Just Another Friday in Bilin

Last Friday I went to Bilin with a friend from our PSE group. We picked up a couple people in Jerusalem and drove to Ramallah, the Palestinian city just north of Jerusalem. There we picked up another person to make a group of five going to join the weekly Friday protest in the dusty little village of Bilin.

Our carload of people was a "little UN". In addition to myself (Canadian-American) there were:

* Letti (Hispanic American)

* Rann (Israeli who has lived in Botswana, Hong Kong and UK)

* Japanese guy

* Brazilian woman who is studying in Australia!

Every Friday for 2 and a half years there has been a protest at Bilin. The villagers are protesting the loss of village land which is simply being taken from them - confiscated because all land in Israel is 'owned by the state' - because the Wall is slicing through this property. Right now it is still a tall fence with a gate the villagers can still pass through to reach the other side which holds the majority of their olive orchards. In future, the threat is the Wall will replace the fence and make it impossible to reach the other side.

There are many many examples of exactly this situation. Because it is relatively close to Ramallah and Jerusalem, and because the local committee has been clear that they want non-violent resistance, this struggle has been actively supported by progressive Israelis and internationals.

It's a good thing that Rann advised the rest of us in the car to be prepared for tear gas and stun blasts. At least fifty IDF soldiers - all armed with Uzis and other artillery - barred the path toward the fence so that the marchers could not approach. The orchard and road had suddenly become a "military zone" (because they say so) and everyone is subject to being shot.
This protest has been going on so long that it is a ritual but it is a rough one which could - and sometimes does - spin out of control.

Here is what happened .....

The protest began after the Friday service in the village Mosque. There were lots of kids and men of all ages. Numerous internationals. Some of the community business people - well dressed - joined in. Some of the kids looked like kids in Pakistan with the long shirts and caps. Others were the tough kids who tried to sell us handicrafts or trinkets before the demonstration.

The march continued until the road was blocked by rolls of razor wire. After chanting for some time, a few photographers and protestors started inching around the barrier. Suddenly there were tear gas and stun gun cannisters landing all around us. People were being hit by the tear gas bombs which look like rubber hand grenades. Tear gas and smoke was everywhere. People were fleeing the bombardment. Breathing in the tear gas hurts the lungs and one has to resist panic because suddenly you cannot breathe.

When my own coughing had ceased I turned around to see who was behind. Just a Palestinian in wheel chair enveloped in smoke and gas! It was much worse than it looks in the photo above.

Pretty soon the military was amidst us and forcibly pushing everybody back. This was happening on village land a quarter mile before the "security" fence! Some of the soldiers were disciplined and not keen to beat people up .... others looked nasty.

Two villagers got arrested - I have no clue why - and numerous tussles broke out.

Two Israeli activists were arguing forcibly in Hebrew with some of the soldiers. It looked like one of the soldiers wanted to beat the guy up.

Just then several military jeeps came barreling down the road, past us and heading toward the village. We soon heard the sound of tear gas and stun guns coming from the village. For unknown reasons the IDF was making an assault on the village, scaring everybody left in the village off the street and into cover.

Skirmishes at the protest lines died down and most soldiers returned to their initial position up the hill. Now village boys started hurling rocks at the soldiers with slings. The soldiers were generally too far away but one boy got off a super shot and hit one of the soldiers. Rumors said that the soldier took it in the eye but later reports indicated just a hand injury. Never-the-less he was carted off on a stretcher.

Meanwhile the soldiers and jeeps that invaded the town were now heading back. There was just one jeep left in town. Seeing it coming, an Israeli guy quickly started putting large boulders in the road. One of the boulders was about two fee high. I thought to myself "This is getting dangerous. This is something they might start shooting real bullets over." But the Israeli was still piling the boulders. The jeep rounded the bend kicking up a cloud of dust as protestors scattered off the road. The jeep driver saw the boulders in the road from 40 yards away as we also were scattering away from the road. I assumed the Jeep would stop and the soldiers be even more violent and trigger happy. But the Jeep driver did not stop .... he accelerated! I thought for sure he is going to impale the jeep's oil pan and transmission on the tallest boulder .... but with huge crash he somehow got over it! I looked to see oil dripping but did not see it.

The boys continued to sling rocks and the IDF soldiers spread out and lobbed tear gas and smoke bombs at them. Fires started in the dry grass amidst the olive trees. People from the village rushed to put out the fires.

After half an hour the boys headed back to the village. Then the soldiers headed back to wherever they came from. There were hundreds of smoke bomb and tear gas canisters littering the road and roadside. I wondered how much each cost and whether this is subsidized by US tax dollars.

Later I talked with Abdullah, the villager who heads the local popular resistance committee. He is about 40, looks like some kind of professional. He has the nicest house in Bilin which serves as the demonstration meeting place. He says they have not really had much success or seen positive change despite the years of protest. He thinks it may take a long time .... "like it did for Ghandi and Martin Luther King".

One of the two arrested villagers was released. The other was taken to jail. The guy in the wheelchair was taken away by medics but recovered and returned to the demonstration.

Just another Friday in Bilin.