BIL'IN TAKES DOWN GATE OF THE APARTHEID WALL, IMPLEMENTING INTERNATIONAL LAW:JUNE 24, 2011

A foreign activist wearing a plastic suit for protection against skunk water marches with a Palestinian flag during the weekly demonstration against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin, near Ramallah, Friday, June 24, 2011. All photos from GETTY IMAGES

June 24, 2011

Samer Mohammed Burnat was wounded by a tear gas canister fired directly at his foot. This was in addition to dozens of cases of choking from poison gas in the weekly march organized by the Popular Committee against the Wall and settlements, which issued calls to destroy the wall this Friday.

Salam Fayyad takes part in West Bank village demonstration, as protesters manage to dismantle parts of fence. 'This is just the beginning, but a good one,' Fayyad tells crowd

"This occupation has to end, not only because it’s oppressive to us Palestinians but because it’s corrosive to Israelis. That's what this event represents to us. That's what it signifies ~ it has huge significance," Fayyad said.
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Leaping to kick back a tear can cannister..... 
c

"Four years since the High Court ruling, which at long last started to be implemented. It's not the end of the road, but it’s the beginning and it encourages us and our people here in Bilin and elsewhere," he said, adding that "it underscores the immense power of nonviolence

After the Israeli army began work to dismantle the Apartheid Wall On Wednesday earlier this week, the villagers together with local, international and Israeli supporters as well as local politicians, took down the gate of the wall, neither trusting, nor willing to leave it to the Zionist authorities to implement international law and do justice.

Participating along with the people of Bil'in and Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad there were many other leaders. They included Mohamed Baraka, an Israeli parliament member, Saleh Ra'fat, a member of the political office of the Democratic Front, Hisham Abu Raya, a member of the political office of the Palestinian Liberation Front. There were also many people from different popular activities and political groups in addition to international and Israeli solidarity activists.

Around 500 protestors marched to the Apartheid Wall, waving flags, and calling for the demolition of the wall, for freedom and justice in chants. In spite of the decision of even the Israeli Supreme Court, that ruled that the route of the Wall in Bil'in was illegal, the army began shooting tear gas at the protesters even before most made it to the Wall. Immediately, villagers destroyed the gate of the Wall with a tractor. 

The march began after Friday prayers from the center of the village and moved towards the wall. Participants raised Palestinian flags and banners of the different national factions and chanted slogans of national calls to remove the wall, end the occupation and adhere to the national principles of Palestine. In a new phenomenon, participants used a bulldozer (JCP) in an attempt to root up and dismantle the fence, and were actually successful in removing part of it.

When participants reached the eastern gate of the wall, the soldiers showered tear gas, sound bombs, and rubber bullets, as well as live bullets, at the bulldozer. Eventually the driver of the bulldozer fled the area and escaped arrest. 

Skunk water is considered a cultural weapon and has thus been condemned by the international community. It is made up of several different, unidentified, bad-smelling chemicals that cast a wretched smell which lasts for weeks and is nearly impossible to remove. And we all know what “waste water” consists of. 
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The military used a machine to spray demonstrators with skunk and waste water, a chemical liquid that protestors have termed "shit" or "skunk" because it smells in fact like shit and sticks to people's clothes and other surfaces for days. The protesters were prepared, however. A small group wearing plastic overalls and protective gear stayed right in front of the army, getting showered by the liquid, and raised their hands in signs of victory.

Seeing that the protesters weren't dispersing from their own soil, the army began targeting them directly with several rounds of tear gas. One protestor crossed the gate and approached the army, insisting on the illegality of the wall and the legitimacy of the villagers to dismantle it. The army threatened to shoot him from less than a meter's distance and sprayed him with the "shit" directly in the face.
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A Palestinian demonstrator steps out from a tractor hit by a tear gas canister fired by Israeli forces as protestors were using the machine to try and bring down Israel's separation barrier

The soldiers fired teargas into the olive groves with the intent of setting fire to them. Many olive trees were burned as a result of this

In a speech by the People's Committee delivered at the beginning of the march by Bassel Mansour, a member of the committee, he confirmed adherence to resistance as an option to stop the occupation in all its forms, and that victory is not impossible. He also stated that when you believe in destroying the occupation it becomes a reality to stop the building and construction of the wall.

