‘Elders’ delegation visits Bil’in Apartheid wall
Thursday 27 August 2009
The “Elders”, former US President, Jimmy Carter, Mrs. Carter and South African, Archbishop Desmond Tutu visit the Apartheid wall in Bil’in, as a part of the “Elders” delegation, which also included 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 businessmen Richard Branson and Jeff Skoll.
Former president Carter pointed to the land on the other side of the wall where the illegal 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 and Nelson Mandela 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.”
The “Elders” placed symbolic stones on the monument commemorating Bassem Abu Rahme, a non-violent activist who was shot dead on the 17th April 2009 while attempting to speak with Israeli soldiers during a non-violent demonstration. (A video can be seen here)
The Bil’in popular committee and their friends including Luisa Morgantini, the former vice president of the European Parliament, and Israeli activists welcomed the delegation and invited them to participate in Bil’in’s annual conference for non-violent popular resistance. The delegation met Raja Abu Rahme, the daughter of Adib Abu Rahme, a leading non-violent activist from Bil’in. Adib was arrested on 10th July during a non-violent demonstration and is being held in Ofer military prison Raja told them about her father’s arrest and about the night raid arrests that the Israeli military began in Bil’in on 23rd June 2009. (More information here)
Friday28 August 2009
For the second anniversary of the murder of Abo Ali Mustapha, a leader of Al Jaba Shabiya (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) who was killed by the Israeli Army on 28.08.2007, the PFLP including two groups from Lebanon and Syria joined Bil’in’s Friday demonstration today. Several demonstrators, among them a ten-year-old girl, had to be rescued by the Ambulance and provided with oxygen due to heavy tear gas during the demonstration.
As the protesters reached the Apartheid Wall, Israeli activists dressed up as construction workers with yellow helmets holding up road signs such as “Illegal Wall ahead,” “Wall Removal in Progress,” and “Construction work” ahead” cordoned off the barbed-wire fence and gate inside the Wall. One of the activists hit the steel fence with a huge hammer in a symbolic action of destroying the Wall.
As several people, among them Khalida Jarrar and Cais Abu Laila, and other leaders of the PFLP, addressed the occupation forces through the megaphone, the occupation forces used the multiple tear gas cannon very early on. The “bad smell” water truck arrived soon thereafter effectively dispersing the protesters closest to the Wall. Tear gas continued to be shot from two directions causing many people acute respiratory problems. The Ambulance was in action again and again rescuing them and providing them with oxygen.
Suddenly one shot of live ammunition was fired into the air but thankfully no one was shot directly.
Further information about the weekly Bil’in demonstation here