Category: Reports - Page 432 - International Solidarity Movement

West Bank protests mark 6th anniversary of ICJ’s ruling on Israel’s illegal Apartheid Wall

10 July 2010

Al-Ma’sara: tearing down the wall

Al Ma'sara residents destroy a fake wall. Photo: Kara

The Popular Committee of Al Mas’ara supported by a number of Internationals and Israelis constructed and then demolished a symbolic wall to mark the sixth anniversary of the decision by the International Court of Justice that Israel’s Apartheid Wall is illegal.

After afternoon prayers the villagers and internationals gathered to march towards the the illegal Israeli settlements that encroach on Palestinian land, while chanting “The wall must fall”. They set up the Styrofoam wall at the intersection of roads 356 and road 3157 which link these settlements to Jerusalem and each other. Though Palestinians can at present use the road to get to Ramallah, Israel soon plans to block Palestinian access, making it a settlers-only road, explained Mahmoud Zahwre of the Al Ma’sara Popular Committee .

The makeshift wall blocked traffic and Israeli army jeeps arrived and tried to intervene in the protest, telling demonstrators that they were in a closed military zone and must leave, but without success. Speeches were held in Arabic and English calling for an end to the occupation and the continuation of the struggle for peace and justice. The demonstration culminated in the destruction of the Styrofoam wall by protestors.

This fake wall measured four meters wide and demonstrators who tore it down said they were implementing the decision of the International Court of Justice. The actual wall that Israel continues to build despite the ruling of the ICJ will be some 760 km when completed and already illegally annexes huge swathes of the West Bank.

The popular committee of Al Ma’sara was established in November 2006 and has held weekly nonviolent demonstrations since that time.

Bili’in: the scales of justice

Bilin villagers carry scales labelled Israel and World

This Friday, as usual, the village of Bil’in held its weekly protest against the Apartheid Wall and the illegal occupation. Bil’in has had 70% of its farm land annexed by the wall and an expansion of the large illegal settlement Modi’in Illit – and the village has for that reason become one of the main sites of the Palestinian resistance. This particular Friday was also the 6th year anniversary of the verdict of the International Court of Justice that the wall is illegal and must be removed – a verdict that has yet to be enforced.

Approximately two hundred locals and internationals participated in the non-violent action. The Israeli army responded by raining tear gas down on protestors from two directions – causing one young Palestinian to collapse and lose consciousness for some minutes due to inhalation. Nineteen year old Taher from Tulkarm who was visiting Bili’in with the Freedom Theatre group, had to be carried by locals back towards the village and away form the wall which was the target of the protest. There were cheers when he eventually came to. Last year Bili’in resident Basem Abu Rahma was killed by soldiers who shot a high-velocity tear gas canister directly at him.

Bil’in protests, over 300 of which have been held in the last 5 years, are known for their imaginative and highly visual demonstration props, and this Friday was no exception, as the protest was dominated by an enormous weighing scale carrying signs saying “Israel” on one side and “The World” on the other to symbolize the imbalance of Israel’s power compared to the rest of the world. The scale was planted in a fake coffin with the inscription “International Law – RIP” as an unmistakably clear comment on the Israeli government’s disregard of the verdict of the ICJ on the wall as well as its flouting of a number of other international laws, according to which the occupation and the West Bank settlements it continued to expand are wholly illegal.

A teenager lost consciousness after inhaling tear-gas

As the demonstration approached the wall, Israeli soldiers from behind the fence fired repeated volleys of tear gas at the non-violent protestors, with some of cannisters setting the dry grass on fire, endangering the olive trees. Many of the young locals kept returning to the fence, despite the tear gas bombardment. Some threw stones over the wall, where their farm land used to be. The response of the Israeli army was typically disproportionate but since no arrests were made the protest ended in high spirits.

