actions by Israelis
who witness the destruction of US military aid in the West Bank.
Five demonstrators were arrested in the action and are currently being
held in detention. It is unclear when they will be released and on what
charges. The action in front of the ambassador’s residence completed a
day of protest throughout Israel and the West Bank stemming from Abu Rahmah’s death. On Saturday evening, hundreds demonstrated
opposite the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. Protesters manged to block
Kaplan street, a main artery, for over one hour. Eight people were
arrested, including a former Knesset member from the left wing Meretz
Party, Mossi Raz.
UPDATE 10:47: The arrest of the demonstrators has
been extended for 48 hours (until Tuesday). They have been charged with
illegal demonstration, resisting arrest (because they locked up arms in
order to be arrested together) and tossing spent tear gas canisters over
the fence of the US ambassador’s house. The court will convene again on
Tuesday in order to see if any more charges will be filed.
UPDATE 11:40: The police now claim that some of the
tear gas canisters were still ‘live’ and thus, the activists are being
charged with attacking the US Ambassador’s home. Among the demonstrators
arrested are those who were simply in the area and not involved in any
protest. There is an appeal being filed right now.
Published on Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (http://www.popularstruggle.org)
Israeli Forces Kill Female Protester in Bil'in
Created 2011-01-01 11:08
Jan 01, 2011
Jawaher Abu Rahmah,
36, was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital yesterday after inhaling massive
amounts of tear-gas during the weekly protest in Bil'in, and died of poisoning
this morning. Abu Rahmah was the sister of Bassem Abu Rahmah who was also
killed during a peaceful protest in Bil'in on April 17th, 2010.
Doctors at the
Ramallah hospital fought for Jawaher Abu Rahmah's life all night at the
Ramallah Hospital, but were unable to save her life. Abu Rahmah suffered from
severe asphyxiation caused by tear-gas inhalation yesterday in Bil'in, and was
evacuated to the Ramallah hospital unconscious. She was diagnosed as suffering
from poisoning caused by the active ingredient in the tear-gas, and did not
respond to treatment.
Jawaher Abu Rahmah
was the sister of Bil'in activist, Bassem Abu Rahmah, who was shot dead with a
high velocity tear-gas projectile during a demonstration in the village on
April 17th, 2009. See here
[7] for a video of his shooting.
Media Contact: Jonathan
Pollak +972-54-632-7736
Mohammed Khatib, a
member of the Bil'in Popular Committee said this morning: "We are shocked
and furious for Israel's brutality, which once again cost the life of a
peaceful demonstrator. Israel's lethal and inhumane response to our struggle
will not pass. In the dawn of a new decade, it is time for the world to ask
Israel for accountability and to bring about an end to the occupation."
Adv. Michael
Sfard, who represents the village in an appeal against the Wall added:
"The son was killed by a directly aimed projectile, the daughter choked in
gas. Two brave protestors against a regime that kills the innocent and doesn't
investigate its criminals. We will not quiet, we will not give up, we
will not spare any effort until those responsible will be punished. And they will."
http://www.popularstruggle.org/print/613
[Bil'in, West Bank] The indigenous people of Bil'in declared the last day of 2010 will be "The Last Day of The Wall" and over 1,000 marched as "An overwhelming number of Israeli soldiers
and Border Police officers spread along the path of the Wall, but were not able
to stop demonstrators equipped with bolt-cutters from breaching through the
Wall in three places. In one place, the protesters actually managed to carry a
rather significant chunk of the Wall back to the village.
