Last Friday, the inhabitants
of Bil'in marked nine years since the beginning of the struggle which had
turned Bil'in from one Palestinian village among hundreds into a household
word. On February 20, 2005, bulldozers had began uprooting olive trees on the designated
route of the Separation Fence/Wall/Barrier on the land of Bil'in. That same
day, the villagers held their first demonstration against the Wall - the first in
the line of demonstrations which were since then held every Friday, with the villagers
and those who came to stand with them encountering countless volleys of tear gas and
rubber-coated metal bullets. Two residents of Bil'in, Bassam Abu Rahma and his
sister Jawaher, paid with their lives. Many others sustained serious injuries
or spent considerable time in Israeli detention.
The purpose of the
construction of the fence along the route designated for this sector was clear
and obvious: to cut off half of Bil'in’s farmland and make it available to the
Israeli settlement of Modi'in Illit. Modi'in Illit is the largest settlement in
the West Bank, a real city, having some thirty thousand inhabitants and its
mayor speaking about future plans to reach the figure of three hundred
thousands. The Bil'in residents appealed
to the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. and
after years of deliberation the judges ruled that the land in which the settlers
had not yet built would be returned to the residents of Bil'in, while the
settlers could retain possession of the part where the olive trees had already
been uprooted and neighborhoods of crowded four storey building erected (without
building permits and in violation of both
Israeli and International law ). Two further years of foot-dragging by the army
were needed until the Supreme Court ruling was actually implemented and the
villagers regained about a third of the land which was stolen from them.
Residents decided not to leave it at that, but continue their popular struggle
until the Fence would fall, all village land given back and the occupation
ended.
Group photo of the Belgian
delegation in Bil’in
The Nine Years’ Anniversary Demonstration
was a bit larger than usual, with the participation of a group of specially-arrived
Belgian activists, but it was not really extraordinary. Like every Friday,
hundreds of people concentrated near the mosque in the center of Bil'in, beat
drums and waved flags and placards and marched towards the Wall. Once there, a
confrontation soon developed between soldiers shooting tear gas and
stone-throwing youths. Most of the time, demonstrators could only see the
soldiers as anonymous figures clad in helmets, who rose for a moment behind the
wall, fired another volley of gas and
bent down again . Only briefly was there a kind of dialogue: "Now, now , that’s
enough, go home!" Called one of the soldiers . "This is our home!
" answered one of the village youths in Hebrew. The soldier responded with
some more tear gas.
A video
from the Bi’lin demo on Feb. 28, 2014, prepared by David Reeb
The conscript soldiers
standing on the Separation Wall and firing tear gas had arrived there from
towns and villages from all over Israel. There is one place from which none of
them came: the huge settlement of Modi'in Illit to whose protection they were stationed.
Modi'in Illit is a Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) settlement. Strange as it may sound,
the residents of Modi'in Illit define themselves as “Anti-Zionists”. That is, they have no objection to living on
land which was taken by force from Palestinian villagers and getting the
protection of the Zionist army against the anger of the original landowners,
but they have objections - very strong objections indeed - to serving in the
army which protects them.
Two days after the
demonstration where Bil'in residents encountered barrages of tear gas, a bus convoy
set out from the other side of the Wall to join the mass Ultra-Orthodox rally held
in Jerusalem to protest against the new law which is supposed to apply to them the
duty of military service. " Please don’t try to force us to join the army”
pleaded one of the young Modi'in Illit settlers who talked to a radio reporter at
the rally. "We want to dedicate our lives to the study of the Holy Torah,
to Torah studies and nothing else. If you force us to go to the army it would
be like taking fish out of the water."
"Torah study is crucial
to the future of the Jewish People, it is no less important than the army"
said in the same radio broadcast Knesset Member Yisrael Eichler, one of the most prominent
speakers of the Ultra-Orthodox camp. "For example, President Obama is now
plotting to take away the Land of Our Ancestors in Judea and Samaria. If Torah
scholars do not pray and ask for God's mercy and intercession, who will save us?
". Veteran radio broadcaster Arye Golan asked: "So, you are supporting
a right-wing political program, and you want to fight for it until the last secular
soldier? " "God forbid!” reacted the unperturbed Eichler. “We are praying
every day for the soldiers, praying that they will all return safely from their
tasks."
Apparently, what was is also
what will be. The new law would apply the duty of military service to the
ultra-Orthodox only in four years - and many are skeptical that it will ever be
implemented.
So for quite a long time
still the Ultra-Orthodox Modi’in settlers can continue, on Bil'in lands, to study
the holy Scriptures under far from holy army protection.