An Nabi Saleh: the struggle continues

In the hilltop village of An Nabi Saleh around 70 Palestinian men, women and children, 10 Israeli activists and 15 internationals gathered in the main square and marched down the hill, blowing paper trumpets and waving flags, towards the Israeli soldiers who were waiting at the crossroads, where the main protest usually occurs. Following last weekend, when soldiers entered the village dressed as civilians and arrested one of the young men, many of the local youth were lying low and did not join in the demonstration.

When the group were about 10 metres away, the soldiers started throwing sound bombs, and tear gas canisters were fired directly at the group at head height. Although this is against their rules of deployment, tear gas canisters are regularly used as missiles as well as for crowd dispersal. Two internationals narrowly missed being hit, and a member of the popular committee was arrested, and his wife and four-year-old child briefly detained. Some of the demonstrators made it to the crossroads and the group (mainly women and children) stood chanting at the soldiers. Two Israeli activists were grabbed from the crowd and wrestled into jeeps, amid scuffles with female activists who were roughly pushed away by soldiers.

The demonstration continued around the village for a few hours, as soldiers and border police in five jeeps pursued the young men around the area in an attempt to arrest those they had pictures of. Their presence in the village lasted for just two hours, as the usual spirit of the children and women had been dampened by the violent repressive tactics of the Israeli army, and the young men had fled over the hills towards a neighbouring village. The three men who had been arrested were released after three hours.

Protests against the theft and annexation of Palestinian land to the illegal Israeli settlement of Halamish (Neve Zuf) have taken place in the village every Friday since January 2010. Although Israel’s courts ruling that An Nabi Saleh residents owned the valuable agricultural land, nearly half of it has been seized by settlers who also uprooted hundreds of olive trees in January 2010.

Ni’lin: army repression fails to deter protest

A group of around 75 people – locals and internationals – marched on the Apartheid Wall in Ni’lin yesterday for the village’s weekly protest. When demonstrators reached the Wall, the Israeli army – who since May 2008 have killed five people in the village and critically injured one American solidarity activist – fired multiple volleys of tear gas, forcing the protesters to run for cover. This was then followed by incursions by Israeli soldiers onto the Palestinian side of the wall; they pursued fleeing protesters across the hilly terrain, intermittently firing tear gas at them. This week the army did not capture or injure anyone and refrained from storming the village. In the past they have used tear-gas projectiles, rubber coated steel bullets and live ammunition.

Since May 2008, a total of 112 Ni’lin residents have been arrested in relation to anti-Wall protest in the village. Constituting nearly 10% of the male population of Ni’lin aged between 12 and 55, the arrests are part of Israel’s campaign to suppress grassroots opposition to the wall. As a result of the Wall construction, Ni’lin has lost 3,920 dunams, roughly 30% of its remaining lands, and due to illegal settlement building is nowadays only 56% of its original size. Ni’lin is sliced in half by Road 446, which was built directly through the village. According to Israeli government plans, this will be made into a segregated setter-only road and Palestinian access and freedom of movement severely restricted as a result.

Ni’lin presents yet another example of Israel’s disregard of the rule of law. As well as the International Court of Justice ruling the wall illegal almost exactly six years ago today, Israel’s own Supreme Court issued an injunction in 2004 briefly halting construction of the wall, and subsequently rejecting a second proposed route as equally illegal. However it resumed again in May 2008 and since then Ni’lin residents have staged regular demonstrations calling for Israel to respect its own and international laws.

Protestors hold firm around Palestine this week

International Solidarity Movement

6 July 2010

An Nabi Salih

Palestinian children confront Israeli soldiers

The Friday protest in An Nabi Salih was passionate and vibrant as ever. Israeli Army jeeps pre-emptively invaded the village, setting up a roadblock at the main crossroads. Dozens of villagers, joined by a handful of international and Israeli activists, marched down the main street to meet them. The number of protestors soon grew as most of the people in the village came out into the streets to demonstrate against the soldiers.

The An Nabi Salih demonstration is specifically against the expansion of the nearby Halamish settlement, annexing An Nabi Salih’s land. But there is also a strong message against the Occupation in general.

