Rani, bottom right, facing soldiers and tear gas .
 

In September 2000, at the beginning of the second intifada, or the popular uprising against Israeli military occupation of Palestine, Rani Bournat, a resident of Bil’in village and a handsome young man in his twenties, was shot in the back of the neck by an Israeli soldier while attending a nonviolent demonstration in Ramallah. Rani no longer has the use of either of his two legs or of one of his arms, and for the rest of his life, he will have to use a wheelchair for mobility. Every Friday for the last three years, Rani, along with his father Wagi and other members of their family, has participated in a creative, powerful, and nonviolent protest against the apartheid wall that is being built by Israel throughout the West Bank in order to steal Palestinian land. This wall has cut Rani and all of the villagers of Bil’in off from 60% of their agricultural land.

These weekly protests are part of a larger nonviolent movement in Bil’in that was begun by its residents three years ago, and which has been widely supported by Israeli and international activists. This inspirational movement led to a September 2007 order by the Israeli High Court that the Israeli military must move the wall west and return about 250 acres of the 575 stolen acres of land to the villagers of Bil’in. Unfortunately, the High Court did not rule against the Israeli settlement of Mattiyahu East, built behind the wall on land stolen from Bil’in.  Because of this reason, and because the military has not yet obeyed the court order to move the wall, the villagers continue to actively resist.

Villagers in Bil’in beginning the march in good spirits .

On Friday, November 17th, Martha, David, and Brenna of MPT joined about 200 others in Bil’in for a march against the wall. The night before, we had met with four of the nine members of the newly created society, “The Friends of Freedom and Justice in Bil’in” (www.ffj-bilin.org), to learn about their vision of spreading their model of nonviolent struggle to other villages in Palestine. The office of these hard-working villagers was small and run-down, but, as they told us, they “have to start somewhere.”

This Friday morning was like every other Friday in Bil’in had been for the last three years: villagers met with Palestinians, Israelis (including two former soldiers), and international supporters at the home of one of the leaders of the popular committee, to convey the strategy and spirit of the demonstration to its participants. This particular week, however, about 15 members of the French Parliament and EU officials were present to witness the day’s events.

After midday Friday prayers at the village mosque, our animated group of 200 began the march from the village towards the wall, singing and chanting joyfully along the way. Children waved to us as we walked by, and many joined the crowd. When we were about a half mile away from the wall, however, our procession was met by the Israeli army, which established a military barricade and told us that if we crossed it, we would be attacked.

Man beaten by soldiers being rushed to ambulance.

When demonstrators continued forward toward the wall, soldiers immediately began firing numerous sound bombs and canisters of tear gas into the crowd. The burning sensation of tear gas made it extremely difficult for us to see or breathe, so for a short time our demonstration scattered while people tried to avoid inhaling any of the billowing clouds of smoke. Several people received some assistance from the ambulance people because of tear gas inhalation. We soon regrouped to walk again toward the wall, this time with our hands in the air. Before we got even close to the soldiers, however, we were met again with a barrage of tear gas and rubber bullets, and we had to turn around. Despite the continual onslaught of such weapons, however, we managed to stay in the area, close to the apartheid wall, for about an hour and a half.

Four people in the demonstration – two Palestinians, one Israeli, and one American – were detained by the army, though they were later released. At least one Palestinian man had to be taken away in an ambulance because he was severely beaten in the legs by Israeli soldiers. Nine demonstrators in total were injured, one hit at close range in his behind with two tear gas canisters, leaving burn marks in his pants, and another hit in the inner thigh with a rubber bullet.

Medical relief worker helps boy with tear-gas inhalation.

Over the course of the last three years, as a result of soldiers’ violence against protestors in Bil’in, more than 800 people have been injured. An Israeli attorney and a Bil’in resident have both suffered permanent brain damage from rubber-coated steel bullets shot from close range. Another Palestinian has lost sight in one eye. 49 Bil’in residents have been arrested, and many have suffered home-raids by the Israeli army. Some have spent months in prison with no charge. Still, although a few of the youth in Bil’in have responded to such attacks by throwing rocks toward the soldiers with slingshots (and have been met with rubber bullets and live ammunition), the resistance of the villagers of Bil’in to the military occupation of their town has been overwhelmingly nonviolent.

Bil’in residents and their supporters have participated in about 200 nonviolent demonstrations in three years. Along with weekly marches, protestors have employed such creative tactics as chaining themselves to olive trees that are standing in the wall’s path in order to prevent them from being uprooted, blocking bulldozers, erecting a small dwelling on Bil’in’s confiscated land to prevent settlers from claiming that the land had been “abandoned” by villagers, building and standing inside an enclosure of prison bars on the route of the wall, and constructing a “mock wall” on top of themselves to demonstrate how the real wall is killing people.

Tear gas billowing from canister shot by Israeli soldiers.

When the November 17th demonstration was over, Martha, David, and Brenna visited with Wagi and Rani and their family, who generously provided us with dinner. We stayed for about four hours, discussing the demonstration and the occupation, imagining ways that freedom would one day come to the people of Palestine. During dinner, Wagi’s adolescent son returned home with a barrel full of tear gas canisters he collected from the demonstration – a way to prove to outsiders what the soldiers have done.

Eyad Burnat, head of FFJ Bil’in, with Brenna and Martha.

Wagi told us that he used to work construction in Israel proper – “I have built every kind of building you can conceive of” – but that when Rani was injured, Israeli officials took away Wagi’s permit to enter Israel. Afraid that he would try to get revenge for what Israeli soldiers did to his son, Israel has prevented Wagi or any one in his family from ever even visiting Jerusalem.

After dinner, we joined Wagi, his wife, their 4-year-old son Hamoudi, their teenage son Ahmed, and Rani, around a laptop computer to watch Shai Pollack’s recent award-winning film, Bil’in, Habibti (Bil’in, My Love). Focusing on Wagi and Rani, the film documents the nonviolent movement against the wall in Bil’in from 2004-2006. When the film ended, we listened to Wagi sing the chant that we had heard repeated again and again in the previous two days, by men, women, and the smallest of children, with a gleam in their eyes and hope written across their faces. This chant is one of many that have become a sort of mantra in the village of Bil’in – their repetition and their rhythm breathing life into the struggle of the people, even when all seems lost: “Say hey. . . say ho. . . occupation has to go…say hey…say ho…occupation has to go…say hey…say ho…”

For more information about Bil’in and its nonviolent movement, visit http://www.bilin-village.org