Posted on January 14, 2012 by Akashma Online News

By Marivel Guzman

Palestinian Political Prisoners of Conscience and Martys

Bassam Abu Rahmah, who was killed within minutes of receiving a direct hit to the chest from an IDF-fired high-velocity tear gas cannister at a regular Friday anti-Wall demonstration on 17 April 2009.

I have been activist for few years now.  I consider myself to be part of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement and like Bil’in resistance fighters, I’ m an advocate for the non-violent movement. It is difficult to witness the struggle of Palestinians fighting their battle with a Palestinian Flag  and a camera.
Bil’in residents decided to wage a Non violent resistance war against the stronger army of the Middle East.

They started this war 7 years ago  protesting the Land grab for Settlements and the construction of the Apartheid Wall. They are not deterred by the gas, arrests, the bullets, the bullying and the death. Every Friday after prayer they gather by the Wall pacifically protesting the stealing of the Land.
I have been sharing photos and videos taken from the villages in West Bank, Gaza and West Jerusalem, images that could be rated R by the MPAA(Motion Picture Association of America) by its violent content. The violence is recorded in every one of the videos shoot by the residents and by the International Community of activists volunteering to be live witness of the Israel Occupation, internationals that take their own doses of beating, gas, bullets, arrests, and sometimes death.

It is not easy to get “used” to watching images of terror inflicted on the children, or people being dragged by the soldiers when they are arrested, specially is not easy to watch people dying in front of the cameras. After so many years of watching blood on the streets of Palestine, children being arrested in the middle of the night for throwing rocks to the military jeeps, you create this sympathy for resistance fighters. You can not help yourself to siding with the weak, the occupied people. You become more susceptible to pain, it is not possible to stop crying when watching so much pain inflicted on innocent people.

Phil was known as The Elephant, his Name was Bassem Abu Rahman RIP
Killed April 07, 2009

When Phil (Bassen Abu Rahmah, The Elephant) was killed, my heart stopped for a moment and my eyes could not stop crying. I was hoping to see him getting up smiling and mocking the Israel soldiers with his big smile and playful eyes. But 5 Broken Cameras is not a Hollywood movie where the script can be changed to give a happy ending to the story,  NO!, 5 Broken Cameras it is the reality in Bil’in, Palestine and Phil was a real person not stunt paid actor. He was killed for no reason, other than showing to Palestinians who is the thug criminal in an occupied land, to show the Palestinians that even protesting with a flag it is a crime.

Two central figures in the Oscar Nominated Best Documentary 5 Broken Cameras Phil-Bassem Abu Rahman and Adeeb Abu Rahman.

Adeeb Abu Rahman gives the Occupation his biggest smile after coming out of court.

Adeeb Abu Rahmah, a non violent protester  from Bil’in, was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment by the Military Court of Appeals, for his involvement in organizing non violent demonstrations in front of the Wall. The decision dramatically aggravates the one-year sentence originally imposed in the first instance.

Judge Lieutenant Colonel Benisho of the Military Court of Appeals accepted the Military prosecution’s appeal in Adeeb Abu Rahmah’s case today, which demanded to harshen the already heavy-handed one-year sentence imposed on him by the prior instance back in July. The court sentenced Abu Rahmah 18 months of imprisonment with bail of 6,000 NIS and suspended sentence of 1 year. An appeal filed by the defense both on the severity of the punishment and on the conviction itself was denied. Read it at 972 Magazine

Jawaher Abu Rahmah RIP January 1 2010

Jawaher Abu Rahmah sister of Bil’in activist, Phil-The Elephant-Bassem Abu Rahmah, died in Ramallah hospital. Jawaher Abu Rahmeh, in the occupied West Bank, died on this first day of the year2010  in Ramallah Hospital from the effects of massive quantities of IDF-fired tear gas used to disperse demonstrators at the regular weekly Friday demonstration against the route of The Wall through their village lands.

“We are shocked and furious for Israel’s brutality, which once again cost the life of a peaceful demonstrator. Israel’s lethal and inhumane response to our struggle will not pass. In the dawn of a new decade, it is time for the world to ask Israel for accountability and to bring about an end to the occupation.”