Crowds of women and children in particular assailed the soldiers, singing and clapping. Chanting went on for almost two hours, with the soldiers still refusing to leave the village, until some local youths began throwing a few stones down the main street. The Israeli soldiers responded with disproportionate violence, firing volleys of tear gas canisters up the street at head-height, making a mockery of this supposed crowd-dispersal technique.

Skirmishes between soldiers and local youth went on almost until sundown, with the soldiers making forays deeper into the village but failing to capture any of the stone-throwers. Two Israeli activists were detained, however, for no other reason but criticising the soldier’s illegal invasion of the village. Both were later released without charge.

After some five hours of confrontation, the soldiers left An Nabi Salih, to the joy and relief of the villagers.

Ni’lin

This Friday, as every Friday for over two years, the villagers in Ni’lin together with international activists gathered to protest against the illegal annexation wall.

The demonstrators gathered in the olive groves outside the village after noon-day prayers, then marched towards the wall. When the march neared the wall the Palestinians chanted and waved their flags. Some shabaab (Palestinian youths) threw stones against and over the wall. Surprisingly there was no reaction from the soldiers on the other side, besides taking pictures of the shabaab. After about half an hour the protest ended and the protesters walked back to the village.

Bil’in

At the Bil’in weekly demonstration about 150 protestors carried a message to the Palestinian leadership, expressing the need for unification. A large banner showed a picture of Arafat and Yaseen together. The Israeli army was waiting on the other side of the Wall, responding with tear gas and stun grenades which set fire to several olive trees. Soldiers then charged through a gate in the Wall, chasing protestors back towards the village. Soldiers continued to fire on the retreating crowd, though luckily there were no injuries.

Heat from tear gas canisters and sound grenades set fire to the dry ground in several places, with smoke and gas forcing the people of Bil’in further back. Ammunition starting fires is a serious problem this time of the year, when the ground is dry. Many olive trees have been severely damaged, resulting in fewer olives for harvest this year.

Wadi Rahal

A few dozen Palestinians, Israelis and Internationals walked Friday at noon from Wadi Rahal to the site where Israel plans to build the illegal Apartheid Wall. There was plenty of energy, chanting and drumming (local and Israeli drummers). The army did not allow passage, and tried to push the demonstrators backwards. After a long non-violent struggle (i.e. the demonstrators acting non-violently) the soldiers started shooting tear gas and sound bombs, the first landing on a little boy’s leg. Two Israeli activists were arrested, illegally, for participating in the non-violent protest. The demonstration went on in a schoolyard nearby, still with great spirit and energy.

Iraq Burin

Some 50 villagers from Iraq Burin gathered for the regular Saturday afternoon protest this week, supported by five ISM activists. The Israeli Army attempts to completely close off the village each week, clearly hoping that the disproportionate violence of their behaviour will be invisible outside Iraq Burin. Activists are forced to take extraordinary measures to reach the village and document military violence.

On arrival in the village, ISM activists met with a local man, 22, who was detained and beaten after last week’s protest. He confirmed that he was punched and kicked repeatedly in police custody; he now walks with a pronounced limp and has constant pain in his back. He will not be able to continue his regular work for at least three months, and will have no income for that period.

After noon-day prayers, the protest group marched up a hill, across village land that is threatened by settler violence. As usual the group was met by a unit of dozen soldiers waiting at the top of the hill. There was some chanting against the Occupation, and a tense stand-off for a few minutes, the two groups standing about 50 metres apart. One of the Palestinian youths threw a single, small stone at the soldiers, falling well short of their group. Soldiers responded by firing tear gas at the Palestinians and internationals, aiming their canisters directly at the demonstrators, at head height. Some canisters narrowly missed hitting both Palestinians and internationals, and there were a few minutes of panic as the protestors retreated across the rocky, open ground, desperately hoping not to be hit.

Lighter skirmishes followed, until the soldiers left the village land after about an hour, bringing the demonstration to an end.

