Palestine News Network (PNN) : "Elders visit Bil'in: Carter and Tutu call to end settlements, laud Palestinian nonviolent resistance"

Elders visit Bil'in: Carter and Tutu call to end settlements, laud Palestinian nonviolent resistance

28.08.09 - 00:43

Ramallah / PNN – As part of the Elders delegation, Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu visited western Ramallah’s Bil’in Village today, the site of an active nonviolent resistance movement.

From its weekly demonstrations against the Israeli Wall and settlements that are confiscating Bil’in land and separating it from other West Bank towns, the village is known throughout the world.

Carter said during Thursday’s visit, “Settlements built on Palestinian land must be removed so that justice will prevail and so that peace will prevail in the region.”

Statements came from Carter and Tutu during their visit today, along with a group of prominent world leaders of the “Elders”, a group founded by Nelson Mandela.

The delegation touring Israeli territory and occupied Palestinian territory, along with Carter and Tutu, includes Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Mary Robinson, Ella Bhatt, Gro Brundtland, Richard Branson, and Jeff Skoll. The international delegation went to Bil’in to witness the effects of the Wall and settlements, and to see the site of the weekly demonstrations and the Israeli response.  

Members of the delegation also visited the memorial of Bassem Abu Rahma, killed while calling out “Don’t shoot, we’re nonviolent,” early this spring.

It was Desmond Tutu who delivered one of the speeches in which he expressed solidarity with the people of Bil'in. He said, “Where Gandhi led a nonviolent struggle to free India, these people are leading a similar struggle to liberate their land.”

The delegation also met with the members of the Popular Committee against the Wall in Bil'in, who in turn welcomed them and gave a briefing on the situation for the people regarding the Wall and settlements, and the night raids and arrests.

The Fifth International Conference of Nonviolence in Bil’in is slated for April 2010, to which the Committee against the Wall extended an invitation to the Elders and those traveling with them.

Today’s meeting included former Vice-President of the European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, and a number of international and Israeli activists.

http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6699




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