Adv. Michael Sfard, who represents the village in an appeal against the Wall added: “The son was killed by a directly aimed projectile, the daughter choked in gas. Two brave protestors against a regime that kills the innocent and doesn’t investigate its criminals.  We will not quiet, we will not give up, we will not spare any effort until those responsible will be punished. And they will.”

the story of Adeeb Abu Rahma of Bil’in. It’s not part of the big diplomatic news like the Obama-Netanyahu meeting this week, but in a sense, it’s more important. Far from being unique, this case captures most of what there is to know about the current stage of the Israeli occupation in the West Bank. It’s the kind of things you have to keep in mind when you read the morning news.

Adeeb Abu Rahma is a resident of Bil’in, the village which became the symbol of non-violent resistance to the occupation. A few years ago, Israel decided to build its security barrier on Palestinian land, and not on the Green Line, the historic border between Israel and the West Bank. The reason for this was PM Ariel Sharon’s desire to capture more land for new neighborhoods in some of the large settlements Israel was building in recent years, and to secure a reality in which most of the settlements are seen as part of Israel, and not something “across the border”.

The people of Bil’in, who had much of their land taken for the barrier project, filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court against the confiscation, and even had a partial victory: The court ruled that parts of the fence were not constructed on the village’s land for security reasons, and ordered it to be moved. The court failed to address the main issue – the decision to build the fence inside the West Bank rather than on the old border – but it didn’t really matter, because the army simply ignored the verdict. Three years later, the fence is still on its original location.

For five years now, a popular struggle against the fence has been taking place in Bil’in. Every week, Palestinians, Israelis and international activists are taking part in demonstrations. Most of the action consists of attempts to march to the village’s confiscated land; occasionally stones are thrown, but there was never a serious threat to the army forces there, and certainly not to Israeli civilians who live nearby.

Without much outside help or even support from the Palestinian Authority, these demonstrations had a tremendous effect. They relegitimized the Palestinian cause in the eyes of the international community, after the blow it suffered because of the suicide attacks of the Second Intifada. The protest also spread to other villages in the West Bank, and there are already talks of a third Intifada – this time, a non-violent one.

Israel is doing all it can to stop the protest in Bil’in. It used rubber covered bullets, tear gas, stun grenades and plastic bullets against the demonstrators. Bassem Abu Rahma, Adeeb’s cousin, was among those killed on the hills surrounding Bil’in, after suffering a direct hit of a tear gas canister. As can be seen in this video, Bassem (like all the rest of the protesters) wasn’t taking part in any violent act when he was hit, and the soldiers who shot him weren’t in any kind of danger.

A few months ago the army declared the entire Bil’in area a closed military zone, and stepped up the nightly raids on the homes of Palestinian residents. Many were arrested and held under “administrative detention”, without having any charges presented against them. This is standard procedure in the West Bank; there are currently 213 Palestinians imprisoned under administrative detention orders without charges or trial.

Adeeb Abu Rahma, a taxi-driver and father of nine, was knows as one of the prominent figures in the none-violent protest. Adeeb and his wife Fatima’s families have been cut by the fence from some 25 acres of their land on which they used to grow olive trees and cereals. In this video, you can see Adeeb in an emotional outburst in front of IDF soldiers:

Michael Moore tweeted his followers to watch the film about Palestine that launched earlier in the departed year called 5 Broken Cameras. Twice. The chieftain of cinematic guerrilla activism sings it up as “one of the best films of the year” and ”that rare documentary that has the power to move many. Pls watch!”

“Watch one of the best films of the year, “5 Broken Cameras,” the story of a Palestinian farmer who picks up a camera” MMFlint

Moore reveals a deeper connection to the film than suggested by those lonesome tweets. It took home the best picture award at the Traverse City Film Festival founded by Moore in his native Michigan. And he’s spoken at a number of screenings in the US. A video of one such pre-screening talk shows the extent of his directorial admiration for Emad Burnat’s film and the significant Israeli obstacles he has had to climb to showcase the debut Palestinian talent. Bil’in protesters oppose a ‘horrible, horrible wrong’ — Michael Moore

Follow the narrative of “5 broken cameras” as it was made, planned, edited and made in a documentary as a final piece of art, 5 broken cameras presskit, gives you the most intimates details and difficulties presented with the reality of the Israeli occupations and continuous nigh raids and harsh tactics of the IDF trying to stop Bi’lin Village from demonstrating on Fridays after pryers in front of the illegal wall.