In the Palestinian village of Bil'in, we learned about the wall and its role in enabling Israel to acquire more land for Israeli settlements. We also learned of a popular campaign of nonviolent resistance by villagers in Bil'in and surrounding villages.
Here Mohammad al-Khatib, one of the leaders of the bil'in popular Committee against the wall, stands in a part of the wall that the villagers fought for. They organized weekly demonstrations to protest the construction of the wall and the loss of about 50% of the bil'in land cut off on the other side of the wall.
Having passed through the wall (on the western, Israeli side), we clearly saw the planned future for 50% of the land was on, isolated by the wall. Here is the expansion of the Israeli settlement of Modi'in - under construction on the land of Billing.
In an attempt to save their land from the expansion of modern settlements, the villagers built their own outpost among olive trees belonging to farmers from Bilin. Using Israeli laws and bureaucracy designed to protect Israeli settlers, the Palestinians of Bilin are currently allowed to remain on this piece of their own land.
Our last stop of the delegation was the daher vineyard, a 100-hectare Palestinian farm southwest of Bethlehem. The farm, belonging to the same family since the beginning of the 20th century, was completely surrounded by Israeli settlements and four attempts were made to take over the farm itself in order to build a new Israeli settlement. Currently, the farmstead is cut off from its surroundings-the only road leading to the farmstead has been cut and repeatedly blocked by settlers. Above, Daher and his sister Amal point to two settlements surrounding the farm.