SOLIDARITY WITH BIL'IN!
Palestinian village sues Canadian corporations for illegal Israeli settlements
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CROSS CANADA TOUR
Friday, June 5th
7 PM
Location: TBA
Halifax, NS
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featuring:
MOHAMMAD KHATIB -- member of the Bil'in Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements
EMILY SCHAEFFER -- Israeli lawyer
*Presented by the Palestine Solidarity Society - Halifax
Bil’in is a Palestinian village that is struggling to exist. It is fighting to safeguard its land, its olive trees, its resources… its liberty.
In a landmark lawsuit, the farming village of Bil'in is charging two Canadian companies for violating both international and Canadian domestic law, by acting as agents for Israel, constructing buildings and other residences in the West Bank, internationally recognized as an illegally occupied territory.
Since 2005, Bil'in has been non-violently demonstrating against the building of settlements and the wall on their land. Bil'in has become an internationally celebrated symbol of Palestinian popular resistance to the ongoing construction of the Israeli apartheid wall. In constructing the wall, Israel will annex and colonize almost 60% of Bil'in's land. In some areas, the wall towers over eight metres high and is fortified by armed military watchtowers.
Bil'in will be presenting it's case against Canadian companies, Quebec-based Green Park International and Green Mount International, June 22nd to 25th, 2009 in Montreal. According to Bil'in village, "[We] claim protection under the Fourth Geneva Convention... which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its civilian population into territory it has occupied as a result of war."
In April 2009, Israeli soldiers killed Bassam Ibrahim Abou Rahme, a Palestinian activist from Bil'in. News on Bassam's passing spread quickly throughout the world, sparking international solidarity actions and condemnations of the killing of another Palestinian protester by the Israeli army.
Bassem was the 18th Palestinian to have been killed by the Israeli army during popular demonstrations against the apartheid wall. A video that captures the killing is linked at www.tadamon.ca in which you can see that Bassam was attempting to calm the Israeli soldiers at the moment the shooting occurred.
The Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as Canada's own Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, prohibit occupying forces from establishing settlements at the expense of indigenous populations. In the West Bank, the Israeli authorities have intensified its ethnic cleansing efforts especially in the Jerusalem area, through house evictions, systematic killings, detentions, settlement building and the construction of the apartheid wall. Through an elaborate control system of more than 600 military checkpoints and hundreds of military orders of house demolitions, land confiscation and blockades, Israel is actively creating facts on the ground that is rendering any peaceful settlement of the conflict impossible.
Facing this painful reality, the Palestinian people must continue and develop their popular resistance to protect their basic rights to life and freedom and realize their aspirations of a peaceful future, like the rest of the world.
This event is endorsed by:
The Palestine Solidarity Society (Halifax)
The Canada Palestine Association
Zatoun Olive Oil
Halifax Peace Coalition
Thanks to the gracious contributions of
Tatamagouche Centre
International Development Studies Graduate Student Society - Dalhousie
Palestine Solidarity Society
Individual donors
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To make a donation to the Bil'in village tour of Canada, send a cheque to:
Aide Médicale pour la Palestine
5722, rue St. André
Montréal QC H2S 2K1
Canada
Please write on the back or front of their check:
"Campaign to support Bil'in-Canada tour"
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Palestine Solidarity Society
info@freepalestine.ca
(902)-488-6071
For more information:
National Post: Palestinian village sues Canadian contractors
http://bilin-village.org/english/articles/press-and-independent-media/Pa...
CBC report about legal proceedings in Quebec - Canada (October 7, 2008)
http://bilin-village.org/english/videos/6351-CBC-report-about-legal-proc...
Photo Gallery of Bil'in village non-violent resistance:
http://www.bilin-village.org/english/photos/
A letter from Mohammad Khatib honouring slain Palestinian Bassam Ibrahim Abou Rahme
http://www.bilin-village.org/english/articles/different-look/His-name-wa...
Photos: Solidarity with Bil'in in Montreal
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/3545
Palestine: Bil'in international conference closing statement
http://www.tadamon.ca/post/3432
It takes a village: Montreal's ties to illegal Israeli settlement
Hour (Montreal)
http://www.hour.ca/news/news.aspx?iIDArticle=17239
The site for the Halifax local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.
