Demonstrators moved beyond the blocks to continue as a peaceful march down to the road. However, they were halted by soldiers, who produced paperwork declaring everything beyond the village limits a closed military zone. When it became clear that the IDF would not allow demonstrators to continue outside the village limits, the protest moved to another road near the main gate and military watchtower.

This road was also blocked by cement barriers. As the protest attempted to move past, soldiers once again intervened, citing the papers calling everything outside of the road blocks a closed military zone. Israeli activists argued with the soldiers for twenty minutes before the protest moved one last time to the main gate of Beit Ommar.

This time, the military barred the path yet again. As arguments between IDF and Israeli activists began again, the soldiers opened the gate. They did not allow anyone to pass however, and they locked it once more within five minutes. Demonstrators stood in front of the army for another half hour, waving flags, speaking with media, and asking for an end to the closure of Beit Ommar, before peacefully dispersing.

The main effect of this will be to funnel any traffic coming to and from Beit Ommar through the military checkpoint and past the Israeli watchtower at the main street of the village. Apart from creating extra congestion at the entrance to the town, this new roadblock has served to further isolate the houses of several families from the rest of the town.

Over the last several years, Israeli Forces have periodically blocked this road with concrete barriers or earth mounds. The Palestine Solidarity Project helped to organize several demonstrations in which Beit Ommar villagers, supported by Israeli and international solidarity activists removed the roadblocks to open the road.

When the activists approached the roadblock, the negative impact on the local farmers’ livelihoods was immediately apparent. Farmers from Al-Jab’a were passing their recently-harvested olives over the roadblock from a truck to family members on the other side, where the sacks were piled up as the driver then began the 45 minute drive through the Gush Etzion settlements, around to Beit Ommar, and back through Surif to the other side of the roadblock to pick them up and transport them on to the markets in Hebron and beyond. After helping the farmers move the olives, activists got to work on the roadblock.

The roadblock had been recently fortified when the Israeli Occupation Forces added a low wall of interlocking cement blocks in front of the already massive rubble-and-boulder roadblock. First, using ropes and plenty of pushing and pulling, the cement wall was pulled apart and 4 of the blocks were pulled out into the road used by settlers to go from Gush Etzion to Beit Shemesh across the Green Line. After this first barrier was opened, the Palestinians, Israelis and internationals began to clear away the rubble and boulders that made up the secondary roadblock. At that point, the first Israeli military jeep showed up. Three soldiers approached the activists and asked what they were doing. One Israeli activist replied, “you stay over there on your side and we won’t bother you, and we’ll continue over here on our side and you won’t bother us.” Apparently content with this arrangement, the soldiers backed off and stood watching as the activists continued to move the roadblock.

After another 15 minutes, the activists had succeeded in opening a space wide enough for a tractor to travel through. As two more Israeli Occupation Forces vehicles arrived, the activists returned to their cars, satisfied with the work they had done.

This type of roadblock removal is relatively symbolic. The activists were well aware that the roadblock would only remain open for a few hours. The complete control over Palestinian movement is essential to the ‘Matrix of Control’ the Israeli Occupation Forces hold over the Palestinian people. The purpose of these actions is clear: Palestinians refuse to be locked in. They will take any action to demonstrate that this apartheid system of control and oppression is immoral and unacceptable, and will be met with resistance.

When a commander arrived the soldiers began pointing out Palestinians who they believed to be ‘leaders’ of the action. One soldier grabbed a Palestinian from PSP but other activists intervened and he was let go. After this attempted arrest the demonstrators peacefully left the area. Though the road was not successfully opened, the people of Dhahariya still felt the action was positive: “They [the Israeli military] think we are afraid of them. They think we will not come. When we stay [even] after they arrive, we show them we are not afraid. This is [success],” said one local resident.

In the process of completing roadblock replacement, the bulldozer and two jeeps accompanying it collided into a water pipe and split it open. Water immediately began to gush out of the pipe, into the main road 60. A Beit Ommar community member noticed this problem and immediately informed a City Council Member who arrived at the scene soon after. When the City Council Member began to assess the situation and attempted to fix the pipe, the soldiers told him to leave. He refused, saying he was a part of the City Council and it was his duty to fix problems that affect families of Beit Ommar having access to their water. Then the soldiers required documentation from the man stating that he was a legitimate member of the City Council. After presenting proof to the soldiers, the soldiers still did not allow the man to continue working. The water flowed for one day before it was fixed, leaving several families without water for that period of time.