You Have to BELIEVE in Peace
Iyad Bournat is the head of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in the small rural village of Bil'in (pronounced Bila-een). I spent one hour with him before the weekly demonstration against the wall that has cut off 55% of the village lands. I want you to hear his voice, because he is someone who carries an unshakeable hope in his heart, and it inspires his leadership.
Iyad started with a short history. As soon as Israel started to build the Wall in June of 2002, Bil'in could see it coming, even though it was still far to the North. Eventually, Israeli engineers began to frequent village lands, and the people organized a committee to plan their resistance. As soon as the bulldozers appeared on the scene, villagers chained themselves to olive trees that were in the path of the bulldozers and demonstrated every day to stop the uprooting of trees that not only represent income, but embody the spirit of the land and its people.
However, as the days passed and the destruction continued, protected by Israeli soldiers who detained as many demonstrators as they could catch, the demonstrations became a weekly event, while simultaneously the Popular Committee hired sympathetic Israeli lawyers and took their case to the Israeli Supreme Court. Their argument,- that the wall was not anywhere near the border with Israel but was routed in order to expropriate more land for nearby settlements, and therefore had nothinng to do with security, was upheld in court, and the army was ordered to move the wall closer to the border. That victory was in 2007, but not until 2009 was action taken to move the wall. Now one can see where the "new wall" is being consstructed in the distance, while the current wall is still in place.
In spite of winning the court case, Iyad listed several ways that Israel tries to stop the demonstrations, which are attended by villagers, internationals, Israeli activists, and the media. It tells Israelis that it is illegal for them to come, because their mere presence proves that the two sides CAN live together and cooperate. It imposes curfews and conducts night raids to harass villagers and frighten them. It kidnaps children from their homes in the night and during detention tries to get them to say that the leaders tell them to throw stones. It arrests the leaders based on the accusations of frightened children.
Israel denies exit to the leaders like Iyad who are invited to speak abroad. Iyad has twice been turned back at the border with Jordan ( the only point of departure allowed to Palestinians without foreign passports). Internationals who are discovered to have demonstrated in Bil'in are often barred from re-entering Israel on their next visit.
The odds seem stacked against Iyad , against Bil'in, against a Palestinian state. Others I have met on this trip have lost hope. So what keeps Iyad going? " You need to BELIEVE," he says. "If I didn't have hope, I couldn't continue this work. And he points to successes. The wall is being moved. Other villages now have weekly demonstrations. The international boycott campaign is growing.
After the demonstration today, when I am soaked in sweat and tear gas, I listen to another member of the Popular Committee, Basil, orient a group from Norway. From him I learn that these demonstrations are not labeled "nonviolent resistance", but "popular resistance." which in part answers my questions about stone throwing. There is an unwritten agreement not to throw stones until after the demonstrators have reached the wall and delivered the message of the day, which today is about freeing political prisoners. After that, stones will fly, sometimes from a powerful sling shot. But...
But stones are not guns. And international law protects the right of occupied people to armed resistance. Israel is the occupier. Israel has the tanks, guns and airpower. The children cannot sleep at night, and the youth can't find jobs, but they can throw stones at their oppresor. Even for someone committed to nonviolence, it is hard to argue with this formulation.
Iyad believes peace will come soon, but he admits that others need to believe it too. If enough people really believe, they will make peace happen.