Here is a great interview of American-Israeli lawyer Emily Schaeffer, the descendant of Holocaust survivors, who works for a Tel Aviv human-rights firm and is suing two Canadian companies in Canada for their role in building the settlement in Bi'lin.
Key points:
–Schaeffer is suing the companies in Canada. Yes, Canada is a foreign country. But so, with respect to Bi'lin, is Israel. Journalist Jasmin Ramsey asks:
Why is it significant that the Israeli military is designated as the judicial, executive and judicial branch in [Bi'lin] region?
Schaeffer: It’s significant because this means that there
is an absence of checks and balances in the system. So the same
authority that is shooting at non-violent protesters is also the one
that approves construction of settlements on villagers’ land and the
construction of the wall and they run the courts that villagers that
are accused of stone-throwing go to be sentenced. This same authority
that is judging matters related to Palestinians is also not interested
in Palestinian matters as it is a foreign entity.
–Schaeffer is trying to build the civil society of Israel and Palestine. Here is her stirring description of her inspiration for the lawsuit, Bassem Abu Rahmah, the nonviolent protester who was killed by an Israeli soldier in April:
Bassem Ibrahim Abu Rahmah, or “Pheel,” which was his nickname, was
killed on April 17 at one of the Friday weekly demonstrations against
the wall and settlements. Pheel was always at the forefront of all the
protests and was really one of the main activists from within the
community and eventually lost his life to being part of this
non-violent resistance. We are all mourning his loss and I think in
some ways this lawsuit is dedicated to him…
For four and a half years Pheel has been at the
front of every single demonstration and he’s never, to the knowledge of
any witness or any video that I’ve seen, thrown a stone or done
anything violent. Pheel was always carrying a flag and he was always
speaking to the soldiers. In fact he would try to speak to them in
Hebrew, he would try to speak their language both literally and in
terms of treating them like human beings, treating them like people.
At the moment that Pheel was shot… he was telling the
soldiers in Hebrew: ‘Stop, stop shooting, you’ve injured an Israeli
protestor.’
