This week, while the festive march of hundreds gathered at the entrance to Sheikh Jarrah, where they were met by dozens of police and military border police, a smaller group of the Palestinian home owners and a group of international solidarity activists protested outside the homes, within the area blocked off to the main demonstration by the police. Throughout the demonstration, settlers were free to cross the line of police, while Jewish demonstrators were arrested for stepping off the sidewalk.

In front of the evicted houses, just over a dozen settlers attempted a counter-demonstration, leading to heated confrontations that the police refused to separate, but were quickly out-numbered and out-shouted by the evicted families and their supporters, and dispersed on their own. Afterward, 5 Palestine solidarity activists were arrested.

In Nabi Saleh, the demonstration against the attempted expansion of the Halamish settlement was attended by over 100 men, women and children, as well as international and Israeli activists. A week after Ehab Barghouthi, 14, was put into a coma after he was shot in the forehead from close range with a rubber-coated steel bullet, the demonstration was as determined as ever to reach the land, which contains a spring essential to the agricultural livelihood of the village. They were again met with a barrage of tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets, and the “skunk”, a chemical spray with an overwhelming nasty smell.

In Ni’lin, Al-Ma’asara and Bil’in, the demonstrations against the construction of the Annexation Barrier on their agricultural land continued, with large contingents of Israeli and international solidarity activists. In Ni’lin, over 100 demonstrators marched towards the Barrier, which is a combination of fence and concrete wall unique to Ni’lin of all rural areas, where they were met by Israeli forces who used tear gas, and a horrible-smelling spray called “the skunk” to disperse the group.

In Jerusalem on Friday, approximately 3,000 Jews and Palestinians gathered in a soccer field near the entrance to the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah after the Israeli High Court heard a petition from the protesters who were demanding the right to gather on the street where right-wing Jewish settlers have moved into homes from which Palestinian owners have been forcefully evicted in the last year. The compromise solution from the court was to allow a smaller procession of no more than 300 demonstrators to march from the field to the entrance of Sheikh Jarrah a few hundred meters away.

Regular demonstrations were also held in Ni’lin, Bil’in and Al-Ma’asara, both against the construction of the Annexation Barrier on their agricultural land.

In Nabi Saleh, which has been demonstrating for several weeks against a move by settlers from the nearby Halamish settlement to take over a a spring and other privately-owned Palestinian agricultural land, several dozen residents, along with Israeli and international solidarity activists, again marched from the village towards the land being annexed by the right-wing settlers. They were confronted by Israeli forces, who used tear gas, sound grenades, and rubber-coated steel bullets to deter the crowd. The army then invaded the village, using a jeep-mounted tear-gas launcher that shoots 30 canisters of gas at a time, into the built-up area of the village, affecting everyone in their homes. A young man was taken to the hospital with a moderate injury when he was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet.

In Ni’lin, several dozen residents continued their weekly protest against the construction of the Annexation Barrier through their agricultural lands. Participants marched from the edge of the village into the olive groves, approaching the combined fence-wall. They were forced back by the Israeli military, who used large amounts of tear gas, including firing the tear gas at houses, affecting people not participating in the demonstration.

Hundreds of residents in Asira Al-Qyblia marched against land confiscation towards Ytzhar settlement, home to some of the most violent settlers in the entire Occupied Territories who have repeatedly destroyed trees belonging to Asira Al-Qyblia residents, and attacked the village and others in the surrounding Nablus District. The march was fired on by the Israeli military with tear gas and sound grenades, though no one was seriously injured.

In Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem, 80 Jewish demonstrators, many dressed in costumes for the coming Purim holiday, joined over 100 Palestinians near the entrance to Sheikh Jarrah to protest the eviction of Palestinian families from their homes and the implantation of right-wing Jewish settlers. A festive demonstration, with chants, drumming, and songs, was held for over an hour as Israeli police and military border police sealed off the street to demonstrators.