Mansour also noted that it is time to pull together the entire free world to put an end to this hateful occupation and free the people of Palestine, like the rest of the world's peoples. He emphasized that the victory of Bil'in against the wall and the occupation creates a basis for the liberation of Palestine.

At the end of his speech, he remembered all those who have stood next to the people of Bil'in in their battle against the occupation and the walls. This victory is considered a gift to the spirit of the martyr Yasser Arafat and to the souls of the martyrs Bassem Abu Rahma, his sister Jawaher Abu Rahma, activists Rachel Corrie and Vittorio Arrigoni, and to all the martyrs.

The victory of Bil'in against the wall and the occupation creates a basis for the liberation of Palestine.

Some 200 protesters rallied at Bilin and some reportedly rioted and stoned IDF forces present at the scene. Military forces were attempting to disperse the protesters by using crowd-control measures.

The length of fence set to be removed from Bilin is 2.7km long. The new route of the fence, which is set to replace the existing one, is 3.2km long. It stands to be mostly a concrete wall, due to the proximity to Modiin Elite and fears of gunfire from the Palestinian side at Israel. 
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This is one dangerous woman, 

like Latuff's Mother Palestine, she leads the way.
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The anti-fence protests in Bilin date back seven years. The area has become a hotspot for clashes between Palestinians and security forces.

All in all, six demonstrators sustained injuries and many others suffered from tear gas inhalation. Today's demonstration took place without Ibrahim Burnat, who was beaten and arrested two days ago while collecting empty tear gas canisters near the Wall. He is currently held at the military prison at Ofer militarybase.

In spite of the immense repression and violence through the army, the protestors kept coming back and chanting, as they have done every week for over six years, determined to destroy the wall that illegally annexes 60% of their walls.

BIL’IN DEMONSTRATORS TO TAKE DOWN THE WALL

Wall near the Ramallah-area village of Bil’in (photo: Hamda Abu Rahmeh)

The weekly walk in Bil'in takes a new turn today. I await anxiously to report events when I receive them. This is possibly a historic day for the people. See how that filthy thing slithers around all the land, even if it were straight it would be bad enough, but as it appears now, the intent is so very obvious.  ~ to steal the best and leave the worst. Let us pray that today things begin to change somewhat ~ for the better. May the blood of the Abu Rameh's not have been shed in vain.

23 June 2011

Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

OCCUPIED PALESTINE

After nearly six years of weekly protests, Israel’s army began dismantling the Wall in the West Bank village of Bil’in this week. Protesters will march to the Wall at 12.30 p.m. on Friday 24 June, implementing their right to access their lands.

The Bil’in Popular Committee has declared Friday 24 June to be the last day of the old path of the Wall on village lands, and the beginning of the struggle against the new path.  A mass demonstration will march on the Wall to dismantle it and access the lands sequestered behind it.

On Tuesday morning this week, army bulldozers began work to dismantle the Wall in Bil’in. As early as 2007, after two years of weekly protests in the village and following a court petition filed by the residents, the Israeli High Court declared the path of the Wall illegal.

The court ruled that the route was not devised according to security standards, but rather for the purpose of settlement expansion.

Despite the High Court’s ruling, four more years of struggle had to elapse for the army to begin dismantlement. During these years two people were killed in the course of the weekly protests and many others injured.

Yet even according to the new path, sanctioned by the High Court, 435 acres of village land will remain on the “Israeli” side of the Wall.

On 4 September 2007, the High Court ordered the state to come up with an alternative path for the existing Wall in Bil’in within a reasonable period of time. Despite the ruling, many months elapsed and no new plan was offered.

