[Sethreports] Welcome - Post#1

Fri Jun 2 10:21:56 PDT 2006

Hello and Welcome to this list!
Over the next few months I will be posting audio reports, written  
articles, and sounds from the Occupied Territory intended to  
accurately reflect the reality of the situation in Palestine.  For  
more information, or to send questions, comments and criticisms  
contact me at seth at resist.ca
Reports are for non-profit use only and can be distributed or  
rebroadcast at any date.

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Post table of contents:
1. Update on the struggle in Bil'in
2. IMEMC podcast
3. Callout for anyone interested in donating a VoIP box
4. Bil'in Report embedded with pictures for your viewing pleasure
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1. On May 28th 2006 the Outpost, built by the residents of Bil'in on  
the Israeli side of the wall, was partially burned to the ground in a  
massive fire believed to have been set by the nearby settlers of  
Moudin Illit.  This is not the first time the Outpost has been  
attacked.  Two months ago the settlers of Moudin Illit threw rocks at  
the Bil'in residents and Internationals who occupied the Outpost,   
and in a separate incident a Palestinian flag was burned (pieces of  
which were later found at the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) guard-post  
nearby).  The village has held a demonstration at the wall every  
friday for 15, almost 16, months now.  Each demonstration has been  
met with violence and arrests that have kept the people here in a  
constant rotation of jail time and hospitalization.  They are  
currently making their case to reclaim their expropriated land in the  
Israeli Supreme Court, although there is no precedent for the kind of  
success they are hoping for.  The Israeli Supreme Courts has  
continually ruled in contradiction to the International Court of  
Justice on matters regarding the annexation wall and the settlements.

According to many of the people I have talked to here, Bil'in has  
become a kind of symbol for non-violent resistance in Palestine.   
Their persistence and endurance in continually confronting the wall  
that separates them from their land remains unshaken even while under  
the most intense repression.  However, while Bil'in remains a symbol  
of the non-violent resistance in Palestine, it is continually in  
danger of becoming a symbol for something else:  the failure and  
hopelessness of non-violent resistance under the longest and possibly  
most brutal occupation in the world.  Wagi (wa-gee), a longtime  
Bil'in resident who I met at the Outpost spoke to me about this  
problem.  Wagi has disabled son, who was shot with a "dum dum" bullet  
by an Israeli soldier while at a protest against the wall.  The  
bullet shattered his spine.  Another of his sons was shot in the  
shoulder while sitting down during a raid of Wagi's house, and a  
third is in prison for three months after attending a non-violent  
protest against the wall in Bil'in.  While he continues to be  
committed to non-violent resistance, he spoke to me about his worry  
that the youth, including his sons, would abandon non-violent  
resistance as the consequences are often just as dire as those of  
picking up a gun.  This seems to also be true for internationals,  
considering last weeks demonstration nearly claimed the life of Phil  
Reese from Australia.  As Wagi put it - if people are not allowed to  
demonstrate peacefully, then what other option do they have but to  
become violent (paraphrasing)?  It is a difficult question to answer,  
and one that remains a matter of personal choice two generations, and  
two intifadas, into this occupation.  Wagi was arrested one week  
after our conversation at the friday demonstration against the wall  
and is now in prison.  The shelter we took at the outpost to have our  
conversation is now burned to the ground.  And the next demonstration  
is on friday.  For more information on the history of the Outpost,  
you can find an audio report here:
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/05/9843.php
You can also find PICTURES embedded in a special enhanced podcast  
available for subscription in the itunes music store (for free of  
course).

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2. IMEMC has created a podcast now accessible through the iTunes  
music store.  We at the IMEMC would like to discourage the purchasing  
of any iTunes music store products, as the global ipod/iTunes  
hegemony is highly revolting.  However, making this podcast  
accessible through iTunes (for free) has provided two main  
advantages.  1 - It makes subscription to the podcast very simple and  
user friendly and 2 - it allows us to embed pictures into our  
podcasts which you can view in the iTunes video window while the  
podcast plays.  We are still in the trail stage - so it is not  
certain to be an ongoing venture, but keep an eye out and I will send  
more in the next update.

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3. CALLOUT FOR A VOICE OVER IP BOX
The IMEMC is in desperate need of a VoIP box.  We are trying to set  
up a phone number where people in Palestine with news from their  
village can call directly into our studio and record an mp3 report on  
what's going on.  This would provide a very valuable network for  
coordinating the daily news briefs.  It is also, possibly, a  
preliminary step to IMEMC getting an open wire open publishing  
component to the site.  It's like going indymedia without the whole  
indymedia brand name thing.  People could phone in short audio  
reports for our site without having to have a computer, or software,  
or anything that is usually required to upload news to an indymedia  
site.  All anyone needs is a phone, which almost everyone here has.   
Sound exciting?  Have a VoIP box in the closet?  Want to contribute  
funds towards the purchase of a VoIP box?  please let me know...  
seth at resist.ca

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4.  Keep an eye out for an IMEMC podcast available through the iTunes  
music store.  I have posted it, but it has yet to appear... I'm sure  
it will be up soon.  The iTunes version of the report below is  
embedded with pictures of the whole demonstration, and of Abdullah  
and the Outpost etc.. to try and get a better picture of what I'm  
talking about.  In case you've missed this report, or want some more  
background on the Outpost, I am including the previous report on  
Bil'in.  Happy listening.

 From Palestine: A report on the West Bank Village of Bil'in
Produced by Seth Porcello with the IMEMC.org
production assistance from Ghassan Bannoura

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To download or listen to this report:
http://radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/05/9843.php
OR
http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=18208

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On Friday May 12 Bil'in held it's weekly non-violent protest against  
the occupation, and against the wall that separates them from their  
agricultural land.  Twelve people injured in this demonstration and  
one sustained life threatening injuries.  Phil Reess from Australia  
was shot in the head by a rubber coated steel bullet which resulted  
in a brain hemorrhage.  He had been filming the demonstration.  BJ  
Lund from Denmark was also shot in the head and suffered a fracture  
in his jaw.  Both are currently recovering.

The people of Bil'in have been demonstrating every friday for the  
last 15 months, confronting the wall and the army, that stand between  
them and their land.  But the resistance here in Bil'in has taken on  
many different forms.   In December 2005, the people of Bil'in  
decided to do something never before done in the struggle against the  
anexation of Palestinian land.  The Popular Committe Against the Wall  
in Bil'in decided that in order to oppose directly the continued  
construction of this settlement, they would build a settlement of  
their own, on their land.  On December 15th, under cover of darkness  
a one room, one window, house was built on the Israeli side of the  
wall, approximately 100 meters from the settlement of Moudin Ilit.

This small one room house built is still standing today, as it's  
demolition is tied up in the courts.  The Israeli High Court is  
currently ruling on the legality of the Moudin Ilit settlement in  
Israeli law, and thus if the settlement is illegal, the house must  
remain.  And so it does, under constant watch of Bil'in residents and  
internationals who stay there.

  There has never been a case in the Israeli High Court that has  
successfully challenged a settlement under Israeli Law, according to  
Michael Sfaoudi. But these legal challenges are only one avenue  
through which the people of Bil'in have taken their struggle, and it  
will surely continue regardless of what the Israeli High Court rules.

This Report will address the history of the struggle in Bil'in, as  
well as the current methods of resistance.
Includes interviews with:
Abdullah Aburahmeh of the Popular Committee Against the Wall
Muhammed Al Katib also with the PCAW and resident in Bil'in
Michael Sfaodi the Israeli lawyer representing Bil'in in court.

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