Though this demonstration ended without confrontation or violence, it came in the wake of a riot Wednesday night, when dozens of settlers entered the partially occupied Al-Kurd family home to begin preparation for the celebration of Purim, a Jewish holiday held Sunday, February 28, which traditionally includes drinking large amounts of alcohol, making it one of the most dreaded Jewish holidays for Palestinians, who often come under attack by intoxicated settlers on this day.
Sure enough, the settlers in Sheikh Jarrah began attacking the Palestinian residents of the same home. Israeli soldiers arrived and attempted to restrain the crowd but were unsuccessful and soon turned on the growing Palestinian, international, and anti-occupation Jews in the crowd, clubbing and pepper spraying them. Several were injured before the Israeli police escorted the settlers out of the area. One Palestinian man was arrested early in the evening; none of the settlers were detained.

In Ni’lin this week, over 100 people joined the weekly demonstration. The village’s main entrance was closed by the Israeli military so most media did not get in, while international and Israeli activists arrived through the fields. As the Israeli forces chased the demonstration back into the village, one man from Yabroud village, was detained. No other arrests or injuries were reported.

In Al-Ma’asara, Bethelem District, over 50 residents, joined by Israeli and international activists, marched from the center of the village. One military jeep was parked further into the village, nut the demonstrators just marched around, chanting on their way to the main road and the Annexation Barrier, which is to be routed between Palestinian villages and the Gush Etzion settlement of Efrat.
The demonstration was halted at the entrance to the village, as usual, by a line of razorwire and Israeli military where speeches were then made in several languages before the demonstration peacefully returned to the village.

In Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, after a series of weeks with multiple arrests of mostly Israeli citizens, most of which were released by the courts who admonished the Israeli police for disrupting the peaceful demonstrations, there were no arrests. Demonstrators were “allowed” to gather near the entrance to the neighborhood, while residents of Sheikh Jarrah joined them and gathered on the other side of the police barricade, which was set up to prevent supporters of the Palestinian residents of Sheikh Jarrah from entering, while at the same time allowed “visiting” extremist right-wing settlers to enter freely.

Israeli Soldiers Stop Demonstrators in Al-Ma'asara

The demonstration continued as planned on Friday, though it was smaller than usual. The group marched towards the entrance of the village, where the Israeli military had, as usual, blocked the road and had additionally set up soldiers on the roofs of nearby buildings, surrounding the demonstration and creating a heightened sense of tension. With all of that, the demonstration continued as usual and ended peacefully.

In Ni’lin, 4 more people, including two members of the organizing committee were arrested over night. A hearing for the 2 members arrested last week will be held later this week. They are reportedly being charged with “incitement”, a charge with potentially heavy consequences being used against many leaders of demonstrations against the Wall.

In Bil’in, live ammunition was reportedly used to disperse the demonstrations. Though most of the activists arrested in Bil’in have been released, 2 still remain in jail, facing trial.

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 at least 2 people were killed last year alone by this weaponry.

In Al-Ma’asara, dozens of residents were joined by Israeli and international solidarity activists in their march to the edge of the village where they were stopped as usual by the Israeli military. One prominent professor from Betlehem University pledged legal and financial assistance to any soldier who would refuse to serve. The demonstration passed without incident.

Newly this week, the village of Shuqba, in the Ramallah district near Budrus and Bil’in, organized a demonstration in which more than 100 residents were joined by residents of Budrusn and Ni’lin, along with 5 Israeli activists, to march against the rock quarry built on their land by Israel. Some youth jumped into the quarry and hung a Palestinian flag on the heavy equipment, protesting the theft of their resources and land for Israeli settlements. A few Israeli soldiers were present and fired tear gas at the demonstrators, before calling for reinforcements, who arrived 10 minutes later, driving the protestors out of the area and removing the flag. No injuries were reported, though at least 1 long-range gas canister, the likes of which have killed and serious injured demonstrators in the area, was used.

