Thousands mark five years of protest in Bil’in

Thousands  mark five years of protest in Bil’in

 

In a show of support to the popular struggle, the people of Bil’in will be joined by thousands from across the West Bank, among them Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and leaders from across the Palestinian political spectrum. Mohammed Khatib of the Bil’in Popular Committee said today that “The Army realizes the efficiency of our struggle and believes that it can be pacified with token gestures and repressed by the hundreds of arrests in last months. After managing to force Israel to finally follow its own court order and begin rerouting the Wall last week, we will prove tomorrow that Palestinian society, its leftwing as well as right, is united behind the popular movement, and the Israeli assault only stands to strengthen us.”

Last week, 2.5 years after an Israeli Supreme Court decision deeming the path of the Wall on the lands of Bil’in illegal, preliminary infrastructure work to reroute the barrier in accordance with the ruling has finally began. Since the ruling, the state has twice been found in contempt of court, for having not implemented the decision.

Roughly 680 dunams of the 2,000 dunams currently sequestered by the Wall will be returned to the village following the court-ordered rerouting of the trajectory. While the rerouting is viewed as a victory, demonstrators vowed protest will continue until the Occupation is over and the Wall is dismantled in its entirety.

**Popular Struggle

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