CKUT radio: Popular protests in Palestine
- CKUT radio interview with Palestinian writer/author Ali Abunimah
- Photo Jessie Boylan Palestinians demonstrate in Bil’in, West Bank.
Listen to an interview with Palestinian writer/author Ali Abunimah on the growing popular protest movement against Israeli apartheid in Gaza, throughout the West Bank and particularly in the agricultural village of Bil’in.
Popular protests are growing in the West Bank, pointing to an expanding, organized grassroots response to the Israeli military occupation at the community-based level in Palestine, a direct response to the realities of Israeli apartheid beyond the Palestinian Authority politicians walking the halls of political power in D.C. pushing forward a negotiation process that has lead to little results.
Bil’in village’s creative protest tactics have drawn international attention and endorsements from global political voices such as The Elders group lead-by South Africa’s Desmond Tutu. Bil’in the film has also been the focus of films such as Bil’in Habibti, an progressive Israeli film that documents the popular struggle against the wall in Bil’in. Beyond Palestine, Bil’in launched a historic lawsuit in Montreal, Quebec against two corporations, Green Park and Green Mount International, who are currently constructing Israeli-only settlements on the Palestinian lands of Bil’in, lands stolen via the Israeli apartheid wall.
In response to growing global attention and support for Palestinian popular protests in the West Bank Israeli occupation forces have responded not only via live repression at demonstrations but by imprisoning community organizers in Israeli jails.
Recently Abdullah Abu-Rahme from Bil’in village was sentenced in an Israeli military tribunal to two years in prison, Abu Rahme, a 39-year-old schoolteacher, helped organize the Bil’in protests. Human Rights Watch issued a statement denouncing the conviction outlining that “Israel’s conviction of Abu Rahme for protesting the unlawful confiscation of his village’s land is the unjust result of an unfair trial … Israeli authorities are effectively banning peaceful expression of political speech by convicting supporters of nonviolent resistance.”
In this interview Ali Abunimah speaks about the significance of the growing popular resistance movement in the West Bank and specifically on the importance of supporting Bil’in, Palestine. Abunimah outlines a growing grassroots protest wave in villages such as Nil’in, Ma’asara, Jayyous and Bil’in, while reflecting on the growing unarmed protest movement in Palestine.
download / listen to the interview with Ali Abunimah
To read Ali Abunimah’s writing & other ground breaking commentary on Palestine visit
www.electronicintifada.net
For more information on Bil’in village visit
www.bilin-village.org
For more information on the International Solidarity Movement visit
palsolidarity.org
Stefan Christoff is a member of Tadamon! & is community organizer, journalist & musician in Montreal who is @spirodon
