Refusing to be Enemies by Kaufman-Lacusta Maxine;

Author:Kaufman-Lacusta, Maxine; [Kaufman-Lacusta, Maxine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Garnet Publishing (UK) Ltd
Published: 2014-09-17T00:00:00+00:00

Since March 2005, when Bil’in’s weekly nonviolent demonstrations began, seventy-five Bil’in residents have been arrested for participating in and/or organizing the protests, hundreds have been injured, some severely, and one beloved organizer, Bassem Abu Rahmeh, was shot in the chest with a high-velocity tear gas canister during the April 17, 2009 demonstration and subsequently died in hospital.22

In the fall of 2005 Bil’in augmented its grassroots resistance by initiating legal proceedings in the Israeli Supreme Court (sitting as the High Court of Justice), with the support of a legal team headed by Tel Aviv attorney Michael Sfard. Finally, two years later, on September 4, 2007, the High Court handed down a ruling “that due to illegal construction in part of Modi’in Illit, unfinished housing could not be completed and that the route of the Wall be moved several hundred meters west, returning 25% of Bil’in’s lands to the village.” (Figures and quotes in the preceding four paragraphs are from Burnat’s dispatch of November 7, 2009, unless otherwise noted.)

The Israeli Supreme Court Rules in Bil’in’s Favour—But …

Despite the partial nature of the September 4 ruling—and the fact that the very next day the High Court rejected Bil’in’s petition to halt construction on the remainder of its confiscated land—Mohammed Khatib reiterated Bil’in’s determination to persist in its nonviolent resistance despite such disappointments.

[W]hen the Israeli army started bulldozing our land and uprooting olive trees to build the wall, we went to our fields to protest. We learned from other West Bank villages that nonviolently resisted the wall, and we studied Gandhi, King and Mandela. We developed creative activities for our weekly protests… . [held] international conferences on nonviolent resistance … . Our achievements are due to our persistence, the worldwide media attention we attracted, and the support we gained from committed Israeli activists. …

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