 Protesters carrying back a dismantled part of the wall back to the village. Picture credit: Hamde Abu Rahmah
"One protester was hit in the face with a
tear-gas projectile shot directly at him, and required hospitalization. Doctors
at the Ramallah hospital are currently fighting for Jawaher Abu Rahmah’s life,
after an acute deterioration in her condition this evening. Abu Rahmah suffered
from severe asphyxiation during today’s demonstration in Bil’in as a result of
tear-gas inhalation, and was evacuated to the Ramallah hospital. She is
currently diagnosed as suffering from poisoning caused by the active ingredient
in the tear-gas, and is not responding to treatment. Jawaher Abu Rahmah is the
sister of Bassem Abu Rahmah, who was shot dead with a high velocity tear-gas
projectile during a demonstration in Bil’in on April 17th, 2009." [1]
Bilin Weekly Demo 31.12.2010
 3:27
"The wall
will fall in Bilin; the wall will fall like in Berlin"
Over twenty
years ago the Berlin Wall came crashing down due to the build up of
pressures exerted by the Solidarity movement demanding freedom at the time of
the demise of Communism. The fall of the Berlin Wall symbolically portrayed the
end of the Cold War and proved that walls cannot keep people apart. The Berlin
Wall was twenty-seven miles of rolls of barbed wire augmented with a high
concrete barrier and watchtowers, floodlights, and a no man's land. A few
scaled over, some tunneled below and 136 East Germans died trying to cross it.
A wall twice as high and five times as long as the one that fell in Berlin, is
close to completion in the West Bank. One of the chants I learned during one of
my four visits to the agricultural village of Bilin, was "The wall
will fall in Bilin; the wall will fall like in Berlin".
In Bilin, the Green Line is five miles from the separation barrier and for the
last five years every Friday afternoon after prayers at the mosque,
Palestinians and growing numbers of Israelis and Internationals have been
waging a nonviolent solidarity march in resistance to the route of the
construction of Israel's Wall-which in Bilin is twenty feet high of wire
fencing that denies the farmers access to their olive groves.
For the last five years of Friday's afternoons after prayer at the mosque, locals, internationals and Israelis of
conscience endure tear gas, rubber bullets, sound bombs and other means of
'crowd dispersal' inflicted upon them by Israeli forces in ever escalating
force.
Over three years ago, the Israeli High Court ruled that the route of the Wall in Bil'in was illegal and must come down.
My first visit to Bil’in was in January 2006. I
met many locals and a few internationals and Israelis who had created their own
facts on the ground with an outpost where they held the ground 24/7.
They slept for weeks at a time inside the 10x10 brick house on sleeping bags on
a dirt floor, a few hundred yards from where a settlement of 700 upscale
apartments was being erected for Jewish only settlers upon legally owned
Palestinian property.
Bil'in Outpost, January 2006:
I was
inspired to go to Bil'in, after attending a power point lecture in Gainesville,
Florida given by a Palestinian and Jonathan Pollak, an Israeli member of
Anarchists Against the Wall/AAtW.
Jonathan has been beaten, shot with rubber
bullets and arrested numerous times for standing up to the authority of the
Israeli Army. He was arrested again on February 18, 2007 and convicted along
with 10 other activists for blocking a road in Tel Aviv in protest of the
construction of The Wall.
On 27 December 2010,
in Tel Aviv, the day that marked the second anniversary of Israel’s 22 days of
assault on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead,
Jonathan was sentenced to three months in jail for protesting Israel’s military
blockade and siege on the Palestinian territory.
Jonathan was
involved in the Popular Struggle Coordination
Committee (PSCC), Critical
Mass bicycling event to protest Israel’s blockade of Gaza on January
31, 2008. Police arrested Pollak at the demonstration, accusing him of
incitement and of being the leader of the event. In reality, they arrested him
for riding a bicycle in Tel Aviv.
Read Jonathan's statement to the court
here: http://972mag.com/israeli-activist-jonathan-pollak-addresses-sentencing-judge/
In November 2005, during his Anarchist Against the Wall power-point speaking tour through America, Jonathan Pollak informed this reporter:
"I
was six years old at my first demonstration and active on my own at thirteen. I
am 23 now. When they started to build the Apartheid Wall in the West Bank I
would go a few times a week and watch them deceive the world. The Israeli
government successfully marketed the Apartheid Wall as a security barrier. But
it is all about segregation, separation and ethnic cleansing.
