Bil'in Celebration

The only tear gas we breathed this friday came from this used canisters' display in the village center...
After almost three years of friday demonstrations, this time we came to Bil'in to celebrate.
Wagee is holding an Israeli right-wing newspaper, whose headline is "Victory to the Rioters". The "rioters" are the nonviolent demonstrators in Biliin, the victory is the recent Israeli supreme court ruling, forcing the army to change the route of the separation fence near Bil'in, and to return to the village some of its lands.
About 500 demonstrators, Palestinian and Israeli, marched to the fence where we were, as usual, stopped by the army.... The demonstration has started with a short prayer...

and then speeches:
here are excerpts from a moving speech by Bassel Mansour of the popular commitee (hebrew, english).
... and this is Muhammad of the popular committee:
...and this is Salam Fayyed the new PA prime minister:


Thanks to his presence, and perhaps to the fabulous truck-top DJ, the army has let us celebrate, and did not disperse the demonstration by force... so the Red Crescent guys could also relax...
...and the dancing began...
This is Mustafa Barghouti, on Wagee's shoulders...
...and this is Muhammad again...
Abdalla of the popular committee gives an interview
Wagee's son:

and here are our lawyers... Smadar with Wagee
... and Gabi with Yonatan... (Michael Sfard did not come)





The army stayed behind the fence, "SHOOTING" only film...



Taunting the soldiers (gently, gently...)

Note the soldier taking pictures of the party on his private cellphone, to bring home...
The dancing went on and on...
and when the organizers have declared the end of the demonstration, we have all marched back... this time, not running from tear gas, from sound grenades, from rubber coated bullets... just like that, walking away!


Wagee has invited us to his house - and offered us fresh figs from their trees... the view from their front porch includes the new settlement across the fence...
The struggle is not over. The fence is still here, and in many other villages, and next friday, the demonstrations will continue....
But today, we go back to the village square, where the village men are still dancing...





... and like always, the weary demonstrators waiting for their service taxis have to have some falafel...

...The palestinian taxis dropped us near one of the porous seams between "israel" and "palestine" (these are to be found everywhere, but less and less on the ground, more and more in our bodies and souls)...
...and here we are climbing to the Israeli-only highway, crossing back through the looking glass...
looking back behind my shoulder:
pictures: Dalit Baum and Yael Lerer

Excerpts from Speech - Bil'in Celebration

Thanks to the (Cowardly) High Court
by: Bassel Mansour

Selected comments by the representative of the People's Committee of Bil'in, Bassel Mansour, to Israelis that participated in the demonstration after the decision by the Israeli High Court,
Bil'in, Sept 7th 2007.

Recorded by Ehud Ein Gil, Translated from Ha'aretz, Sept 11, 2007 by Red Pharmacist.

Lovers of peace, friends of freedom and justice... our partners in the struggle and in the creation of this partial victory -- I bless you in the name of our Palestinian people, in the name of the residents of Bil'in, that you came to know, and that came to know you, and that you stood by their side ever since they began their opposition to the fence and the settlement that squats on a large part of their land.  You came to us without considering the consequences -- the Zionist occupational government attempts to implant the deceptive and distorted idea that the Palestinans are your enemy and want to kill you.  By way of this shared journey, we proved the opposite and together we demonstrated the truth -- that Israelis can stand beside Palestinians and live with them in peace and security, and even struggle with them against injustice and occupation, on the fundamental basis that this occupation is an enemy of humanity.

You succeeded in overcoming the army's roadblocks in order to arrive here through a difficult mountanous path and were vulnerable to its shooting attacks.  In this way many of you were wounded by bullets that originated from the unmerciful occupation army -- and not from Palestinians, that the occupation attempts to distort and portray as a vicious animal that wants to devour Israelis or throw them into the sea.

You were braver than your fearful government.  You participated in the struggle actively and in every way -- morally, physically, in the courts and in the media.  In the battlefield, you were on the frontlines, calling with us for freedom, in your belief that only the manifestation of justice will guarantee the creation of peace and security for our two peoples, and not the building of walls and the expanding of weapons' warehouses.

You have been real partners -- awake with us late at night, in confronting the almost daily invasions of village homes by the army;  together with us you opposed many attempts to arrest, and you yourselves were injured and arrested -- and you conveyed the true picture to the Israeli society.  You disputed the positions of the government and the army in every arena -- until the entire world was a witness to this special connection that was created on the land of Bil'in, that united the conversation and the meeting between cultures, creeds and religions.  A connection like this must be victorious, history must immortalize it.

Honourable audience, one of the biggest difficulties in this campaign was how to organize and manage the connection with the Israelis in solidarity, after our Palestinians people have always suffered injustice from the Zionist occupation.  This was done while Palestinians aspire to lives of freedom, respect, and culture, and the mobilization of the most amount of Israelis possible and international representatives to stand up to the injustice.  Once the Israelis in solidarity understood all of this, they became dedicated to the work and became real warriors that earned the trust of all.  They contributed much by revealing the true face of the occupation -- its tactics, its lies and its organized terror against Palestinians -- in opposition to those that attempt to normalize and whitewash the occupation.

These people were always willing to take upon itself whatever was asked of it by the People's Committee, and more than this, often took the initiative, offering ideas and suggestions.  In this way, they demonstrated that they were true fighters -- not only fans or friends, or cogs in the machine of the occupation.  They are heroes in the non-violent campaign of the brave.

Honourable audience, recently a decision was taken by the body called the Israeli High Court of Justice, to cancel sections of the fence in Bil'in and to return a small amount of the stolen lands.  This decision was taken after a long campaign with the participation of peace workers from every land, and the shooting injuries of almost a thousand demonstrators, in addition to tens of arrests and many more assaults.

We went to this occupational court not out of faith in it, but to prove that these courts are nothing but tools of the occupation.  They are like a soldier that shoots you in the head and kills you, and then wraps your head in a white cloth, to be portrayed as a first aid worker.  In its decision, this court proved to be cowardly and causes injustice, and we turn your attention to the fact that our campaign was against the principle of the wall and not opposition to its route.

Therefore we will continue in our struggle, until the occupational government destroys the wall and the settlements in all of Palestine, and we will build together, with our bodies, real bridges of love and security and peace, in order to conquer the wall and we will crush all of the plans of the occupation until we reach the ocean that knows no border -- and on its safe shores, we will sing the song of freedom and peace, together -- far from the injustices of the occupation and its roadblocks and barriers.

Blessings and respect to all of the Israelis, each and every one individually, that believe in peace and our legitimate rights, and welcome to Bil'in.