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On 29 May 2008, the residents of Bil’in filed a petition to hold the state in contempt of the court due to this 

delay. In response to the petition, the state offered an alternative path. However, the plan failed to comply with the High Court’s ruling as the proffered path left a large area designed for settlement expansion on the “Israeli” side of the Wall. The only difference between the two paths being that the latter offered to award 40 acres of land back to the residents.

A second petition claiming the alternative path not in accordance with court ruling was then filed. On August 3rd, 2008, the court declared that the first alternative path indeed fails to adhere to the ruling. The court ordered the state to come up with another alternative path.

On September 16th, 2008, the state offered a second alternative path. This path also left a large area designed for settlement expansion on the “Israeli” side, offering to return 100 acres of village land to the residents. A lawyer for the residents asked that the state be held in contempt of the court for violating a court ruling for the second time.

On December 15th, 2008, the high court ruled that the second alternative path was not in accordance with the original court ruling.

In April 2009 the state offered a third alternative path which left most of the area destined for settlement expansion on the “Palestinian” side of the Wall, thereby returning to the village 150 acres of 490 acres annexed by the original path.

MOTHER OF BILIN MARTYRS: WE WILL NOT BE STOPPED

 
Alex Kane 
26 January 2011
Electronic Intifada 

The village of Bilin in the occupied West Bank was quiet on 12 January 2011, but reminders of the violence that hits the village every Friday during the weekly demonstration against Israel's illegal wall were visible.

Posters of Jawaher Abu Rahmah were hung up and taped to signs and walls around the village. It had been nearly two weeks since Jawaher was killed on 1 January 2011 as a result of severe inhalation of tear gas fired by the Israeli military at a demonstration the previous day.

In the immediate aftermath of her death, the Israeli military attempted to deflect blame for the killing by spreading misinformation, assisted by the right-wing blogosphere and the Israeli and US media about Jawaher. Israel's propaganda, though, was quickly refuted by eyewitnesses to the death.

Jawaher was not the only member of the Abu Rahmah family whose life was taken by Israeli military violence. In April 2009, during a similar protest against the wall, an Israeli soldier fired a tear gas canister directly at Bassem Abu Rahmah, Jawaher's brother, which hit him in the chest and killed him.

The Electronic Intifada contributor Alex Kane met with Soubhiya Abu Rahmah, the mother of Bassem and Jawaher, in Bilin. Hamde Abu Rahmah, Jawaher's cousin and a photojournalist, translated for the interview.

Alex Kane: It's been almost two weeks since Jawaher was killed. How are you feeling?

Soubhiya Abu Rahmah: I am not feeling good. I am very sad about my loss. I have been sick, and you know, when you lose somebody in your family, and it's your daughter, it's your daughter. Now two people I have lost. It's really sad.

AK: Where were you when you found out that Jawaher was really ill?

SA: Before that day, I quit my work, because I wanted to take a holiday. In the morning, I made food, and after that I went to go visit my neighbors. It's like I knew about her dying. After this, we went ~ me and my daughter [Jawaher] ~ close to the wall to watch the demonstration, and my daughter said, "I have to go back to the house," and she left me. When she left me, that's when it happened. She got tear gassed, and after that Jawaher went to the ambulance to go to Ramallah.

AK: Were you supportive of Jawaher going to the demonstrations?

SA: Yes, I was supportive. I was myself there many times, but because I am really sick, I cannot move. But my daughter, and her brothers, they were going.

AK: What's your response to the Israeli military's allegations about Jawaher ~ that it wasn't their fault, that she was sick, that she had cancer, all of those allegations?

SA: They are just lying. I saw many papers from the doctors. She has nothing, her health was okay, and she did not have any cancer. They always lie.

AK: Given that Jawaher and Bassem were both killed while demonstrating in Bilin, do you still think it is worth it for the protests to continue?

