Bil'in Nonviolent Activists land in New York
Tonight I had the opportunity to meet Rateb Abu Rahma and Kobi Snitz, a Palestinian from Bil’in and a Jewish Israeli who coordinate weekly demonstrations in Rateb’s village against the building of the Separation Wall in a manner that separates the citizens of Bil’in from their fields and farmland. Bil’in is being held up as an example of the success of persistent nonviolent resistance to the occupation, though their struggle is far from over; the Supreme Court (Bagatz) decision to change the route of the wall also allowed the building of an illegal settlement to continue. Rateb clarified that the settlement in question was “illegal illegal,” meaning even within the standards Israel has put forth for expansion of settlements which are already in breach of international law, this is also a breach of that breach. Two wrongs making a bigger wrong.
Two of the more interesting pieces of the discussion: Kobi talked very candidly about his own learning curve with regard to who should lead the movement. “When we Israelis show up, even though the Palestinians had been demonstrating for a year and it was our first day, the army would approach us and only address us and ask us to deal with ‘them’ [meaning the Palestinians]–even when the Palestinians’ lawyer send me to post bail for two of the nonviolent demonstrators who were arrested, the arresting officer asked me if they worked for me. But I work for them!” The demonstrators on the Israeli side are committed to letting this be a Palestinian-led movement; according to Kobi, “the Israeli peace movement has taken far too long to join the Palestinian popular nonviolent resistance.”
I was impressed by Rateb’s testimony that while the Palestinians started with 20-30 demonstrators on a regular basis, now “100% of Bil’in citizens are demonstrating.” The demonstrations are only nonviolent in design; many internationals, Israelis and Palestinians have been hurt by rubber bullets and tear gas, sometimes seriously, and there are usually arrests as well (though Kobi was quick to note that for the same “offense,” Palestinians and Israelis get different amounts of jail time: “I will get off the same night, and he will be in prison for two weeks.”) They hope the demonstrations will spread to Bethlehem and other areas where the barrier/wall is a violation of human rights and international law.
Kobi and Rateb will be speaking on the East Coast for the next week as guests of FFIPP (Faculty For Israeli-Palestinian Peace).
