The aims of the protest thus fulfilled, the demonstration concluded and the protesters returned to Wad Rahal.

The weekly action in Al-Ma’asara was today allowed to continue further along its route than is normally permitted. The demonstrators walked to the Al Ma’asara land on the edge of the town to which they usually cannot gain access. Once there the demonstrators – Palestinian, International and Israeli – sat on some rocks and talked about the success of their peaceful demonstration. Once the talk was over, everyone left.

Al-Ma’asara
Later Friday, a small group of activists from Al-Ma’asara marched towards their village lands. In a symbolic protest, one activist set fire to an Israeli flag. He then forcibly attacked and arrested by Israeli soldiers. The remaining demonstrators, Palestinians, Israelis, and Internationals, sat down in the road to protest his arrest, insisting they would not leave until he was released. The soldiers agreed to a release, providing the group would back up 15 meters. While the activists complied, the soldiers did not keep their word (surprisingly), and drove away with the organizer. Israeli soldiers also began pushing the group further back, and eventually dispersed the demonstration.

Upon reaching the road junction the protest march was met by a heavily armed contingent of Israeli Occupation Force soldiers and border police who immediately, and for no apparent reason, arrested two 16 year-old youths from the village . A day later they remain in detention. The marchers were then urged by the organisers to sit down in the road and maintain a non-violent and peaceful protest.

The commander of the Israeli troops then produced an order declaring the area a closed military zone. Almost immediately, and without warning, troops commenced to throw sound grenades amongst the assembled people, followed by successive volleys of tear gas cannisters which blanketed the area with dense clouds of choking, painful fumes. Two people were injured when hit by the cannisters. The most serious injury was sustained by Hassan Birjiyeh, a march organiser and member of the Al Ma’sara National Committee. He was taken to a hospital in Bethlehem with head and shoulder injuries which were later diagnosed as not life threatening.

Participants in the march were shocked by the level of violence and unprovoked aggression employed by the Israeli military. The French contingent (comprised mostly of middle-aged and elderly men and women) were particularly distressed to see and to experience such a disproportionate use of force. Even seasoned observers were surprised that tear gas had been used at Al Ma’asára, where protests are always peaceful and non-violent. They wonder whether this presages an increased level of repression by Israeli forces.

In Nabi Saleh the demonstration Friday proceeded as usual and was winding down when soldiers and undercover intelligence officers invaded the village and began grabbing people. An 11 year-old boy, another Palestinian teen, and 2 Israeli activists were arrested and taken to the nearby settlement. Local women attempted to prevent the soldiers from taking the young boy, but were threatened and attacked. He was released later in the evening, and reported being beaten by the military at the police station. The Israeli activists, were also released, as were 4 Israelis and 1 international who were arrested on the road to Nabi Saleh, all without charge.

Several were also reportedly arrested in Bil’in, a lively demonstration against Palestinian expulsion from Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem was also held on Friday, and demonstrators in Al Ma’asara reportedly reached their agricultural land during the demonstration, a rare accomplishment in this village which has been demonstrating against the construction of the Annexation Barrier since 2007.
The weekly demonstration in Beit Ommar was canceled for a community event.

video and photos from ActiveStills

On Sunday, March 28, approximately 200 Palestinians, Christians and Muslim supporters along with international and Israeli solidarity activists, marched from the center of Bethlehem towards the Gilo checkpoint, a massive terminal checkpoint in the Annexation Wall dividing Bethlehem from Jerusalem. The demonstrators were demanding access to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, where Christians traditionally hold a procession on the Sunday before Easter.

The demonstrators successfully and non-violently crossed the checkpoint by overwhelming the Israeli soldiers present, carrying signs expressing their right to enter Jerusalem, practice their religion freely, and in solidarity with the Palestinian residents of Jerusalem facing expulsion.

After crossing the checkpoint through the gate usually used by tourist buses and marching several meters into Jerusalem municipality, speeches were made in several languages, and the group turned to go back into Bethlehem. It was at this point that the Israeli military attacked the group, arresting 15 people, 4 Israelis, 1 international and 10 Palestinian residents of the West Bank including 2 members of the Al-Ma’asara popular committee and a member of the Bethlehem popular committee and staff member of Holy Land Trust, who, along with several NGO’s in Bethlehem including Holy Land Trust, organized the demonstration.

Though the 5 foreigners were released the same day, the 10 Palestinians arrested are still being held in Ofer military prison, near Ramallah. On Monday, dozens gathered to protest the arrest of these non-violent activists and their continued detention. Another demonstration at the prison is planned for Wednesday.

Both Ni’lin and Bil’in held demonstrations with international and Israeli supporters despite a declaration earlier in the week that both villages would be closed military zones for internationals and Israelis on every Friday for the next 6 months, in an attempt by the Israeli military to end the demonstrations.

In Al-Ma’asara, the demonstration proceeded as usual, with demonstrators marching towards the barbed wire fencing put in place at the entrance of the village by the Israeli military. This week, however, an unusual breach of the barrier was achieved. An eyewitness described it thus:

“Yesterday was a historic day in Palestine. The Israeli Occupation Forces stood aside powerless as they witnessed a mass Palestinian non-violent action that breached the razor wire, military vehicles and M-16s that had stopped the villagers of al Ma asara from working their fields for years.

In a peaceful commemoration of the seventh anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie under the tracks of an Israeli bulldozer, PSP, internationals and Israeli activists accompanied local farmers in a demonstration along the main street through the quiet village. As usual there was a strong military presence gathered behind a roll of razor wire that cut off access to the farmland.

Suddenly a flock of Palestinian sheep made a non-violent dash for the razor wire to cheers and whoops from the protesters. In a slickly co-ordinated move, protesters lifted the roll of razor wire and the IOF soldiers watched powerless as the Palestinian sheep rushed past them chanting Baa. It is hoped that other sheep in the international community will now follow this brave lead.”

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.