A-Infos (en) Palestine-Israel, Bil'in struggle continues - another Friday demonstration

To: <a-infos-en@ainfos.ca>
Subject: Palestine-Israel, Bil'in struggle continues - another Friday demonstration

It started like many other actions before, by coordination between
the village committee activists, and Anarchists Against The Wall (AATW).
Then, among other efforts, an announcement was distributed to the
wider activists scene some time called "the coalition against the
wall/fence"... Just this Friday, like most others, they did not
join us. So, like most other demonstrations in Bil'in, it was the
Palestinian villagers, the AATW and the International ISM people.
First the announcement: [againstwall] Bil'in demonstration this friday
"Dear People,  There will be a demonstration this friday in Bil'in
against the wall which is being built on the village lands.

For background on the struggle in Bil'in see the coverage in the indymedia:

https://israel.indymedia.org/feature/display/3077/index.php

https://israel.indymedia.org/mod/search/dosearch/index.php?dosearch=1&searchtext=billin

We have been pretty successful in bringing relatively large numbers
of Israelis to Bil'in in the last few weeks and getting the struggle
in Bil'in noticed. Lets keep it up !

We hope to be able to get a bus from tel aviv but for that we
need people to commit to coming. if you can come please call
yonatan  or kobi (phone numbered snipped)"

Saturday morning, about 50 of us started the travel to Bil'in.
Most of us by a buss, taking a risking/gamble we will have to
face an Israeli army harassment on the way, which will need some
sneaking. In order to arrive in time for the demo, we started
90 minutes before the demo - a ride of 30 minutes...

We did not even tried to arrive through the straight road to
Bil'in... The first harassment occurred, when stopped at a point
along the road, to cross some hill by foot to Nilin village -
resume the travel from there by local cabs... The army patrol
on the main road detected our tactic a bit too late. We were
about hundred meters forward in the hill path before they tried
to stop us.

After a short and fast crossing of the hill, few cabs came to
take us to Bil'in - the first one with me in it succeeded to
travel the road with no problem. Two other cabs were intercepted
by the army patrol, who confiscated the keys of the cars....

As many of the comrades are well acquainted with the region after
few months of cat-and-mouse encountered on the way to Bil'in,
The comrades walked a bit by foot and then hitchhiked the few
kilometers left to the village and arrived in time to take a rest
before the demo - in the "guest house".

In the Guest hose, we prepared some placards and a few of
us also a kind of "group theater", in which both Israelis and
Palestinians put on our breasts small flags of the counties
involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We crossed with
black adhesive type our mouths - symbolizing the minor care
of these countries.

We started the march to the route of the site of fence-in-building
in which the works have already stopped for the weekend not expecting
serious clash this time. The theater group was advanced to the
front and we did the kilometer march to the route with hands
locked while the rest of the marchers behind us.

After about 15 minutes march, we reached a point 100 meters from
the route in which a chain of military and police blocked our way
physically. At first, they just ordered us not to advance. Next
they brought a document declaring the whole region to be a closed
military zone - forbidden to the Israelis, they say they gave us
10 minutes to contemplate before starting harsher measures.

When the 10 minutes ended, we just set down on the road road -
Israelis and palestinians, locking our arms, in preparation
for passive resistance to arrest. The police commander who needed
consultation with higher ups said that though the time limit
arrived, as we were sitting nicely on the ground, he will let us
stay there....

After a while, they decided on their tactics, and they called us
"last chance to disperse peacefully", and as we just jeered them,
they announced that all of the Israelis are under arrest and started to pull
by force people from our group theater chain. When they came for
picking me up, partly because Palestinian comrades held me tight,
part because the soldiers were shamed by them for harassing an old
man with white hairs, they left me sitting on the road and went
around me to arrest younger Israeli comrades.

Some of the people arrested were just carried by their hands and feet.
Some were also beaten by the carriers when there was not a camera
too near to them. As it was really hot, and the carrying of the
people grabbed was rough and slow, we decided to change tactic,
and instead of resisting or dispersing, most of the Israelis decided
to do solidarity arrest and we said to the policemen: "OK, you
declared we are under arrest, so we go with you peacefully....
And they accompanied our small group of Israelis up the hill - 
the 100 meters or so separating between the point they stopped us
and and a pile of rock on the route of the fence building site the previously
grabbed and arrested Israelis were staying under very loose guard.

There, at the big pile of rocks the police told us to stay and wait,
we all seat together or wandered around. From there, we could
see the rest of the demonstration - the Palestinians, the internationals,
and the other Israelis, still continuing few hundreds meters further
from the route. We could also observe the indecisiveness of the state forces
about the "treatment" to give us - the 27 Israelis arrested, 
as it was Friday afternoon - the beginning of the Israeli week end.

With a lot of confusion, the police personnel started to process
us at the rout, after a conflict between the army and police
forced them to send us from the route to the shade of a near
by olive trees orchard (confiscated from the palestinians
on the other side of the fence for the enlargement of the near
by settlement.)

After a long while they started to put us on police vehicles,
releasing the majority of us far away on the road system of the
settlers - to find public transportation home. 9 of us, with no
obvious criteria, were taken to the police station at the
Pisgat Zeev big urban settlement near Jerusalem.

As they failed to bring us before judge in time (which is about
4 hours only at Saturday afternoon), they just did a superficial
investigation and the arresting formalities, and after a negotiating
of a bargain, they let us all go after sighing each a bail
equivalent to 900.- US dollars and agreeing not to approach the
area of the route where we were arrested for the following 10 days.
Ilan

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