Thanks to Anarchists Against the Wall for reports on Shuqba and Ni’lin

In Al-Ma’asara, dozens of demonstrators, among them international and Israeli solidarity activists, marched to the edge of the village in their weekly protest against the construction of the Annexation Barrier in their area. The group gathered at the edge of the village, prevented from continuing to their agricultural land by the Israeli military who regularly erects a barbed-wire fence across the road during the demonstrations. One Palestinian man, who was holding a flag near the wire, was violently grabbed by the Israeli military and dragged across the wire fencing before being put in the back of a military jeep. The demonstrators then began an impromptu sit-in, demanding he be released. After some time, he was released and the demonstrators returned to the village. Two days later it was reported that settlers from the settlement of Efrat came onto the land of Um Salamona, adjacent to Al-Ma’asara, and uprooted over 50 trees planted there just days before.

In Shekih Jarrah, and throughout East Jerusalem, tension is mounting. This comes days after reports that more than 4,000 Palestinians had their Jerusalem residency revoked, more than half of the total revocations for the previous 40 years. Another court case has allowed Jewish extremist settlers to move into an annex of an Al-Kurd family home, forcing the Palestinian family, who has lived in the home since 1956, to the rear portion of the home. This is the 5th family who were moved into these homes in the 1950’s by the UN after their initial expulsion from homes in West Jerusalem during 1948-49 who have now been evicted to make room for extremist settlers to move in. The Al-Kurd family has petitioned the Israeli court to allow them to demolish the addition, which was built 10 years ago, rather than be forced to share a home with violent settlers.
It was against this background that more than 100 activists, mostly Jewish Israelis and international supporters, marched throughout West Jerusalem, carrying signs and chanting against the evictions in East Jerusalem. They were met with mixed responses, some passersby cheered them on while others cursed and spat on them. The march made its way to Sheikh Jarrah, where it met up with the families who were evicted last summer and who are now living in tents on the street in front of their homes. They were soon confronted with a large contingent of religious Jews who had come to the newly occupied house for Friday evening prayers. In what one Israeli activist called “nothing but provocative”, the settlers danced and sang loudly at the beginning of their shabbat prayers in front of the Palestinian home owners and their supporters.
Rabbi Arik Asherman, Executive Director of Rabbis for Human Rights, an organizer of the demonstrations in Jerusalem, reportedly said, “if nothing changes, Jerusalem will burn.”

In Al-Ma’sara, the residents held a march towards the Israeli soldiers, demanding, as they have every week for nearly 3 years, to access the agricultural land near the site of the Annexation Barrier. Speeches were made, including commemoration of the anniversary of Yassir Arafat’s death and a commitment to maintaining the resistance to the Wall and occupation. At one point, soldiers prevented youth from opening the barbed-wire barrier laid across the road every week, but a local woman who has been a constant presence at the demonstrations, managed to get across, waving a Palestinian flag defiantly behind the Israeli soldiers and their makeshift barrier.

Sections of the barrier in occupied Palestine, of which over 80% is made up of a series of fences, have been dismantled by Palestinians and solidarity activists since 2003. In 2007, activists including people working with the Palestine Solidarity Project, dismantled large sections of the fence in the Hebron district.

In Ni’lin, nearly 100 Palestinians, Israelis, and internationals continued their tradition of Friday demonstrations by approaching a section of the fence that had not yet been doubled by a large concrete wall, as other sections of the Barrier in the Ni’lin area was, after several successful fence-cuttings during previous demonstrations. This week, damage was done by local youth to the section of the fence, before large quantities of gas and “skunk” spray overwhelmed the group. Israeli soldiers then invaded the olive groves, passing through the fence, forcing the demonstration back towards the village. In other related news, an Israeli newspaper reported that the Israeli settlers of the Hashmonaim settlement, built on Ni’lin’s land and who stand to gain from the land being confiscated by the path of the Annexation Barrier, have complained about being affected by the tear gas used during Friday demonstrations by their own armed forces.