9th September: PSP joined residents of the Al Ma’sara village in Bethlehem district for their weekly demonstration against the Israeli occupation. Around fifty Palestinian protesters – accompanied by Israeli and international activists – marched from the town and attempted to cross an Israeli-built road to access their fields.

The march was met by around 25 Isreali soldiers, who prevented the villagers from crossing the road to reach the Palestinian fields. Protesters chanted in support of Palestine’s Spetember bid for statehood at the UN, and demanded an end to the occupation. The entirely peaceful protest was then pushed back by the heavily armed soldiers, who arrested Muhammad Brijiyeh without any provocation.

The protest continued for a further 30 minutes, with demonstrators demanding Muhammad’s release. Their sit-in protest on the road was finally dispersed when the area was declared a closed military zone.

Muhammad was released several hours later without charge.

As the demonstration approached the entrance to the village, they were stopped by members of the Israel Defense Forces. The soldiers refused to allow the peaceful march to pass, roughly shoved back all those who tried to calmly continue forwards, and demanded that the protest disperse. The group refused, and stood before the military line, asking for an end to the Israeli occupation.

After about twenty minutes, neither side had moved, and the demonstrators decided to stage a spur-of-the-moment sit-in. The soldiers laughed at first, but as the protesters continued to remain, they grew angrier. An IDF jeep was brought in behind the seated crowd, honking as it drove within inches of the protesters. No one moved.

Finally, the IDF moved in, detaining two Israeli activists and Mahmoud Zwahre. The protesters agreed to move back, to facilitate their release. The military followed, often pushing the protesters. Several of the soldiers held tear gas grenades and sound bombs as threats. When the demonstration had reached a safe distance, the IDF arrested both Israelis and Zwahre. Protesters who attempted to negotiate were forced back.

The Israeli activists were put in one jeep and Zwahre in another. The demonstrators stood at a distance, separated from their compatriots by another line of soldiers, until the jeeps drove away.

Both Israelis were released within a few hours. Zwahre was also released, but is charged with blocking a road. He will go to trial in two weeks.

A Palestinian flag hangs from the back of an Israeli military jeep.

Soldiers fired tear gas and sound grenades on the demonstrators, who gave speeches against the occupation and in support of nonviolent resistance. While the demonstrators were barred from reaching the road, a settler from the illegal Efrat settlement was allow to drive past the soldiers into the village. The settler parked at near the demonstrators and began telling the village residents that they were on his land, despite having previously admitted that he was from San Francisco, California. While the settler was talking a demonstrator covertly tied a Palestinian flag to the back of a military jeep. The soldiers eventually drove away with the flag still flying from their jeep.

After the demonstration finished, the crowd gathered around two clowns, who had come to perform for the children of the village. Half way through their act the soldiers returned and barraged the crowd with tear gas and sound grenades. Both clowns and many children suffered tear gas inhalation as they were chased back to the village. Soldiers proceeded to fired tear gas into the residential area of the village, and many village residents suffered tear gas inhalation.

“I know haven’t rehearsed in a while, but that seems like a bit of an overreaction,” one of the clowns commented.

When the demonstrators moved to set the boxes on fire, Israeli forces threw sound bombs and at least one tear gas canister at the crowd. The sound bombs themselves set the boxes on fire, after which the protestors dispersed back to the village.

Elsewhere the same day, live ammunition was used by Israeli forces against demonstrators in Ni’lin, Bil’in, and Nabi Saleh. One demonstrator, Ashraf Khatib, was shot in the leg with a 0.22 caliber bullet in the village of Bil’in.

Nevertheless the Israeli Army immediately showed up with 3 jeeps and 10 soldiers. Shortly after the demonstration began Israeli soldiers showed a paper to the crowd informing them that this was a closed military zone. They showed it for 10 seconds, so nobody could see what was written on the paper. The soldiers immediately started throwing tear gas and sound grenades into the crowd, firing a large volume in quick succession. The demonstration continued for about 20 minutes despite the Israeli military’s aggressively disproportionate respond. Nobody was hurt or arrested, and the demonstrations will continue, despite Israeli repression.

Today’s protest came on the heels of a large protests in Ramallah Wednesday, in which around 400 protesters spoke out against Abbas’ decision to enter into negotiations with Israel. Protesters gathered in al-Manara square, where speakers gave rousing speeches against what they described as another fruitless round of negotiations. Among the speakers was Palestinian Legislative Councilman Mustafa Barghouti, who announced that “the international community has used peace talks as a cover for peace, and it is not working.” The negotiation began a day after the illegal Elon Moreh settlement attempted expand by three additional units, inspiring further outrage among the Palestinian community.

The negotiations have also been met with protests in Gaza and in Washington DC, where protesters staged a “peace charade” in front of the white house (see video below). Throughout the protests one message was clear: there can be no peace agreement until Israel agrees to respect human rights and international law.

Protests also continued in Nabi Saleh, where around 60 activists gathered to protest the annexation of the villages land by the illegal Halamish settlement. Tensions have been particularly high following the settler take over of a fresh spring well which has belonged to the village for over a century. Demonstrators began marching away from the village, but were stopped by a line of soldiers who threatened to arrest the demonstrators. When the march retreated back into the village it was followed by the soldiers, who fired tear gas, sound grenades and rubber coated steal bullets into the crowd. Military incursions into the village continued for five hours, and many of the village’s youth responded by throwing stones at the soldiers. One Israeli activist was arrest, and no injuries were reported.

Demonstrations against the Annexation Barrier were also held in Bil’in, where one protester was shot in the knee with a rubber bullet. Seven activists, including medics and a journalist, were also arrested in Nil’in’s weekly demonstration.

Demonstrators were stopped, per usual, by soldiers before reaching the main road. In honor of the 65 year anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, participants chanted slogans calling out parallels to Israel’s own nuclear arsenal. Speeches were made in English and Arabic, calling for the soldiers to leave the army, to stop following the lead of right-wing fascists, and to join the movement for peace. After 30 minutes of sitting in front of the military blockade, the demonstration dissipated peacefully.