Bil’in’s June 20, 2008 Demonstration

The village of Bil’in has been holding weekly non-violent demonstrations against the illegal Israeli occupation and the apartheid wall for three consecutive years. Israeli activists and other internationals support local villagers at these peaceful protests. In return, the Israeli army has used all manner of violent methods and weapons to silence the Bil’in resistance, even though Bil’in’s approach has been non-violent.

The use of disproportionate and sometimes lethal force against peaceful resistance has been perpetuated by the Israeli High Court’s decision to "legally" allow the use of live ammunition on peaceful Palestinian protestors, barring the use of live ammunition only when internationals and Israeli activists are present at protests. The Israeli army has begun using live ammunition against Palestinian protestors in Bil’in even when internationals and Israeli activists are present, violating its own racist laws.

The use of live ammunition has resulted in many serious injuries to Bil’in villagers, such as to Ibrahim Burnat who was shot with three bullets in his thigh at the June 13, 2008 protest. Burnat was hospitalized in Ramallah in critical condition. While his condition is improving, he remains hospitalized at this time.

Three MPTers went to Bil’in to participate in the June 20, 2008 demonstration. They and the other protestors carried signs and banners denouncing the use of live ammunition at these non-violent actions. They also raised posters with pictures of some of the villagers who have been wounded by the Israeli army during previous protests. The posters include the slogan, "Despite the hatred of your bullets we will uproot your wall."

The Israeli army’s initial response was to activate a loud, high-pitched shrieking sound known as “the scream” that pierces the air and hurts the ears. Following the scream, the soldiers showered the protesters with tear gas and flash bombs. A new tear gas launcher was used which fires thirty canisters in one barrage. Dozens of people were treated for tear gas inhalation.

Rubber-coated steel bullets were also fired at the peaceful protesters, resulting in a number of injuries. Heat from the Israeli weapons ignited many fires in the surrounding fields, forcing protesters already combating gas and rubber bullets to simultaneously work at putting out the fires. Several olive trees were lost to the fires.

When the army had stopped firing, the Palestinians invited internationals to sit with them for a while under an olive tree. After a time of chanting anti-occupation messages, everyone returned to the village when the local Palestinians, not the army, decided it was time to do so.

As in previous protests, the people of Bil’in sent the message that they will not be bullied by Israel's use of deadly force. Their peaceful struggle to bring about an end to the illegal settlements, the apartheid wall, and the occupation as a whole will continue.

Earlier in the day, a family, that had hosted MPTers during Bil’in’s international conference two weeks earlier, had invited the MPTers and three of their international friends to have lunch with them after the demonstration. The invitation to lunch was gladly accepted and proved to be a wonderful antidote to the distressing violence of the Israeli army during the demonstration. The family served, among other delicious dishes, the largest platter of chicken and rice their guests had ever seen.

After eating and drinking tea, the host suggested it was time for some Arabic music. The family’s oldest son brought a beautiful stringed instrument into the room and his father played lovely, soothing music. The father also talked about his own deep desire for peace for all peoples. It was a privilege and an honor to spend time with this warm and generous family.

MPTers cannot get over the amazing commitment and courage of the people of Bil’in. They continue their non-violent demonstrations week after week after week, even though some of them have been beaten and injured time after time.

The Extraordinary is Nothing but Ordinary at Checkpoint 300

“Welcome” said the Palestinian woman ahead of MPT at the massive Checkpoint 300 between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. She had just had her documents checked and been fingerprinted. She watches as MPTers get by easily with their U.S. passports. Yes, here is the real welcome. It is not the soldiers behind the bulletproof glass, but the women whose community we are entering that welcome us.

Checkpoint 300 is the military designation for the exit and entry point for Palestinians traveling between Jerusalem and the north and beyond. It was built in November 2005 to replace an older, smaller and more simple checkpoint. It sits under the illegal Israeli settlement of Gilo.

Gilo settlement

MPT arrived at Checkpoint 300 at 5:10 am on Monday, June 16, 2008. It was quite a sight as hundreds of men were already in line. Every man in Bethlehem lucky enough to have a work permit must pass through this checkpoint every day on his way to work in Jerusalem.

MPT’s goal for the morning was simply to accompany the Palestinians on their typical morning checkpoint experiences as they went to work. MPTers would also keep their eyes open for human rights abuses as checkpoint 300 is one of the most militarized checkpoints in the West Bank and is infamous for violence and harsh interrogations.

The checkpoint is closed during the night so no one can enter or leave Bethlehem. It is supposed to open at 5:00 am. At 5:10 am, there was no sign of it being open. Around 5:20 am, it opened and the first charge of people toward the entrance began. Everyone started rushing and moving, hoping to get through the checkpoint as quickly as possible. The line no longer mattered. It was a bizarre experience to watch.