Hebron

On Saturday around two hundred Palestinian and International protesters gathered in the Old City of Hebron to protest against the illegal settlements and the closure of Shuhada street. Speeches were held by politicians from different parties, including Mustafa Barghouti. A massive amount of soldiers attempted to intimidate the participants and block their way into the Old City. But the demonstrators resisted non-violently and despite persistent violence from soldiers successfully paraded the Old City.

Beit Jala

On Sunday in Beit Jala some 30 protesters marched through a street that leads to the Apartheid Wall’s construction site. To the sound of the working bulldozers nearby, the march was stopped by a group of soldiers and a barbed wire they had installed earlier. The protesters demanded to go through to the Palestinian land being annexed and destroyed by the wall construction, and some touched the barb wire to show their contempt to the occupying army.

The soldiers soon launched an assault with sound bombs and then tear gas canisters, which were shot at the populated street far beyond the protesters. One person was treated for heavy tear gas inhalation. At a different spot the army incursion was met with stone throwers. The army then began terrorizing a main street in Beit Jala, traumatizing passers-by and the entire population of the area.

Direct action around Palestine

International Solidarity Movement

1 July 2010

Al Ma’asara

The people of Al-Ma’asara’s again demonstrated peacefully last Friday, protesting against land seizures and settler harassment. Twenty villagers were joined by a handful of Israelis and internationals, marching from the village out towards the confiscated fields.

For the second week running, the group was allowed to reach the fields; Israeli army jeeps appeared as always, but this week the soldiers escorted the protest group to the fields, rather than attempting to stop them. Protestors were pushed and shouted at if they tried to move away from the main group, but otherwise there was no incident.

Perhaps the Israeli Army has finally recognised that the Al-Ma’asara protest is 100% peaceful, and the soldiers have no reason to break it up. Or this may turn out to be a temporary respite from roadblocks and harsher treatment. In any case the people of Al-Ma’asara are still not able to cultivate their land in peace, as the farmer’s have no protection from settler violence.

An Nabi Saleh

Residents of An Nabi Saleh gathered on Friday to honour the men of their village who remain as political prisoners inside Israeli jails. As one man enters his 33rd year in captivity, the village congregated for speeches, songs, and presentations to the families of those imprisoned.

After this event, villagers, joined by Israeli and international supporters, marched towards village land which has been illegally taken from them by the nearby Israeli settlement of Halamish. Soldiers blocked their route, allowing them to stand and chant for only a short period before starting to shoot tear gas. Many of the tear gas canisters shot were fired at body height, seemingly deliberately aimed at demonstrators. Several participants were injured, by canisters or by rubber-coated steel bullets, which were also fired in large numbers.

Military jeeps then came into the village, and soldiers occupied the main square. After approximately an hour, they retreated again, pursued by a large group of young children, one of whom had successfully planted a Palestinian flag on the back of a jeep. Soldiers halted the jeeps, and got out to throw sound grenades and fire tear gas at the children. Fortunately, none were hurt.

The demonstration went on until after sunset, when soldiers finally moved out of the village.

Iraq Burin

At the weekly demonstration against the illegal Israeli occupation in Iraq Burin, stone throwing protesters and international observers were teargassed by the Israeli army while trying to access their own land.

Leaving the village after the protest, two villagers and six internationals were stopped by an army jeep, had their passports confiscated and were then detained, with the soldiers claiming that it was “illegal” to be in the village. The internationals and Palestinians were taken to separate Israeli checkpoints, before being brought together again at Huwarra checkpoint 40 minutes later, where the Palestinians had been kneeling in the hot sun with their hands behind their heads.

All prisoners were then taken to a police station, where one of the Palestinians was severely beaten, first in the jeep, then in a closed room in the police station. All prisoners were later released without charge, 4 1/2 hours after their detention. The beaten Palestinian was taken to hospital in Nablus, where the doctor noted heavy bruising on his chest, back and stomach.

Bil’in

Dozens suffered from tear gas inhalation in Bil’ins weekly demonstration this Friday.