"Civilian
uprising and non-violent activism is not like the Gandhi movie. It’s not carrying
posters and saying we don’t like your wall, go away. We stand in front of
Caterpillar’s knowing we will be shot and arrested. I was shot five times in
the last two years by rubber bullets, which are 1/2-inch steel bullets covered
with plastic. I have been shot in the head and the more experience I have the
scarier it is. One learns to recognize the ritual of it all: when the IOF will
begin using the Billy clubs, when the tear gas will come, when the bullets will
come.
“We
are not a dialogue group, we are an Israeli organization and we are not
colonial liberators. All the strategy is done by Palestinians, we are with them
seeking justice and giving support. There is no price to high to pay for
freedom, equality and universal rights. Without justice there can be no peace.
"Negotiations
alone will not secure freedom for the Palestinian people. During the
negotiations of the so-called Oslo Peace Process from 1993-2000, Israel simply
imposed its will on the Palestinians, using its overwhelming military and
economic power, and US support. During seven years of supposed peace,
Palestinians saw 200,000 new Israeli settlers arrive in the Occupied
Palestinian Territories, the same number of settlers that had arrived there in
the previous 26 years.
"However,
the recent grassroots struggle against Israel's Wall has demonstrated that it
may be possible to counter Israel's overwhelming power, and its exploitation of
negotiations, through nonviolent resistance. The Wall, is just one blatant
Israeli attempt to impose its will, and has become a focus for civilian
resistance.
"Although
Israel marketed the Wall as a security barrier, logic suggests such a barrier
would be as short and straight as possible. Instead, it snakes deep inside the
West Bank, resulting in a route that is twice as long as the Green Line, the
internationally recognized border. Israel chose the Wall's path in order to
dispossess Palestinians of the maximum land and water, to preserve as many
Israeli settlements as possible, and to unilaterally determine a border.
"In
order to build the Wall Israel is uprooting tens of thousands of ancient olive
trees that for many Palestinians are also the last resource to provide food for
their children.
"The
Palestinian aspiration for an independent state is also threatened by the Wall,
as it isolates villages from their mother cities and divides the West Bank into
disconnected cantons [Bantustans/ghettos]. The Israeli human rights
organization B`Tselem conservatively estimates that 500,000 Palestinians are
negatively impacted by the Wall.
"Faced
with a history of suffering, Palestinians have no alternative but to struggle.
The only question is how? Killing diminishes our humanity, and Israel's
occupation, which has killed thousands of Palestinians, shouldn't be our
teacher. It is time for both sides to refuse killing.
"Though
Palestinians have employed nonviolence since 1929, they have seen little
evidence that it will help them to achieve freedom. In 2003-2004, the West Bank
village of Budrus decided to set an example for how nonviolence can defeat the
Wall.
"All
the people of Budrus mobilized, and were joined by Israeli and international
activists. In 55 nonviolent marches, Israeli soldiers injured more than 300
people, arrested 33 and killed one, as the villagers, with their bodies alone,
attempted to stop the destruction of their land. Faced with Budrus` determined
protests, the Israeli government eventually moved the Wall to the Green Line.
The village saved 300 acres of its land and 3000 olive trees. Children, women
and old people were among the heroes of Budrus` nonviolent struggle.
"Throughout
the West Bank, nine protesters were killed in marches against the Wall,
thousands were injured and hundreds arrested. Hundreds of civilian protests
throughout the West Bank are the reason the world learned of the injustice of
the Wall. As a direct result, the International Court of Justice at the Hague
ruled in 2004 that Israel's construction of the Wall violated international
law.
"The
village of Budrus and the International Court of Justice ruling represent
victories for nonviolent resistance. Another success of the joint struggle was
the connection forged between Palestinians and the Israelis who joined them in
their resistance. This connection, stronger than anything that ideas could
create, was unwittingly forged by the Israeli army, through their beatings, the
joint arrests and the bullets. Joining Palestinians in nonviolent struggle has
allowed some Israelis to voice very clearly that the struggle against
occupation and for freedom is not a Palestinian struggle alone, but is their
struggle as well.
"We
believe that, as with Apartheid South Africa, Americans have a vital role to
play in ending Israeli occupation - by speaking out, coming to Palestine as
witnesses, or standing with Palestinians in nonviolent resistance.