In a couple minutes, movement stopped again and the waiting continued. Every ten minutes the Israelis staffing the checkpoint would let in a few more people and then there would be waiting again. MPT along with the men followed the line into a narrow fenced-in path that runs along the apartheid wall. The wall is covered in writings in many different languages. It has messages like “We want peace” and “Jesus wept for Jerusalem. We weep for Palestine.”

"We want Peace" is written on the Wall next to Checkpoint 300

View up at the Wall from where MPT stood

A man standing in line near MPT explained that today was a good day. There weren’t too many people, he said. It was hard to believe that the hundreds of men did not constitute many people. He also said that it opened close to 5:00 am. Yesterday was awful, he explained, because it had opened closer to 5:30 am. He said the Israeli soldiers open it whenever they feel like it. Before Checkpoint 300 was built, he said, he left his house at 6:30 am to be to work on time. It was only a 15 minute drive to Jerusalem. Now he has to be at the checkpoint by 4:30 am and still doesn’t get to work on time.

When the checkpoint was opened for a few more people, it could first be heard from the back of the line and again everyone would begin to rush. People would run up along beside the fenced-in line and then jump over and get closer to the front. The men in line had a pretty good sense of humor about it. For those couple of minutes while the checkpoint was open, it felt like chaos. A member of MPT said, “majnun, majnun” meaning “crazy, crazy” in Arabic and the men around would laugh and laugh.

Men run up along the side of the line and climb over the fence

Hands reach up to help a man climb over the fence

At 6:50 am, MPT reached the first turnstile. It had been an hour and a half and it was just the first step. Everyone held up their documents as they passed through the turnstile. MPT stood out of the way and watched as the men went through the turnstile, which brought them to the other side of the apartheid wall, and then took off at a sprint through the parking lot where soldiers and dogs were walking around. The men ran into the checkpoint building that looks like a large warehouse.

Men running from the first turnstile to the next line. Gilo settlement in the background

Once inside the building, there was another line and more waiting. This was the line for the metal detector and MPT watched as men took off their shoes and belts while emptying their pockets. One man even took off the pins in an arm bandage. The soldier behind the glass kept yelling, “Go back” in Arabic to the men for no apparent reason. To the soldier’s surprise, MPTers declined the white privilege preferential treatment she offered them and put their belongings through the metal detectors.

Two pictures of the inside of the checkpoint

Once through this step, the men would run to the next line with their shoes half on as they put their belts back on and prepared their papers. The men then waited in line again to have their work permits checked. They struggled with the new equipment that scans work permits with hardly any instruction. This equipment, along with fingerprint machines, is a gift from the United States to Israel. Some men were fingerprinted. Not all stations have fingerprint machines. It seemed entirely random.

After the second intifada in 2000, Israel cancelled all Palestinian work permits. Every Palestinian had to reapply for a work permit and not many were granted, which accounts for the high unemployment rate in the West Bank. It should be noted that the second intifada erupted following Ariel Sharon’s highly provocative act of entering the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the third most holy site in Islam, with many armed Israeli soldiers.

By the time MPTers reached the last step in the Checkpoint 300 process more than two hours had elapsed. It was hard to imagine doing this every morning before going to a full day’s work.

MPT stayed to observe as every sort of Palestinian man, young and old, short and tall, dressed in business or laborer’s clothing, went through the line. At times, the men grew loud and angry by the metal detector. An MPTer asked one man as he came through if there was a problem. He said, “Everything problem. No easy.”

MPT met a couple of Israeli observers who said this seemed to be a pretty calm day. One of them said, “We may not be able to do much. But sometimes we can do a little.”

If nothing else, hopefully the Palestinians that MPT saw know that internationals care and are watching. Seeing men running with their shoes half on, putting back on their belts, wishing us a good morning, and struggling to show their documents as the equipment kept changing and everything was different depending on which line you were in was difficult to watch. MPT now shares with you what they learned about the absurdity and dehumanization of checkpoints. This story needs to be told so that all who hear it can refuse to let this be ordinary.