This week’s protest focused particularly on the boycott of Israeli blood diamonds. Every year, consumers the world over unwittingly spend billions of dollars on diamonds extracted by violent militias in West Africa and later processed and sold on from Tel Aviv. Protestors also carried a message of solidarity with the Palestinians of East Jerusalem, who are currently subject to a particularly violent wave of evictions, demolitions and harassment.

About 100 Palestinians, Israelis and internationals marched together this week to the gate of the Annexation Wall, facing large amounts of tear gas before the soldiers charged through the gate and chased the protesters towards the village. The solders continued firing teargas on the fleeing crowd, leaving dozens of protestors affected by gas inhalation. Hot teargas cannitsters set fire to fields on either side of the road, with Palestinian youths struggling to put out the flames while avoiding the Isralie assault. The demonstration ended after about 45 minutes.

Ni’lin

Around 20 international activists and journalists joined a group of 80-90 local villagers for the weekly protest against the Annexation Wall, continuing a tradition that has been going for over 4 years now. Starting from the olive fields, the protesters marched down the hill towards the wall, chanting slogans and waving flags. Having arrived at the wall, which annexes farmland and property from the locals and gives it to illegal settlers, there was an interlude of around 5 minutes, after which time the Israeli Army, from the other side of the wall, launched volleys of tear gas canisters at the peaceful protesters, continuing another integral part of the demonstration since its inception- unprovoked violence against peaceful demonstrators.

Following the volleys, most of the activists positioned themselves out of the direction of the wind, in order to minimize the poisonous effects of the gas. Some of the canisters were conventional rubber canisters, and others were higher velocity metal canisters, and thus the protesters had to be careful to avoid the projectiles, which have in the past caused serious and even fatal injuries to several activists. Some of the Palestinians then started throwing rocks over the wall at their aggressors, as well as using slingshots to hurl the empty gas canisters back at the soldiers.

After around 45 minutes events petered out. The protesters moved to the edge of the wall, and some of the journalists conducted interviews, while some Palestinians continued using slingshots to hurl the empty rubber gas canisters back over the wall. Suddenly, the Army burst through the gate in the wall in their jeeps, and started pursuing the peace protestors, who fled on foot over the hills, out of the reach of the jeeps. After a roughly 10 minute chase, the activists had managed to distance themselves safely from the army, who had given up the pursuit; they returned to the village in peace.

Hebron

Demonstrators gathered in Hebron on Saturday to demand an end to the illegal theft of water from the region for use in Israel and in Israeli settlements.

Protesters carried a large banner which read ‘Stop Stealing Our Water’, a reference to the theft of Palestinian water supplies by Israel. According to the Middle East Monitor, ‘The rate of water consumption of Israel citizens is 344 million cubic metres per year, while the consumption of Palestinians stands at 93 million cubic metres per year’. Israel’s disproportionately high usage and wastage of water is in large part fed by water stolen from the occupied West Bank. The Middle East Monitor goes on to write of ‘3 reserves within the West Bank area producing about 679 million cubic metres of water. According to international law, this water belongs to the Palestinians but they only get 118 million cubic metres. In other words, Palestinians get just 15% of their own water while the rest is consumed by Israelis’ [1]. Much of this stolen water comes from the Hebron region.

Local residents were joined for the protest by a large group of Israeli and international activists. After chanting and making speeches in front of one of Hebron’s many military watch-towers, the protest then moved up a nearby street, which was blocked by Israeli soldiers who violently pushed demonstrators back down the road. Protesters refused to give up, and went instead into the Old City’s covered market. Above this market is one of the illegal settlements that exist within Hebron itself, and settlers from here threw glass bottles, eggs and water down onto the protesters below.

The settlements in Hebron are, like all settlements within the West Bank and East Jerusalem, illegal under international law. Palestinian residents of the Old City and the district of Tel Rumeida suffer severe restriction of movement, frequent harassment and occasional violence at the hands of both soldiers and settlers.

