Bil'in: A village in mourning

One West Bank family has paid the highest price for their village's peaceful pursuit of justice.

Renee Lewis
Al-Jazeera


(Bassem Abu Rahmah, a pillar of non-violence in the village of Bil'in, was shot in the chest with a high-velocity teargas canister and died on his way to hospital in 2009. )

"People say that time heals, but the Abu Rahmah family feels as though it is living in a recurring nightmare from which there is no respite. Their nightmare is set in the West Bank village of Bil'in, which has been cut into pieces by Israel's "separation" wall.

It is a unique village: On the front lines of the conflict with Israel, it has also been the site of weekly non-violent protests since the wall was constructed 2005. It even has its own website, which describes "a Palestinian village that is struggling to exist" and "fighting to safeguard its land, its olive trees, its resources ... its liberty".

But what really makes the village stand out is the people that inhabit it - in particular, the Abu Rahmahs, whose misfortunes really began about three years ago.

All six Abu Rahmah siblings were non-violent activists - only four of them are left......"