photos by Darren Ell, Scott Weinstein, Valerian Mazataud.

Photo: Scott Weinstein: Solidarity rally for Bil’in in Montreal

A protest in solidarity with Bil’in, Palestine took to the street in downtown Montreal on Friday, August 7th, to denounce the ongoing night-time raids on Bil’in and string of arrests by the Israeli military targeting Palestinian community activists. Israeli military forces have been launching night incursions into the village throughout recent weeks and targeting the homes of members of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements.

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Ma’an News Agency, August, 7th, 2009.

Photo: Palestinian woman walks past Israel’s apartheid wall in Palestine.

Bethlehem, Ma’an: HBO TV’s Sex and the City star Kristin Davis was suspended from her duties as Oxfam’s goodwill ambassador for her advertizing work with the illegal settlement-based company Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories.

Oxfam International is a large confederation of 13 organizations that says it works with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.

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update on Mohammad Khatib and Biliners abducted by the Israeli occupation forces

Photo: ActiveStills. Israeli occupation forces launch tear-gas on protest in Bil’in

The Military Prosecution is claiming that the 7 people taken from their homes during the night raid that took place in Bil’in on August 3rd are suspected of stone throwing. A leading member of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, non-violent activist Mohammad Khatib, is accused of incitement to “damage the security of the area.”

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Le Devoir Marco Bélair-Cirino.

Photo: Valerian Mazataud. Palestinian Mohammed Khatib.

Le militant Mohammed Khatib, qui a traîné deux compagnies québécoises devant la Cour supérieure, est arrêté par l’armée israélienne

Mohammed Khatib, un producteur de poulets palestinien qui accuse deux sociétés québécoises de crimes de guerre devant la Cour supérieure du Québec, a été fait prisonnier par l’armée israélienne à Bil’in, en Cisjordanie, dans la nuit de lundi.

Des dizaines de soldats israéliens auraient fait irruption aux aurores lundi dans le village de Bil’in, situé à l’ouest de Ramallah, en Cisjordanie, et ont appréhendé 20 personnes, selon le collectif de soutien aux droits du peuple palestinien Tadamon. «Deux cents soldats sont arrivés dans le village palestinien. Ils étaient déguisés et masqués ou maquillés. Il s’agit d’arrestations arbitraires», affirme la porte-parole de Tadamon, Sarah. Celle-ci appelle à la libération immédiate de ces derniers.

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une action de solidarité pour la libération immédiate de Mohammad Khatib

vendredi 7 août, midi
Librairie Indigo
coin de rue Ste-Catherine et avenue McGill College
(métro McGill)
Montréal, Canada

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Un mois après avoir fait une tournée au Canada un important
militant palestinien est kidnappé par l’armée israélienne

Photo: Valerian Mazataud. Activiste Mohammad Khatib de Bil’in.

Lundi, tôt le matin, des soldats israéliens, le visage peint et portant des masques, ont envahi le village de Bil’in. Les soldats ont perquisitionné plusieurs maisons et ont arrêté deux enfants palestiniens et cinq adultes, dont Mohammad Khatib du Comité populaire contre le mur et les colonies de Bil’in.

En juin 2009, Mohammad Khatib a fait une tournée pan-canadienne pour parler du procès historique de Bil’in contre deux compagnies québecoises Green Park International et Green Mount International, toutes deux impliquées dans la construction de colonies israéliennes illégales sur les terres du village palestinien de Bil’in.

Le militant palestinien Mohammad Khatib a aussi parlé dans plusieurs importants médias canadiens et s’est exprimé publiquement dans onze villes canadiennes, avec Emily Schaeffer, une avocate israélienne qui représente le village de Bil’in, s’adressant ainsi à des centaines de personnes à travers le Canada.

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Bil’in Palestine issues urgent international action appeal, August 3rd, 2009.

Photo: Valerian Mazataud. Bil’in activist Mohammad Khatib.

At around 3am on Monday morning, a large military force wearing combat paint and masks invaded the West Bank village of Bil’in. Israeli soldiers raided several homes, arresting 2 Palestinian children, 5 Palestinian adults including Mohammad Khatib of the Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements. The home of another member of the Popular Committee was raided, but soldiers could not arrest him because he was not present at home.

Also Arrested were the three brothers Khaled Show gut Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age 23), Mustafa Show gut Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age18), and Mohammed Show gut Abd-Alrazic al-Khateeb (age 16); Abdullah Ahmad Yassen (age 18); Abdullah Mohammed Ali Yassen (age 16); Issa Mahmoud Issa Abu Rahma (age 40); This brings to 19 the number of Biliner’s currently in custody.

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photo essay by Yotam Ronen ActiveStills

Photo: Yotam Ronen: ActiveStills. Palestinian lands under Israeli occupation at night.

Bil’in, Palestine has become an inspiring example of popular resistance to many across the world, as the small village in occupied Palestine has engaged in a consistent struggle against Israeli colonization, through weekly creative protests against the Israeli apartheid wall which is set to annex an estimated 60% of Bil’in’s land.

In June 2009, Bil’in village launched a historical lawsuit in Montreal against Green Park International and Green Mount International, two companies registered in Quebec. Members of Bil’in’s Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements and Emily Schaeffer, an Israeli lawyer representing the village of Bil’in were present in Montreal for the first hearings and also toured eleven cities across Canada. Bil’in’s lawsuit is rooted in the fact that the two companies are constructing illegal Israeli colonies on Bil’in’s lands in the West Bank which violates both international and Canadian law, specifically the Geneva Convention.

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Jody McIntyre, Electronic Intifada, 31 July 2009

Photo: ActiveStills. Night demonstration in Bil’in, Palestine.

Over the last few weeks, the residents of Bilin have been subjected to constant night raids by the Israeli military, in retaliation to their weekly nonviolent demonstrations, now in their fifth year, against the Apartheid Wall, which has stolen over half of their land. So far, 17 youths have been arrested, some as young as 16 years of age, usually for their participation in the demonstrations. Many of the boys will not see their family again for months. With the situation getting critical, local activists of the Bilin Popular Committee called for a night demonstration to protest against the raids.

The village has become somewhat of a symbol of the Palestinian resistance, but they have often paid a heavy price for their spirit and resolve — the Israeli army respond to their non-violent actions with brutal force; tear gas, rubber-coated bullets, and live ammunition, in April of this year resulting in the death of Bassem Abu Rahma, a local resident.

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Georgia Straight, by Omar Barghouti and Sid Shniad.

Photo: Palestinian walking in lands under Israeli occupation.

For several decades, the world has watched in frustration as the crisis in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory deepened. Confused by the details of what is alleged to be a highly complicated situation and loathed to be attacked for criticizing Israel lest they be vilified as anti-Semites, people who would otherwise be expected to play an active role in striving for an end to Israel’s occupation, colonization, and system of discrimination in accordance with international law have chosen to focus their attention elsewhere.

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