1) Sunday June 7th
6pm - 8pm
Room 1700, SFU Harbour Centre (515 West Hastings)
Suggested donation $10.00 - $25.00

2) Monday June 8th
7pm – 9pm Talk
9pm – 10pm - Reception
Vancouver Unitarian Church 949 West 49th Avenue
Suggested donation $10.00 - $25.00

***All monies fundraised will go directly towards covering tour costs and Bil'in's legal fees***

June 7th and 8th
Featuring: Mohammed Khatib of the Popular Committee Against the Wall, Bil'in, Occupied Palestine, Emily Schaeffer an Israeli lawyer representing the village of Bil'in and local speakers

About Bil’in and this Tour

Bil’in, a Palestinian village located in the West Bank, has become an internationally celebrated symbol of Palestinian popular resistance to the ongoing construction of the Israeli apartheid wall and settlements. Since 2005, villagers have led weekly nonviolent protests, with active participation from both Israeli and international solidarity activists, in opposition to illegal Israeli colonization and annexation of Palestinian land. Almost 60% of Bil'in's land has been annexed by Israel to date.

Bil’in has filed a lawsuit in the Quebec Superior Court against two Quebec registered companies: Green Park International and Green Mount International. The companies are accused of illegally constructing residential and non-residential buildings for the Israeli settlement of Mattityahu East on the Bil’in's lands. According to the lawsuit, the lands of Bil'in are subject to the rules and obligations of international law because the West Bank is currently under Israeli military occupation. Bil'in's case against the construction of settlements on their land is based on the provisions of the Geneva Convention, which prohibit an occupying power from transferring its civilian population into territory that it has occupied as a result of war. The case against Green Park and Green Mount seeks an immediate order from the Canadian court that it end its illegal activities.

In June 2009, Mohamed Khatib of Bil'in's Popular Committee Against the Wall and Emily Schaeffer, an Israeli lawyer representing the village of Bil'in, will be embarking on a tour of 11 Canadian cities to speak on Bil'in and a historic court case scheduled to be heard in Montreal in late June 2009. They will be in Vancouver to talk about this case and Bil'in's resilient struggle.

For more background information about the lawsuit, please see http://www.montrealmirror.com/2008/073108/news2.html

For more information on Bil'in see http://www.bilin-village.org/

For more information on local events please contact bilinevents(at)gmail.com or 604.780.8463.