Wedding Day in Occupied Palestine

Wedding Day in Occupied Palestine

Friday, July 14, 2006

Today, the Michigan Peace Team attended the weekly nonviolent demonstration in the village of Bil'in, West Bank, Palestine. Bil'in has received international attention for its consistent nonviolent demonstrations every Friday against the illegal wall that Israel is building on its land. Internationals from many countries, as well as Israelis, attend the demonstrations. Holocuast survivors have also joined them.

Last week, the group was joined by famous dancers and musicians from the Basque region of Spain. They were met with sound grenades, tear gas, and rubber bullets. The presence of international peace activists helps to prevent worse violence, such as live ammunition, because internationals will document and inform their home countires of such abuse. Also, the death of an international will receive wider media attention and possibly reprecussions for Israel. The deaths of Palestinians are mentioned in the media, but often go unnamed.

Today the demonstration in Bil'in included an actual wedding--the bride and groom wore the standard wedding garb except the bride carried a Palestinian flag.

As they got to the gate, a boy threw a stone at one of the Israeli soldiers who was not wearing a helmet. This particular soldier has been very harsh with his treatment towards the people of Bil'in in the past.

Right after the stone was tossed the soldiers started beating people with clubs and shooting rubber bullets. About 26 people were injured, 2 of them serious enough to go to the hospital by ambulance. 11 Internationals were injured and went to the hospital in Ramallah. Also injured were 5 journalists, 6 Palestinians and 4 Israelis.

Our peace team was told that if the Internationals were not in the front line the Israeli soldiers would have used real bullets. The Internationals are from Sweden, Ireland, Switzerland, Denmark and Austria as well as our team.

During all this the wedding party danced around the bride and groom! What a wedding day!

The team reports that people are very aware of the Lebanon situation and the crisis in Gaza.