Destruction of the Livelihood and Lives of the Bedouin People: Susiya

In early October of 2007, two Michigan Peace Terms visited and spent the night with an older couple, Khalil al-Nawaja and his wife, Thaman al-Nawaja, aged 80 and 64 respectively. [Different news reports give different ages.] Their twelve children work or study in nearby, more developed villages. Their homes have been demolished four times in the last twenty years, forcing them to live in crude tents. In October 2007, families here were celebrating Ramadan, so MPT observed their Ramadan prayer and fasting. [See MPT October 2007 Report 2b on the MPT website]

On June 8, 2008, extremist Israeli settlers viciously attacked this couple and a nephew. A Palestinian in the area who had received a video camera from an Israeli human rights group filmed the incident. BBC has an article on the tragedy. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7451691.stm

The wife was badly beaten in the face so that one cheekbone was shattered but she insisted that they are staying on their land.

Israeli police are investigating the case, but no arrests have been made. Settlers are immune to arrest in most of these cases.

The livelihood and even the lives of the Bedouin people are being destroyed by the actions of illegal Israel settlers.

Bedouin Lives Destroyed in the Jordan Valley

On June 12, 2008, MPT traveled from Haris to the Jordan Valley with friends from the International Women’s Peace Service. It was necessary to pass through two checkpoints on the way, Al Huwara and Tayaser. Al Huwara is the main checkpoint all Palestinians must pass through on their way to and from Nablus. MPT and IWPS passed through easily, but Palestinians are often delayed for hours.

Tayaser checkpoint is a scary affair. All passengers must get out of their vehicles to walk though a metal detector and have their IDs checked by grim-faced Israeli soldiers. Soldiers thoroughly search all vehicles before allowing them to pass.

After serving them tea outside his home, a Palestinian man from the village of Tamun escorted the MPT and IWPS visitors to the Bedouin villages of Al Hadidiya and Al Farisiya.

A military training installation high on a hilltop looms over this Jordan Valley area.

In Al Hadidiya MPT and IWPS visited a family with whom the MPTers had spent eight days in 2007. The family is now living in a new location two or three kilometers away from its previous home.

The homestead in which MPT stayed with this family during 2007 was demolished by the Israeli army in February, 2008. The family rebuilt on the same site, only to have the army return a week later to destroy its home again. Now the site contains only a few scraps of material to indicate it was ever a homestead.

While the army did not shoot the sheep as it sometimes does during these demolitions, twenty-five baby sheep died of exposure because it was too cold for them to live without shelter.

The MPTers were thrilled to see this family again, and it was clear that the family was equally thrilled to see the MPTers and the IWPS women. They shared a delicious lunch with their guests. The MPTers think this Bedouin wife is the best cook in Palestine!

IWPS and MPTers reviewed maps of the area to gain an understanding of other Bedouin homesteads that are subject to demolition orders.

The Bedouin herder talked at length about the complicity of the United States in the destruction of Palestinian homes and lives. He sees the U.S. and Israel as partners in the whole sorry mess. It was really hard for the MPTers, as Americans, to listen to him express this perspective, even though they share it.

On a happier note, the Bedouin herder talked about an Iraqi Jew who lives in the nearby illegal settlement of Roi.

While Roi is built on stolen Palestinian land and uses stolen Palestinian water to thrive, a friendship has somehow developed between the Bedouin herder and this particular settler. The herder says the settler is good with his children, and he has given cheese to the settler. Not only is the herder’s wife the best cook in Palestine, she makes the best cheese, some of which she sent home with her visitors!

When it was time to leave, saying goodbye to these friends was difficult, as the MPTers have no idea if or when another visit will be possible. The Bedouin man evidently felt the same way, as he followed his guests out with a bottle of coca cola in his hand, urging them to return.

Next MPT and IWPS were driven to Al Farisiya, a successful Palestinian agricultural site with many fields and greenhouses. Unfortunately, an illegal Israeli settlement called Rotem has been constructed nearby with its own agricultural enterprises. The underground plastic pipes of the Al Farisiya irrigation system have been cut and the Israeli army has enclosed and locked the main water valve.

MPT and IWPS visited with an Al Farisiya farmer whose home and greenhouses were all destroyed by the Israeli army ten years ago. Now the army has given this farmer demolition orders again for all of his buildings except his greenhouses.

The farmer believes his greenhouses are to be left standing because Israel understands they are valuable investments that could be used by their settlers if they drive the Palestinians away. Since the time that the Israeli army cut off his water supply, this farmer has lost the equivalent of $90,000, partly in his investment in his greenhouses and partly in his inability to raise produce without water.

MPT had been told that the Jordan Valley is being taken by Israel for its own economic settlement. The land is fertile. Wells supply water to greenhouses that produce large quantities of fruits, vegetables and flowers. Bedouin livestock have grazed the land for thousands of years. What MPT saw certainly supports the premise of discriminatory destruction and land theft by Israel for its own economic advantage.