SA: Yes, for sure. When the army keeps doing this stuff, and the Israeli government steals more land, yes for sure I support the protests. Everyone will have to do something against them. We have never stopped; we will not be silent about this.

AK: Do you and your family plan on taking any legal action against the Israeli military over Jawaher's death?

SA: We are looking, we will see. There's a lawyer specifically for the wall, and he will see what can happen about Jawaher.

AK: Are there any messages you would like to say to those in the US?

SA: I have to say, for the American government, they have to make Israel stop doing this, to stop killing people, to stop stealing more land from the people here, stop throwing these weapons, these chemicals. Many people get sick from these things and many people die in Palestine, and they have to do many things against Israel to stop them, because they really do not care about anyone. They do what they want. 

 

The big reason why Jawaher died was because she took in so much tear gas, and she could not breathe. When she was at the demonstration, she was running from the tear gas, and she tried to go back to the village, and she took in so much of this and she couldn't breathe and that's why she died. That's why they have to stop this.

Alex Kane is a blogger and journalist based in New York City. He is a frequent contributor to the blog Mondoweiss, and his work has appeared in Salon, The Electronic Intifada, Common Dreams, Palestine Chronicle, Gotham Gazette and Extra. Follow him on Twitter @alexbkane.

THE DAY AFTER ZIONISM

Jan 17, 2011

By Hannah Mermelstein
Maan News

As we trudge through the terraced land, ducking under branches of olive trees and trying to avoid prickly bushes, I think about landscape, consciousness, and memory.

We are walking through the land because Israeli soldiers are blocking the road ahead. They are blocking the road ahead so as not to allow people to arrive in the Palestinian village of Bil’in. We are going to Bil’in in order to protest the confiscation of the village’s land for settlement and wall construction.

At Bil’in’s demonstration a week earlier, 36-year-old Jawaher Abu Rahmah inhaled a lethal dose of tear gas. Her brother Bassem was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier at a protest in the village just under two years ago.

So we traipse through the olive groves, only slightly out of view of the soldiers on the road, and a line by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish comes to mind: “If the olive trees knew the hands that planted them, their oil would become tears.”

Bil’in has become a battleground, the surrounding landscape a stage for a risky game of cat and mouse. What kind of consciousness does the land have? What would it say if it could? The wall is often described as a scar through Palestine, but right now it is more of a fresh wound. When the wall falls, will the scar left be permanent?

Two days before this protest, our group wakes up at the Yafa Cultural Center in Balata refugee camp, Nablus. We eat breakfast, thank our hosts, and get in a bus with the right color license plate, driven by a driver with the right color ID card, and head towards the city of Yafa.

The Yafa Cultural Center is thus named because the vast majority of people living in Balata refugee camp come originally from Yafa and the surrounding area. Most of these people have never seen their original villages, or have not been back since their displacement in 1948. I am hesitant to tell our hosts where we are going, knowing that my visit to Yafa ~ and their inability to join us ~ is emblematic of the injustice I try so hard to fight.

On the way, we encounter another fresh wound, a scar-to-be. We have split into two vehicles, and I am driving a small rental car with two Palestinian women from the West Bank, and two of our whiter and blonder American group members. When we see the checkpoint ahead, we take a deep breath, but we have no reason to believe this will be any different than the many other times I have used my undeserved privilege to “smuggle” Palestinians into parts of their own country that they are not allowed to visit.

But this time is different. A soldier or security guard (it’s hard to tell the difference these days) signals for us to stop, and my trick of waving and continuing to drive is thwarted by a new metal bar that the soldiers operate. It looks like a toll booth, only the highway employees are armed and the context much more insidious.

When she asks for our passports, we stumble a bit before saying we left them in a hotel in Tel Aviv. We say we are five American tourists. She is skeptical.

