This Friday another village added a demonstration to the regular mix across the West Bank: Nabi Saleh in the Ramallah district had a demonstration of over 300 people who managed to block the road near the Halamish settlement, which has stolen land from the village and continues to encroach on village agricultural land. More than 20 people were reportedly injured by rubber-coated steel bullets, including veteran popular resistance leader Ayed “Abu Ahmed” Morrar, from Budrus. The group was also assaulted by settlers from Halamish, who threw stones and fired live ammunition in the direction of the demonstrators, who despite the violence of the settlers and soldiers, managed to block the road for more than 2 hours.

In Al-Ma’asara a … Continue reading

A short re-cap of this Friday’s demonstrations:

in Ni’lin this week, dozens of local residents were accompanied by solidarity activists in their regular demonstration against the Annexation Barrier cutting through their agricultural land. While the demonstration passed much as usual, with demonstrators confronted with tear gas shot by the Israeli military beyond the concrete barrier, one young man was lightly wounded when shot in the leg with what is reportedly a ruger rifle, shooting .22 caliber bullets with a suppressor, making the shots much quieter and slightly slower. It is because of this element that the Israeli Military has consistently argued that the use of the ruger as a “crowd dispersal” weapon is appropriate as it is “non-lethal”, though … Continue reading

On Wednesday, December 9th volunteers from PSP joined other international and Palestinian solidarity activists and farmers in Um Salamuna to continue the planting of olive and almond trees. This planting project is an effort to reclaim the land around South Bethlehem in an attempt to prevent the surrounding settlements from expanding into and occupying it. This project began in early November and has been very successful, despite repeated harassment from local settlers and the Israeli military. However, on Thursday, December 3rd settlers uprooted and burned several dozen olive trees that had been recently planted. When the landowner complained to the Israeli Police, he was told that it … Continue reading

Demonstrations across Occupied Palestine this Friday had remarkable energy, despite the winter weather. In Ni’lin, more than 100 Palestinians were joined by Israeli and international activists in their routine march towards the Annexation Barrier. They were met with a barrage of tear gas and the return of the use of .22 caliber Ruger rifles, which the Israeli military claims are “crowd dispersal” weapons and “non-lethal”. Several Palestinians have been killed by these bullets which are only .003 inches smaller than the regular live ammunition used by the Israeli army in M-16s (they claim the .22 ruger is non-lethal because of a suppressor used on the guns, the logic of which has been rejected by human rights organizations … Continue reading

From Ma’an News Agency

At least six demonstrators were arrested in the northern West Bank after they breached a section of Israel’s wall on Saturday, Palestinian and Israeli sources said.

The protesters said they intended to march to lands that were left isolated behind the wall in Deir Al-Ghusun, northeast of Tulkarem, and managed to break open one of the barrier’s gates before Israeli soldiers invaded the village.

One demonstrator was lightly injured after being struck with a rubber-coated bullet in the leg, onlookers said.

“Today’s demonstration was the opening salvo for a public campaign by the Deir Al-Ghusun municipality and the affected farmers,” said Anarchists Against the Wall, an Israeli group, in a statement. “As the demonstration was coming to an end, … Continue reading

This Friday, demonstrations against the Annexation Barrier continued with more vigor after the successful dismantling of sections of the Wall in Ni’lin and Qalandia last week. In Ni’lin, the Israeli military forces seemed at first to be content with allowing the local demonstrators, accompanied by Israeli and international activists, to approach the concrete barrier, responding with a relatively small amount of tear gas. As the demonstration wore on, however, the soldiers seemed to have been waiting for the protesters to grow more bold. Suddenly, the army began opening fire with live ammunition, coming through the barrier and backing the demonstration back into the village. No … Continue reading

On Friday, the residents of Ni’lin once again dismantled a section of the concrete wall constructed on their land by the Israeli military. Though Erroneously reported by some organizations as the first time this has happened, the residents of Ni’lin had also torn down the wall in September.
This week’s demonstration and dismantling held special importance for Palestinians, as it coincided with the 20th anniversary of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The Annexation Wall in Palestine, which is approximately 70% complete and is being built mostly on privately-owned Palestinian agricultural land throughout the West Bank by the Israeli military … Continue reading

In Al-Ma’asara, Palestinians were joined by their regular Israeli and international solidarity activists in a march towards the lands belonging to the residents of Al-Ma’asara, Um Salamuna, and Wadi An-Nis. Though there hasn’t been any construction on the actual barrier in nearly a year, the scar of the patrol road that is part of the matrix of the barrier in rural areas can be seen from the edge of the village. As has become routine in Al-Ma’asara, the Israeli army blocked the procession from advancing beyond the edge of the village and onto the main road that runs past their agricultural land. Children from the village … Continue reading

The weekly protest against the wall in Ni’lin was the first one held during the olive harvest season. This is also the first harvest season since the completion of the wall on Ni’lin land, and the village is waiting to see whether the occupation forces will fulfill their stated commitment to allow the villagers access to their land across the Barrier.
Families who still have remaining olive trees that haven’t been confiscated through the construction of the Annexation Barrier have begun the work of picking the olives. Ni’lin families with olive trees beyond the wall haven’t been allowed to cross over to harvest them yet, as the army has requested a list of names from the municipality.

The protesters marched … Continue reading

This week, after a break for the month of Ramadan, the demonstrations against the Annexation Barrier, being constructed on the agricultural lands of Wadi An-Nis, Um Salamuna, and Al-Ma’asara, began again from the edge of Al-Ma’asara. The tone was more somber than usual, as the procession commemorated the loss of local organizer (and personal friend of PSP coordinators) Qaher Al-Din. Qaher was killed in a car accident, along with the driver and a French journalist, as he gave the foreign national a tour of the illegal settlements surrounding Al-Ma’asara. At this week’s demonstration residents of Al-Ma’asara, joined by friends of Qaher and international and Israeli activists, … Continue reading