Bil'in Puts The Wall On Trial
The Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements is holding a large demonstration this Friday, May 12th. The
demonstration will include Arab Knesset members, Palestinian Legislative Council members and representatives from the
Palestinian National and Islamic forces.
On Sunday, May 14, the Israeli Supreme Court will hear Bil'in's legal challenge over the theft of their land by the
illegal wall.
Bili'in villagers have been protesting the wall nonviolently for the last 15 months and have become a symbol of
Palestinian-Israeli-International cooperation.
The route of the wall in Bil'in is designed to annex the settlement of Modi'n Elite and it's outpost, Matityahu Mizrah,
to Israel along with the land belonging to Bil'in so that these illegal settlements can continue to grow.
In a separate court case obrought by the village and Peace Now against the new settlement of Matityahu Mizrah, the High
Court was told of a land-laundering scheme that allowed the real-estate dealers and settler organizations to convert
private land - "purchased" sometimes through dubious means - into "state land.." Then, before the construction of the
separation barrier, the land was "returned" to the buyers so that they could establish facts on the ground and press the
Defense Ministry into moving the route of the fence to the east of the new illegal neighborhood.
After being prodded by the Supreme Court, the Israel Police's National Fraud Squad opened a criminal investigation into
the illegal construction of hundreds of housing units in the Matityahu East "neighborhood" of the Modi'in Ilit
settlement.
According to Haaretz, hundreds of millions of dollars are believed to have changed hands in the affair.