We are ordered to pull over and get out of the car. It continues from there: questioning, searching, rapid-fire questions to the two Palestinian women about their names, their parents’ names, where they are from, whether they speak any languages other than English.

It is maddening and terrifying, and I am standing there wishing we had prepared better, wishing my privilege-driven arrogance ~ which is often what helps me get through checkpoints ~ had been mitigated at least enough for us to have had a plan, a story, a mindset that might help us get through this.

We tell the guard we had been in the Israeli settlement of Ariel, visiting a friend. I am making it up as I go along. She wants my friend’s name and phone number. I quickly call an old Israeli friend who doesn’t even know I’m in the country. He is surprised and happy to hear from me and asks, “When did you get here?” “There’s a security guard here who wants to talk to you about our visit to your house in Ariel,” I say. “I don’t live in Ariel,” he says, confused. “We’re at the checkpoint on our way from your place to Tel Aviv,” I respond. He catches on.

At this point I’m only trying to get us out of here, not even to get through, but with every question from the guards/soldiers, our story has more and more holes. Finally we talk our way out of the situation and are allowed to “return” to Ariel (where we have not been). Hearts are pounding. I am feeling guilty for my arrogance, and my Palestinian friends are feeling humiliated.

They are not entirely surprised by the way they have been treated, but are deeply upset at the degree to which it has affected them.

We drive south, toward another checkpoint that is easier to get through, and I think about how much pain and injustice a people and a place can hold. None of us share exactly what we are feeling ~ probably none of us are able ~ but we make a tentative plan for the next checkpoint. We drive through without stopping, and have a small celebration in the car. But we feel uneasy.

We are still nervous about being caught. My friend who would at this point usually take off her hat and put back on her head scarf does not do so quite yet. We feel the occupation in our bodies, in our minds. I am not experiencing anything close to what my Palestinian friends are, yet my visceral reaction offers a fragment of understanding of how this system is able to function.

We arrive in Yafa and go first to the sea. One friend has not seen it since she was a child ~ except as a reminder from the hills of Nablus on a clear day ~ and her eyes immediately fill with tears. She thanks me. I am speechless. The last thing I want at that moment is to be thanked for bringing a friend to her own land.

As we walk around Yafa and Tel Aviv, I am struck by a sense of permanence. Although I know that the modern Jewish presence in this city is only 100 years in the making, while the Palestinian presence is thousands of years deep, it is hard now to imagine the undoing or even the transformation of this place. There are other parts of the country in which it is hard to imagine the continuation of an exclusively Jewish state, but in Tel Aviv, I often feel an overwhelming sense of the opposite.

A couple days ago I was talking with an Israeli friend who works with Zochrot. The organization raises awareness about the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic) of 1948. They visit destroyed villages and place signs there with the villages’ original names; organize art exhibits and lectures; facilitate workshops for school children; and engage in other activities to affect the Israeli collective memory. My friend was telling me that he will soon start to focus even more on outreach to the Israeli public.

A few minutes later the topic turned to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. He excitedly told me that he has hope in this movement, that it’s clear from his perspective that the international movement is growing, and that only pressure from the outside can change the reality on the ground.

“Then why do you want to focus more on the Israeli public?” I asked. He thought for a minute, and then responded: “My work is not going to have an immediate effect on the political situation here. What I’m doing is preparing for the day after Zionism.”

May we all be strong enough and imaginative enough to envision justice: to see roads without checkpoints, to remember when Bil’in was a village and not a battleground, and indeed, to work together to bring about the day after Zionism.

NOT A HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM BIL'IN

 Jawaher Abu Rahmah, martyred 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FROM THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION FORCES:

THE STORY OF THE ABU RAHMEN FAMILY

Chroniques de palestine

02/01/2011

While hundreds of millions of people celebrated New Year’s eve last night by going out in the streets, hugging, chanting and drinking, the people of Bil’in did not change their routine much. New Year Eve or not, Friday in Bil’in means demonstrating against the Illegal Apartheid Wall carving the West Bank into bantustans and stealing their land.

