Victory in Bil’in

04Sep07

Excellent news!

“Israel’s supreme court has ordered the government to redraw the route of the West Bank barrier near Bilin village, a key focus of anti-barrier protest.

The court accepted an appeal by Bilin residents, who had argued that the barrier prevented them from reaching 50% of their agricultural land.”

Of course, as Chris Rossdale points out here, this is a totally cynical move on the part of the Israeli government/High Court because a) the wall causes humanitarian suffering for many Palestinians across the West Bank, including some communities that are completely surrounded by it, and b) the wall is illegal not only in Bil’in, but wherever it cuts into the West Bank (i.e. around 80% of it).

The UN OCHA recently published an extensive report (.pdf) into the humanitarian impacts of the wall – it’s well worth a read.

For now, a big congratulations to the Bil’in villagers, the International Solidarity Movement, Anarchists Against the Wall and all the other groups and individuals who have fought for so long to achieve this basic justice.

It may only seem like a small victory, but, as Craig Murray explained in Murder in Samarkand, that is how you defeat and overcome an oppressive system – you keep chip, chipping away until, finally, it falls to pieces.


Filed under: Activism, Israeli / Palestinian, News and politics   |  6 Comments
Tags: , , ,

6 Responses to “Victory in Bil’in”  

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address
  1. 1 Ali on September 5, 2007 said:

    This is indeed great news, it shows that protesting and dissent are effective forms of resistance against the powers that be.

  2. 2 JamieSW on September 5, 2007 said:

    Exactly. Although, in the same area of the West Bank, some not-so-great news:

    ‘The High Court of Justice ruled Wednesday that dozens of existing buildings built in a controversial neighborhood of the West Bank settlement of Modi’in Ilit will not be demolished, despite the fact that they were built illegally and partially on private Palestinian land.

    The High Court thus rejected a petition filed against the Matityahu-East neighborhood a year and a half ago by Peace Now and Bili’in Council. Residents of the West Bank village of Bili’in own some of the property on which the neighborhood was built.’

  3. 3 JamieSW on September 5, 2007 said:

    Just received this in my inbox from Gush Shalom:

    ‘Yesterday (4/9/07) the High Court released its verdict in the petition of the village of Bil’in against the separation barrier constructed on its land. More than two and a half years of joint struggle finally prevailed on the High-Court to deviate from its normal pattern of facilitating every move to dispossess Palestinians. The court decided that the present route of the fence is illegal and that the State must propose and alternative route within a reasonable period. According to the decision, the alternative route must retain Bil’in agricultural land on the Palestinian side of the barrier. Moreover, the court has decided that the benefits of the present route is disproportional to the damage it causes, and ordered the state to consider refraining from including the planned eastern section of the “Matitiahu-Mizrah” neighborhood on the “Israeli” side of the fence.

    In the words of the judges “The present route raises grave questions also in regards to the security advantages it was said to provide…and the selected route cannot be explained other then by the intention to include the eastern section of “Matitiahu-Mizrah” on the west side of the separation barrier”. This means that the route cannot be rationalized except by the efforts to steal and confiscate the land, consideration forbidden even by the criterions endorsed by the court.

    Even with the best legal representation the ruling could not have arrived at without the unrelenting struggle mounted by the village of Bil’in against the construction of the barrier. The residents of Bil’in had raised the flag of the joint non-violent struggle from the very beginning of construction on the barrier and did not forsake it for a moment. All of us, who shared the struggle, are fortunate to have participated in an event unprecedented in its importance. We were privileged to have formed very meaningful bonds as well a sense of empowerment that is the prize of those who persists in confronting violent oppression and overcome it.

    The journey is still long. The High-Court, failed to rule that the wall should be moved to the Green-Line, and of course did not abolish the separation it produces. The present ruling is indeed an achievement and reinforces the popular struggle against the wall. The common struggle against the occupation shall go on! Palestinians and Israelis shall join hands and shall behold, through their deeds, that the apartheid shall fail and the robbery shall not pass!

    On this coming Friday We shall all arrive to Bil’in to show the occupation system that the struggle against the apartheid and theft, and for justice and equality is well alive!’

  4. 4 Asa on September 5, 2007 said:

    Hi Jamie,

    The Ha’aretz article you post is directly relevant to Bil’in and this court verdict. Mod’in Illite settlement is built on Bil’in village land. The wall as it currently exists affectively annexes Mod’in Illite AND and an extra chunk of Bil’in village land, currently built on but taken for the future expansion of the settlement. The good news is that yesterday’s court verdict means that the military will have to destroy and rebuild part of the wall here so that this extra chunk of land goes back to the village. The bad news is that, as the Haaretz article points out, the existing settlements will stay.

    So a partial victory then. BUT as you rightly point out, we’ll take that :)

    Are you coming to the vigil at Wembley on Sat?

    http://www.palestinecampaign.org/campaigns.asp?d=y&id=147

  5. 5 Asa on September 5, 2007 said:

    By the way, I just updated the ISM London website with the new ISM Olive Harvest call, for anyone thinking of going to Palestine this Olive Harvest:

    http://www.ism-london.org.uk/

  6. 6 JamieSW on September 5, 2007 said:

    Hi Asa,

    Thanks for the background info. Yes it is only a partial victory, but an important and symbolic one nevertheless, I think. It is good to have an example of successful non-violent, Israeli/Palestinian/international cooperative resistance. One injustice has been partially fixed, and the rally at Bil’in this Friday will demonstrate that the struggle will continue until all of the illegal parts of the wall are dismantled and, ultimately, until the overarching injustice of the occupation itself is destroyed.

    I’m not free this Saturday, unfortunately, but I will probably be going on the next ISM training course in London. I might see you in the West Bank next year! ;)


Leave a Reply