On the way back to Haris, MPT and IWPS passed through the village of Tubas. There they saw a pile of rubble that used to be a Palestinian Authority police station. The Israeli army has destroyed the police station with bulldozers. So goes the occupation.

Third Annual Bil'in Conference Speakers

The Third International Conference on Nonviolent Popular Struggle was held in Bil’in from June 4-6, 2008. More than three hundred people attended, including Palestinians, Israelis and internationals. Many high profile speakers addressed the conference participants, including Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Salem Fayyad, Dr. Rafiq Husseini, Chief of Staff to President Mahmoud Abbas, Louisa Morgantini, European Union parliamentarian and Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from Northern Ireland.

Representatives of Palestinian political parties participated, as did peace activists from Israel and around the world. Delegations from France, Italy, Spain, Germany, England, Canada, Ireland, Greece, Switzerland, the United States and the Netherlands were present. A letter from former American President Jimmy Carter was read to the audience.

Representatives of Palestinian political parties. [above and below]

Dr. Rafiq Husseini, representing Palestinian President Abbas, supported the nonviolent cause by saying metaphorically that “instead of boxing with Mike Tyson, I play chess with him. This is why I will beat him.”

Louisa Morgantini, Vice President of the European Parliament, made the point that the European Union must hold Israel responsible for its present trade agreement with Europe before upgrading the next trade agreement. She also spoke from the floor later in the conference, challenging Palestinian political party leaders to determine decisively whether they want a violent or a nonviolent approach to solving the conflict with Israel, and then to work together in unity, nonviolently, for the good of all Palestinians. Her directness, her passion, and her commitment to peace through nonviolence and to the Palestinians were impressive.

Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize winner from Northern Ireland, stressed that Israel must act like a member of the international community - following international law and stopping settlement construction that is going on unabated. She stated that Israel must talk to Hamas. She urged conference participants to remember that we are all part of a common humanity, and that peace must start in our heads, our hearts, our families and our prayer life.

Omar Barghouti, an independent Palestinian political activist and doctoral student at Tel Aviv University, spoke about the following three prongs of the Palestinian resistance movement.

1. Right of return for refugees

2. An end to occupation and colonization

3. An end to a system of discrimination against indigenous Palestinians of Israel who as non-Jewish citizens are treated as a lesser form of humanity

Barghouti said that he is categorically against a two state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict. He stated, “I want a state where Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews live together as equal citizens in a democratic state.” Barghouti asserted that it is too late morally and too late politically for a two state solution.

He joined other speakers in calling for economic boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. He suggested that more is expected of some nations than others. For instance, Germany could stop the sale of arms to Israel and Great Britain could do a wider boycott of all Israeli products.

Michael Warschowsky, Israeli peace activist and Director of the Alternative Information Center in Jerusalem, spoke passionately, praising the efforts of Bil’in, the resistance of refugees in refugee camps, and the new generation of Israelis such as Anarchists Against the Wall who are putting aside old models of working with and relating to Palestinians. He was ardent in his statement that nothing is irreversible - resistance can change the irreversible.

Two West Bank residents told their stories of oppression and suffering to the audience. One was a man in the village of Mas’ha whose home is entirely circled by the apartheid wall and fence. The other was a teacher from the Tel Rumeda section of Hebron. They each poignantly expressed the human impact of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Khadedah Jarar of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine expressed her view that peace negotiations must be undertaken through the United Nations rather than the United States because the U.S. government supports the Israeli military occupation of Palestine. (She acknowledged that there are groups of American citizens who oppose the occupation.)

Bassman Yassin of the Bil’in Popular Committee read a poem about the Palestinian people and the deep unbreakable ties they have with their land.

Eyad Bornat, President of the Bil’in Popular Committee, spoke regarding the conditions that prompted the Bil’in resistance movement, the strategies that have made the movement a success, the violent reaction of Israeli soldiers to peaceful protests, and the results of the Bil’in struggle.

[Bornat on the right]

Legal Case. An assistant to the lawyer from the firm representing Bil’in in Israeli court regarding the illegal confiscation of over 65% of Bil’in’s land and the ongoing construction of an illegal Israeli settlement on that land spoke about the details of the ongoing legal battle. The law firm began the case in the Israeli courts in 2005. In September 2007, the Israeli High Court ruled that the wall must be moved back, not the entire 65 % but back to the closest settlement buildings.

Nine months later nothing has been done to implement the court ruling. In the meantime, settlers are putting up simple mobile homes in an attempt to prove that the Israel settlement was further out then it actually was. Bil’in’s lawyers are trying to hold the Israeli government in contempt of court, saying that Israel’s security needs do not justify the wall. The lawyers may take this case to the World Court.