The Wall was deemed illegal by the highest judicial body in the world, the International Court of Justice, in 2004 (1). The ‘World Court’ took the Israeli argument that the wall was built for security reasons and dismantled it in a 54 pages document. There is no valid security reason for this wall to have been built, and this illegal wall should be dismantled now, was their verdict. 

The mother of Jawaher Abu Rahmah (center) mourns during her daughter's funeral on 1 January. On the right is a poster of Bassem Abu Rahmah, her other son who was killed in 2009.

Their report also asked all members States of the 4th Geneva convention not to aid Israel in building this wall and to make sure that Israel dismantled the wall. This was not optional, in the words of the ICJ. This was the duty of all members States to make sure that International Law was applied even when Israel was concerned.

The route of the wall has also been deemed illegal by Israeli Supreme Court (2) in 2006. The Israeli Supreme Court asked the army to re-route the wall and give back some of the land the Wall construction had stolen from the Palestinians. As of today, nothing has changed. As usual in Israel, the army rules and is even above its own laws.

The “Security” argument thrown about by Israel to justify the building of the wall is nonsense. Only because of the power of Israel’s Hasbara (propaganda) machine it is still used by the media and people around the world. Anyone looking at the facts, should be able to rubbish this idea in a few minutes.

If the Wall was for security, why not build it around the 1967 Green Line? The wall carves into the West Bank, stealing most arable lands and water resources and including the huge illegal Israeli settlements.

But more importantly,

if the Wall was built to stop suicide bombers entering Israel,

why has it not been completed yet?

‘Terrorists’ are clever people. There is still a 200kms zone where there is no wall, and where Palestinians ‘terrorists’ could enter Israel at will. Also, there are still today many Palestinians entering Israel illegally to work. If they wanted to, they could do a lot of harm. They do not, and that’s the main point.

Palestine civil society resistance

has been mostly non violent,

ever since the beginning of the first intifada.

Israel's finest of the "born to kill" sect hard at work.

The people of Bil’in, 
led by the village committee,
continued this process. 
They have the high moral ground 
and they are stronger than bullets.

For more than 5 years now, every Friday, at around 1pm, hundreds (if not thousands) of Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals have been demonstrating against the route of the wall and Israel’s apartheid like policies.

This is Palestinian ‘Sumud’ (steadfastness) at its best.

As usual with oppressive regimes, Israel’s response to those peaceful demonstrations has been indiscriminate force. Sometimes lethal.

The story of the Abu Rahme family is a telling one.

In 2008, Ashraf Abu Rahme, was shot at very close range, while bound, by an Israeli Soldier (3).

Ashraf Abu Rahmah, shot2008, while tied up.

In April 2009, Bassem Abu Rahme his brother, was shot at very close range by a tear gas and died from his wounds (4 and 5).

BASSEM IBRAHIM ABU RAHMAH MURDERED AT BILIN, 17/4/09

BIL'IN UNDER FIRE~ PEACEFUL RESISTANCE ASSAILED

Even so, Jawaher Abu Rahme, their sister and thousands of others kept going, kept demonstrating, Friday after Fridays after Fridays. Because that is the whole point of non violence resistance ~ to expose the monstrosity of your oppressor by not responding to the most cruel acts and by nevertheless continuing to stand up against them.

They’ve got U.S bullets; U.S weapons and one of the most sophisticated army on their side (thanks in part to a 3 billion dollars US cheque every year), the people of Bil’in have got the truth, the law and the high moral ground.

The point about this weekly demonstration

 is to show the Israeli army and its government

that their violence will not stop the Palestinians.

On New Year’s Day, thousands had joined the people of Bil’in to demonstrate and celebrate New Year in the best way possible. Resisting, together, regardless of your country of birth, race or religion and standing up against oppression.

