FFJ- July 18, 2008 – Yesterday afternoon the village counsel and popular committee of Bilin met with their lawyers to discuss recent developments in two legal actions: the first, the lawsuit Bilin filed last Tuesday against two Canadian corporations, Green Park and Green Mount; the second, a follow up to a case they won last year, in which the High Court of Israel ruled that the fence in Bilin is illegal, and must be re-routed.
In the claim filed against Green Park and Green Mount International, Bilin's legal representation argues that by building Jewish settlements in Occupied West Bank, ones like the nearby Modi'in Illit and Mattityahu East, Israel is committing war crimes. Further, they argue that anyone assisting in this crime—by planning, building, and marketing residential units in these settlements, for instance—is by virtue of abetting these crimes violating international law (see the Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 49). "This is legal history," said one lawyer, "the first case ever to raise this argument. To some degree, we have already won just by filing it, since it will make other corporations think twice before supporting settlements. And if we succeed, we will set a huge, huge precedent."
The claim was filed in the Superior Court of Quebec, and both Green Park and Green Mount International have given notice that they will appear in court to defend themselves. Since receiving this notice, Bilin's legal team has been preparing for a big trial, anticipating that the defense will object to the trial itself, on the grounds that Canadian courts do not have proper jurisdiction to try this case. But Bilin intends to counter this argument, stressing that war crimes and violations of human rights concern all humanity, and hence all courts, where each and every court has a duty to try cases of this kind. If Bilin can overcome this initial objection, assert their lawyers, they will be on solid ground. The villagers of Bilin are putting out a call to their supporters to raise awareness about this groundbreaking trial. They are also putting out a call to each and every Palestinian, regardless of political party, to come together around this significant act of resistance. It's a national issue, after all.
The second update is less uplifting. In September 2007, after an arduous trial, Israel's High Court of Justice concluded that the section of the separation barrier that slices through Bilin's land, cutting villagers off from over sixty percent of it, is illegal. The court ordered the Ministry of Defense and the IDF to design a new route that satisfies a few essential criteria: (1) that the new route must be planned in a way that minimizes the suffering of the village, (2) that the new route should return as much cultivated land as possible to Bilin's side of the barrier, (3) that the planners must try to return the cultivated land of Wadi Dilib to Bilin, (4) that the new route should be placed, as much as possible, on state instead of private Palestinian land, and (5) that the new route should return a certain set of key enclaves designated by the court.
As of May 2008, Israel had yet to suggest a new route, and absolutely nothing had changed. So Bilin filed a claim against the State of Israel, contending that Israel is in contempt of its own court. One week later Israel replied that it would issue a new plan in three weeks time, and on July 6th the plan for a new route was submitted.
But this plan met none of the criteria. The new route ceded part of Wadi Dilib, but only a fraction, and nothing else. Further, the construction of the projected route will destroy 37 more acres, whereas the people of Bilin will only be allowed to recover 30.25 acres; not to mention that 17.5 of these acres have already been destroyed by the route of the previous fence. Not a hair of the proposed route will be built on state rather than Palestinian private land, not one of the key enclaves will be returned, and perhaps most strikingly: 545 of Bilin's 1,000 acres—some 54.5 percent—will still be lost to the fence. It is clear, of course, that the Ministry of Defense and the Israeli Defense Forces have done their very best to avoid implementing any of the criteria into the new route, not by negligence, but sheer calculation.
Bilin has once again claimed that Israel is in contempt of its own court, and that Israel has "treated the ruling as dust." Bilin has demanded that the court fine or arrest the Minister of Defense and the regional Israeli military commander. On the day this claim was filed, the court responded that it would hold a hearing on July 27th. Bilin is preparing for the hearing.
Related article: "Seeking Justice Abroad" posted July 10, 2008. http://www.bilin-ffj.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=1