Skip to main content

Budrus village's mass non-violent action against Apartheid Wall shows a way to win - Huff Post blog


Robert Naiman, policy director at Just Foreign Policy has written an excellent blog at the Huffington Post on the success of the struggle of Budrus villagers in stopping the 'Separation Wall' going through their land, forcing it back to the Green line after a 10-month non-violent campaign. Julia Bacha has made a documentary of the struggle which is available to US audiences here. Under the headline: 'Budrus Shows 'White Intifada' Can Beat the Israeli Occupation' Naiman is asking if this is the way to drive back the occupiers?
Many have long maintained that a mass-based and sustained campaign of nonviolent Palestinian resistance -- a "White Intifada" -- if vigorously supported by a united Palestinian leadership and by Israeli, Arab, and international peace and solidarity movements, could end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem...

...But one way to provide strong evidence for the claim would be to organize such a campaign in one place in the West Bank, for the campaign to be sustained long enough to attract significant Israeli and international support, and -- crucially -- for the campaign to win.

That is what the Palestinian residents of the West Bank village of Budrus did. They effectively conducted an experiment, by organizing a campaign of nonviolent resistance against the Israeli government's plans to route its "Separation Barrier" through their village lands, confiscating their land and destroying their olive trees in the process, thereby destroying their livelihood and culture; by sustaining the campaign for 10 months; and by inviting Israeli and international peace activists to participate. The experiment was successful, in that the Israeli government was eventually compelled to move the route of the Separation Barrier back towards the Green Line -- the internationally recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank -- and 95% of the village land and olive trees were spared. It was also successful as a beacon to others, in that other Palestinian villages have sought to replicate its success in resisting the Wall.

The documentary Budrus by Julia Bacha of Just Vision is a well-crafted and compelling account of this successful experiment. And as of yesterday, any American with a DVD player and a bit of extra cash can watch this compelling account, because as of yesterday, the movie is available on DVD from Typecast Films and Netflix.

The widespread availability of this movie in the United States could not come at a more propitious time, because recent political developments have created an excellent environment in which to "scale up" the Budrus "experiment" to all of the Occupied Palestinian Territories; and a crucial component of such a "scaling up" is a "scaling up" of U.S. interest, knowledge, and support. Nonviolent resistance is like a Pete Seeger concert: it works best with vigorous audience participation. more
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

'Coronavirus-free' Gaza prepares for the worst

Until now, the besieged Gaza Strip has stayed free of  the novel coronavirus  spreading across the world. As the Gaza Strip has been under a stringent Israeli-led blockade for nearly 13 years, the spread of the coronavirus - officially known as COVID-19 - has become the topic of discussion for many Palestinians, with  some joking  that the blockade was preventing them from being exposed.But as authorities in the coastal Palestinian enclave gear up to contain any potential outbreak, serious questions have arisen about the risks and implications of such a scenario.  But given its already difficult humanitarian situation and high population density, an outbreak in the Gaza Strip could prove to be catastrophic, health officials have warned.  "If the virus enters Gaza and spreads, it will get out of hand," Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson Majdi Thuhair told Middle East Eye, as he explained that a severe shortage of resources and personnel would make it near impossible
Post a Comment
Read more

Boycott of New York diamond dealer launched to protest settlement construction

Members of Adalah NY call for boycott of Leviev for its crimes against Palestinians and South Africans New York, NY, May 9 – On the day before Mother’s Day, 40 New York human rights advocates gathered at the Leviev jewelry store on Madison Avenue and called on throngs of weekend Madison Avenue shoppers to boycott Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev over his companies’ construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land in West Bank villages including Bil’in and Jayyous. Mother’s Day is one of the biggest jewelry shopping periods in the US annually. The New York protest came as controversy is growing in Norway over Norwegian government investments in Leviev’s company Africa-Israel . The New York protesters also commemorated Bassem Abu Rahma from Bil’in who was shot to death by Israeli soldiers last month during a peaceful protest against the construction on Bil’in’s land of Israel’s wall and of the Mattityahu East settlement by a Leviev company. Thanks to vivapalestina.us (not co
Post a Comment
Read more

Support striking Palestinian quarry workers demanding their rights from Israeli employer

On 16 June, 35 Palestinian workers at Salit Quarries in Mishor Adumim (in area C, east of Jerusalem, in the Occupied West Bank) began a strike. The workers, organized with the independent union WAC-Ma'an, are demanding an end to exploitation and humiliation, and insist on signing a first collective agreement. Salit Quarries’ main customer is Readymix Industries (Israel). The total reliance of Salit Quarry on Readymix as their biggest and by far the most important customer puts responsibility on Readymix to make sure that their clients abides by labour laws and safeguards elementary rights for the workers of Salit. We call upon Readymix to urge the Salit management to terminate this unnecessary strike by signing the collective agreement with the workers and WAC-Ma’an. Click this protest link to send your message. The text of the message is as follows: I write to you to express my grave concern about the failure of Salit management to sign a collective agreement with the workers of
Post a Comment
Read more