In the Palestinian village of Bil'in we learned about the Wall and its role in allowing Israel to grab more land for Israeli settlements. We also learned about the popular nonviolent resistance campaign being waged by villagers in Bil'in and surrounding villages.
Here Mohamad Al-Khatib, one of the leaders of the Bil'in Popular Committee against the Wall, stands in a portion of the Wall that villagers have fought to keep open. They have staged weekly demonstrations to protest the Wall's construction -- and the loss of about 50% of Bil'in's land cut off on the other side of the Wall.
After we walked through the Wall (to the western, Israeli side) we clearly saw the planned future for the 50% of Bil'in's land isolated by the Wall. Here is an expansion of the Israeli settlement of Modiin -- under construction on Bil'in's land.
In an attempt to save their land from the expansion of Modiin settlement, the villagers have built an outpost of their own among olive trees belonging to farmers from Bil'in. Making use of Israeli laws and bureaucracy intended to protect Israeli settlers, the Palestinians of Bil'in have for now been allowed to stay on this piece of their own land.
Our last stop of the delegation was Daher's Vineyard, a 100-acre Palestinian farm southwest of Bethlehem. The farm, owned by the same family since the early 1900s, has been entirely surrounded by Israeli settlements and there have been four attempts to seize the farm itself to build a new Israeli settlement. Today the farm is cut off from the surrounding area -- the one road leading to the farm has been cut and blocked repeatedly by settlers. Above Daher and his sister Amal point to two of the settlements surrounding the farm.