West Bank village hails victory

By Martin Asser
BBC News, Bilin

The Bilin Popular Committee meets on Wednesday night to plan the next step in a campaign that turned this Palestinian farming community into a symbol of unarmed resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Thousands of Palestinian, Israeli and foreign activists have joined villagers on weekly protest marches to the controversial barrier built by Israel in the West Bank, which cuts Bilin from most of its agricultural land.

The Israeli government says the barrier is a security measure to stop suicide bombers, but critics say the structure is a calculated effort to annex occupied land.

On Tuesday the village scored a notable victory in the second part of its campaign - fighting the barrier's route through the Israeli courts.

The Supreme Court ordered the government to draw new boundaries near Bilin because the current route was "highly prejudicial" to the villagers and not justifiable on security grounds.

"The only thing Israel listens to is the Israeli courts," says Nsseir Samara, a member of the 10-man committee.

"Now we have to make sure the decision by the court is implemented and our lawyers will be asking Israel every day about that."

"We are told we will get back between 1,000 dunums (100 hectares or 250 acres) and 1,400 dunums of land - out of more than 2,000 dunums seized - but it still depends on the army to draw the new line."

Before rejoining battle in the courts and with the marches, the village has declared a week of festivities, the first of which took place on Tuesday.

From: BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6979923.stm

Well, it's nice to know that once in a great while things work out for the best...well, for the better...for the Palestinians. The sad thing seems to be that often court rulings are overturned on security grounds (like they are in the US) and the most troubling cases are all heard in military courts. But still, this is good; a step in the right direction.