[wvns] Legal victory in struggle against Wall
A Palestinian child and a flag near a group of Israeli
soldiers during a demonstration against the
construction of the wall in the West Bank village of
Bil'in, July 2006. (Mushir Abdelrahman/MaanImages)
Legal victory in struggle against wall
Nora Barrows-Friedman
The Electronic Intifada
Sep 6, 2007
On Tuesday, the Israeli high court decided in favor of
a petition drawn up by the Palestinian villagers of
Bil'in in the occupied West Bank to change the current
route of the illegal apartheid wall which encircles
the small village. For years, residents of Bil'in,
along with international and Israeli activists, have
led nonviolent resistance actions every week against
the encroaching wall and the illegal settlement
colonies that expand on a daily basis on their land.
Villagers and activists have been tear-gassed, shot
at, arrested, and beaten by Israeli occupation
soldiers during direct confrontations against the wall
and the continued theft of Bil'in land, but the
resistance presence has grown into what organizers and
Palestinian leaders call a force to be reckoned with.
Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi, Palestinian legislator and
secretary-general of Al Mubadara, the Palestinian
National Initiative, stated that Tuesday's court
ruling was a direct result of the steadfast resistance
movement in Bil'in.
Though the court decision ruled that the illegal
apartheid wall should be moved somewhat, there is
still a significant amount of village land that will
remain on the other side of the wall.
Additionally, the court ruled that dozens of existing
buildings in the illegal settlement colony of Modiin
Illit should not be demolished despite the fact that
the colony sits on Bil'in land, owned by several
Palestinian families.
The fact that the illegal wall will be altered in its
course is definitely a significant relief to the
villagers, the land-owners and the dedicated
resistance activists who have stood in defiance of the
wall and the soldiers, but is by no means an outright
triumph for the movement. The wall is still eating up
land at an accelerated rate, and the settlement
colonies have been given the green light by the
current court ruling to continue the status quo:
creating facts on the ground in direct contravention
to international law. Settlers still get to keep their
illegal, spreading colonies and apartheid matrix
systems that slice up the West Bank, as any
realization of a so-called "viable Palestinian state"
remains an elusive and illogical pipe dream.
Over three years ago, the International Court of
Justice ruled that the apartheid wall is illegal and
must be dismantled, that Palestinians receive
appropriate reparations and that all states that
respect the Fourth Geneva Convention are under
obligation "not to recognize the illegal situation
resulting from the construction of the wall and not to
render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation
created by such construction." Yet Israel has outright
scoffed at the ruling, and no foreign state has come
forward to denounce Israel's practices of apartheid
and land theft as mandated by the ICJ decision.
What happened in Bil'in is certainly a step forward,
following in the path of several villages that have
stood firm against the increasing colonization of
their land. Budrus, a small village near Bili'in, won
a court battle that pushed the route of the apartheid
wall back to the so-called "Israeli" side of the
invisible green line -- marking the internationally
recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank
-- nearly two years ago, but received little attention
in the media. And community leaders inside Budrus were
not quick to claim total victory; the wall still looms
on the horizon and continues to make life completely
impossible for their neighbors.
Activists involved in the struggle for Bil'in know
that the fight is not close to being over. According
to Yonatan Pollack of Anarchists Against the Wall,
Bili'in "is a symbol of resistance -- ultimately, the
people have power over Israeli institutions and
interests. The fact that the court ruled in favor
against the wall is not because it is fond of human
rights, but because it was forced to do so by a
powerful lawyer and a popular uprising. It is
important to remember that the court decision is still
in deviation from international law; it still approves
building the wall and promoting the illegal policy of
segregation. The struggle does not end with this court
ruling. [And] it is going to take a long time before
the army proposes a new route, gets it approved by the
court ... and the new route is implemented and the old
wall dismantled."
Pollack says that the larger context is important to
keep in mind while looking at the situation in Bil'in.
"The overall picture is that of Israeli annexation of
land and strategic control over the Palestinian
population. The most important thing people can do in
the international arena is to support the boycott,
divestment and sanctions movement, which is the most
powerful tool of international resistance."
As Israel clamps down in the West Bank, East Jerusalem
and Gaza, backed and fortified by US and EU allies in
its military-industrial colonization project,
villagers and activists across occupied Palestine are
hoping that these small sparks of resistance actions
will grow and multiply as the occupation intensifies.
Pollack agrees, saying, "We hope that this ruling in
Bil'in will help fuel other villages to fight the wall
and resist the overall occupation."
Nora Barrows-Friedman is the Senior Producer and
co-host of Flashpoints on Pacifica Radio and travels
several times a year to occupied Palestine to document
the situation. She is also a freelance reporter for
Inter Press Service. She can be reached at
norabf AT gmail DOT com. Her website is www.norabf.com.
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