Iyad Burnat is a Palestinian campaigner for non-violent resistance against the occupation of the Palestinian territories by the Israeli Defence Forces and the settlement and annexation of the territories’ lands by Israel. In 2012, his brother Emad Burnat made the documentary ‘5 Broken Cameras’ in collaboration with Israeli filmmaker Guy Davidi. The documentary follows the non-violent resistance in their hometown of Bil’in against the building of the Israeli West Bank barrier there by the Israeli government.  Spanning five years, the documentary gets its title from Emad Burnat’s five cameras which are destroyed by the Israeli Defense Forces over the course of its filming.

‘5 Broken Cameras’ was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Iyad Burnat features in the film as one of the leaders of the non-violent resistance in Bil’in. Burnat led a weekly protest against the building of the barrier until it was eventually destroyed and moved back 500 metres after a 2007 ruling against the wall’s location by the Israeli courts was carried out in 2011. This returned 30% of the villages land and was considered a major victory by the people of Bili’in.

Burnat continues to lead the people of Bil’in in weekly protest against the wall and the occupation. He is the head of the ‘Bil’in Popular Committee Against the Wall’, and of ‘Friends of Freedom and Justice in Bil’in’, a group which is working on building international support for the struggle in Bil’in. In 2015, Burnat was awarded the James Lawson award for achievement in the practice of Nonviolent Conflict.

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