Jawaher probably chanted “la la el jidar” (no, no, to the wall) and walked, side by side with others, towards the Apartheid Wall and the line of soldiers, waiting on top of the hill. She then probably run away when the first tear gas were fired, regrouped, and walked back towards the wall again.

~ Or maybe she did not. Not this time.

She inhaled a huge quantity of this most poisonous substance and was taken to a Ramallah hospital. She never recovered and died (6). 

For this, a courageous woman was killed.

 

The Holy Land is not the land of miracles.

The Israeli government and its army have been for years now using the West Bank and Gaza as their testing ground. The Palestinians are their guinea pigs. The Israeli army uses tear gas that would probably be banned in any other country in the world. They shoot tear gas, directly at protesters, once again, an illegal act. But a very rewarding one. Israel’s security industry is booming. It’s never been that good. Countries all over the world are buying Israel’s expertise in security, crowd control and weaponry every day. Israeli soldiers are training other countries commandos all over the planet.

When there is a profit to be made, the law does not count.

An investigation will probably be launched into the incident by the Israeli Army itself.

The aggressor investigating itself. Israel, under cover of democracy, investigates itself. The problem is that no one is never held to account and those investigations often end in a whitewash.

Bassem’s death was investigated, but closed a few months later.

Ashraf’s case was also investigated; we’re still waiting for the verdict.

Jawaher Abu Rahmah is laid to rest next to her brother Bassem Abu Rahmah, who was also killed during a peaceful protest in Bil'in.

In total, only 6% of the Israeli soldiers investigated over the last decades have ever been convicted for their actions. Most of the time, those held to account were only reprimanded and never faced jail or any serious actions. That’s Israel’s democracy in full flown.

The good thing is that less and less people are fooled by this. Israel, a self proclaimed Jewish State, as the only democracy in the Middle East sounds more and more like a laughable quote.

It is becoming easier and easier to show that Israel is not a democracy.

Activists around the globe do not have to look to hard. Israel’s is doing a good job of demolishing its own myth by passing laws discriminating it’s own populations (Palestinian minority),

by arresting and imprisoning Palestinian’s peace activists

without providing any evidence,

by demolishing houses, Bedouins’ villages,

by striping Palestinians of their residency in Jerusalem,

by building more Jewish only settlements in East Jerusalem,

by kicking Palestinians out of their homes and putting extremists settlers in their place,

by bombing a Ghetto (Gaza),

by killing peace activists (Freedom Flotilla),

by repeatedly ignoring UN resolutions

~ the list is endless

The issue now is how, for the Palestinians and their supporters to use this to make sure changes for the best happen on the ground.

The Boycott Divestment and Sanctions strategy is working very well and is a means for activists to unite under one manifesto. Corporations are divesting from Israel, Trade Unions and passing motions to boycott settlements goods, Universities are refusing to collaborate with their Israeli counterpart.

The point of all this for the Palestinians to show the whole world, that they will not remain silent, they will not disappear.

As Howard Zinn said:

"The reward for participating in a movement for social justice

is not the prospect of future victory.

It is the exhilaration of standing together with other people,

taking risks together, enjoying small triumphs

and enduring disheartening setbacks-together. "

Jawaher’s death was another disheartening setback for anyone with a conscience.

It is also a very powerful wake up call for anyone that has remained silent so far. This is not an option. In the universal struggle for human rights, everyone needs to be involved, in the hope that one day, change will happen and another powerful page of history will be written, by us, the people.

This family has certainly been targeted by the Israelis. There is no getting past that fact with the death or incarceration of so many brave men and women.

Israel makes another Ghandi like figure from the Abdullah Abu Rahmah, a taxi driver, and a leader of the Bil’in Popular struggle committee; he was sentenced to one year in prison for his involvement in Non Violent protests that Bil’in holds every Friday.

What really happened in Bilin and how the New York Times got it wrong

Demonstrators ‘return’ tear gas canisters to US ambassador home over the killing of a Bil’in protester