"We
are confident that Israeli occupation will one day be defeated, as were other
US government supported repressive regimes - Apartheid South Africa, Pinochet`s
Chile and racial segregation in the United States. There is no price too great
to pay for freedom, and nothing will deter us from achieving this goal."
On one of
my four trips to Bil'in, after chanting a while in front of the soldiers,
Jonathan was the first down the steep rocky hill and over a metal railing to
grab the roll of razor sharp barbed wire that is in front of the wall/fence in
order to shake it. He was immediately joined by a few dozen locals and other
AAtW, who were swiftly greeted by the first of dozens of sound bombs-thick
orange plastic grenades that hit the ground with a deafening blast.
I was
half way down the hill when a teenager next to me threw a rock at a soldier and
I know that action alone can get one killed or arrested, so I headed back up
the hill before the tear gas and rubber bullets assaulted the crowd at the
barbwire. By the time I made it up the hill the first of hundreds of rubber
bullets were being shot into the crowd. Only two internationals were hit and
other than a few Palestinian adolescents and young boys throwing rocks all
remained nonviolent. I was told that because of the large International
presence no live ammo was fired; although the week before a Frenchman took a
bullet in the arm while standing next to a group of children. He was back at
the Friday ritual with a cast and sling on.
David Rovics - They're Building a Wall
“They're building a wall. And at such a cost. Land,
money and safety. And all the lives lost. A wall made of brick but bricks can
be broken, when the people of Zion have finally awoken! And said no more walls,
no more refugees. No more keeping people upon their knees. And before apartheid
was ended they were building a wall."
_Omq-QG7isA
Vanunu's Message to Hillary
Clinton re: The Wall
"The wall
will fall in Bilin; the wall will fall like in Berlin"
1. http://972mag.com/1000-protest-in-bilin-one-protester-in-critical-condition-from-tear-gas-inhalation/comment-page-1/#comment-2133
Email from Bil'in:
Dear eileen,
At the threshold
of the New Year, I write to wish you a new year of freedom and liberation. This
has been an unbelievable year for me in both highs and lows. A year during
which I have witnessed how, despite repression,
ordinary people all across Palestine take to the streets for freedom.
In my village,
Bil'in, thousands of people marched on the Wall today to take it down. During
the demonstration, one protestor, a 36 year old resident of the village, Jawaher
Abu-Rahmah, was critically injured by severe tear-gas inhalation. She is
currently hospitalized in Ramallah, unresponsive to medical treatment as the
doctors are fighting for her life.
Bil'in has been
struggling for almost six years against the Wall that was built on our lands.
The illegality and absurdity of this wall has been recognized worldwide, and
even by the Israeli Supreme Court, which ruled it must be dismantled over three
years ago. Yet the Wall still stands.
We, the people of Bil'in, the people of
Palestine, have waited enough. Today was therefore declared by the Bil'in
Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements as the last day of the Wall.
Together with our supporters, we managed to bring a substantial part of the
wall down but we still have a long way to go.
On a personal note,
the beginning of 2011 also strikes notes of fear. In just a few days, on
January 3rd, 2011, my trial in front of an Israeli military court will draw
into conclusion. Captain Sharon Rivlin, the soldier-judge presiding in my case,
will hand down my verdict. If found guilty of "incitement", my next
letter will likely be written from inside a prison cell; If found guilty,
despite having proved that evidence against me was falsified, I will proudly
join my friend and comrade, Abdallah
Abu Rahmah, who is now spending his second new year's eve behind
bars. PSCC's media coordinator, my friend and
brother in struggle, Israeli activist Jonathan Pollak, will
also be going to prison, again, for three months on January 11th, for
protesting Israel’s siege on Gaza.
We are all facing
tremendous challenges, as individuals and as a movement. It is our pride and
strength that keeps us going. It is your support and involvement, which is
becoming more crucial than ever. Join us – take our struggle forward, so that
the year of 2011 will become an historical year of Palestinian liberation and a
just peace.
In solidarity,
Mohammad Khatib
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