Palestinian Minister of Information participates in peaceful demonstration marking final day of Second Annual Bil‘in International Conference alongside Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire
Ramallah, 20-04-07: Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, Minister of Information, vowed Friday that Palestinians would continue their peaceful, non-violent protests to bring the ongoing Israeli occupation to an end, and called for mass, non-violent demonstrations against Israel‘s Apartheid Wall throughout Palestine. He was speaking at a press conference held with 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire close to the site of the Wall in Bil‘in, marking the final day of the Second Annual Bil‘in International Conference.
Bil‘in has become a symbol of the non-violence movement both within Palestine and internationally following more than two years of peaceful resistance against the confiscation of approximately half of the village‘s lands for construction of the Wall. Dr. Barghouthi stressed that the route of the wall in Bil’in was designed in order to allow for the expansion of the nearby, illegal Israeli settlement of Modi’in Illit contrary to claims by the Israeli government that it was determined purely by security reasons.
Two years ago, on 9 July 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague found by a ruling of 14 votes to 1 that “construction of the wall by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, is contrary to international law,” and that Israel is under obligation to “cease the wall’s construction, dismantle the existing structure and make reparations for any damage caused by the construction.”
Dr. Barghouthi declared that Palestinians "will be liberated like the Algerians, the South Africans and the Indians" and called on the Palestine Liberation Organisation to bring the ruling of The Hague to the United Nations General Assembly in order to compel Israel to abide by international law. He hailed both the villagers of Bil‘in for their persistence in peacefully protesting the confiscation of their lands, and those in southern Bethlehem, who used this Friday‘s non-violent protest against construction of the Wall in the area to plant 32 olive trees in memory of the students and professors killed in the Virginia Tech massacre last Monday. Dr. Barghouthi also thanked the hundreds of Israeli and international activists who consistently turn out in support of Palestinians‘ peaceful struggle against the Wall.
Mairead Maguire called the Wall a shameful blight on the face of humanity, and urged the international community to act to stop the suffering of the Palestinian people by bringing the occupation to an end.
Dr. Barghouthi and Ms. Maguire also called for the immediate and safe release of kidnapped BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston.
Both speakers were subjected to a barrage of rubber bullets, tear gas and sound bombs fired by Israeli soldiers and border policemen at demonstrators shortly after the press conference. Soldiers repeatedly fired tear gas canisters at Dr. Barghouthi in an attempt to hit him, while Ms. Maguire was hit in the leg by a rubber-coated steel bullet and began bleeding from the nose after inhaling tear gas. A number of protesters and journalists were also injured.