A few weeks ago I was in Berlin. Pieces of the Berlin Wall are on sale in the shops there. I paid 2.50 euros for one of them. The day will come when here, in Bil’in, in the free state of Palestine, one will be able to buy pieces of the Wall that we are fighting against today.A final score of 1:1 may not be the most impressive, but for the youngsters of Bil’in it was a glorious achievement. For them, it was not the result that was important, nor even the match itself (against a team from the nearby town of Betunya). What was important was where it took place: on an improvised football field that was hastily levelled on the land that was stolen from the village by the Separation Wall.
The match was a part of a unique event. In the poor, little village, with its 1,500 inhabitants, which few had ever heard of before the start of its heroic battle against the Wall, an “International Conference on the Joint, Non-violent struggle Against the Wall” took place. In the framework of this event, which lasted for two days, a range of activities had been organised: reports and debates about the struggle, the award of honour shields to the families of the nine people who lost their lives in the fight against the Wall, the planting of olive saplings on the stolen land, the inauguration of the football field and the match itself.
I had the honour of being invited to deliver one of the opening speeches, before an audience of 300 people — inhabitants of Bil’in, members of the Palestinian parliament, representatives of the struggle in several areas along the Wall, Israeli peace activists and delegates from European solidarity groups. This is what I said:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C02%5C28%5Cstory_28-2-2006_pg3_4