[1] http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/resources/briefing-papers/805-israel-is-stealing-palestinian-and-arab-water

Beit Jala

Midday Sunday, a group of Palestinians and internationals gathered in the village of Beit Jala outside Bethlehem to protest against the construction of the wall cutting off the village from its land. The protesters divided into two groups, one facing a roadblock set up by the soldiers and while another smaller group went down trough the olive groves to reach the construction site.

Israeli soldiers responded violently towards the larger group, using sound bombs and tear gas. When the smaller group reached the road leading to the construction site, soldiers quickly formed a line to stop them. After some time border police arrived and arrested three of the protesters: one Palestinian, one Israeli and one international. As a result of the ferocious violence from the soldiers, the demonstration dissipated.

Bir el-Eid

Activists working with local farmer to dredge the well

Early Saturday morning, 10 volunteers from Taayush and ISM travelled to Bir el-Eid in the South Hebron Hills, where we met with the local farmers, and were joined also by renouned activist Ezra Nawi. Activists gathered here to help the locals dredge out their well. The people Bir el-Eid only just have enough water to drink, but nothing for crops or animals. Water must be expensively brought in tanks from outside, negotiating whatever the current military conditions may be.

The more permanent and sustainable water supply here comes from two wells that capture a good part of the yearly rain, which soaks down through the chalk rocks. The people of Bir el-Eid were evicted from their land for a number of years, and when they recently returned, they found their wells in disrepair. Without anyone here to maintain the wells they filled with silt, and the problem may have been compounded by settler vandalism.

Restoring the well to usefulness is a crucial part of re-establishing a sustainable community here. Activists spent about five hours working with the farmers; one Palestinian and three Israelis went down into the cistern at the bottom of the well, and five of us at the top hauled up the bucket-loads of muck with a pulley. This was filthy, heavy work, but seeing Palestinians and Israelis working together against the Apartheid provided powerful inspiration.

Response to the Israeli Cabinet’s Decision to Ease the Siege on Gaza

Bianca Zammit | ISM Gaza

28 June 2010

On June 17th 2010, the Israeli Cabinet decided to take steps to ease the Israeli-imposed siege on Gaza by allowing more items to enter. These items include mayonnaise, ketchup, chocolate, sweets and children’s toys, all of which have been prohibted from entering Gaza for the last 3 years. Some other items which will be allowed to enter will be going to civilian projects under the auspices of international NGOs.

While welcoming this Israeli initiative, the fact remains that many people in Gaza are living below the poverty line and cannot afford to buy these items. 80% of the population in Gaza is dependent on the UNRWA for food staples and basic living amenities. Now in its fourth year, the siege has created a miserable and unsustainable reality for all. The majority of the population albeit educated and skilled is unemployed and is forced to rely on foreign aid in order to get by. Factory workers can no longer operate since the siege halted raw materials from entering Gaza. In addition, Israel has impeded factories from exporting their goods to the outside world. Since the start of the siege 90% of Gaza’s factories are defunct. During Operation Cast Lead, factories were a major target and have remained so to date. In March 2010, Israeli warplanes struck a cheese factory in a deliberate attack, destroying equipment and machinery. Items which enter Gaza are screened for their possible usage in factories. A tahina factory in Gaza requested the entry of plastic containers. In response, Israel declared that it would not allow containers in but instead it would allow tahina made in Israel to enter. To allow Gaza to export products and import raw materials is a critical step in ending the humanitarian crisis brought about by the siege.

The siege has forced 60% of Gaza’ population into unemployment. Besides targeting factory workers, the siege has also direct implications for the traditional farming and fishing industries. Israel has tightened its grip on both sea and land and imposed new policies which fall short of international law and agreements. Live ammunition is used, with deadly consequences, against farmers and fisherpersons working in internationally-recognized Gazan sea and land. The potentially lethal risk faced by these workers has forced many into unemployment. Further injuring the industries, Israel has banned all equipment related to farming and fishing.

The siege has caused more than half of the population into unemployment and dependency on foreign aid. The siege also puts a complete halt to freedom of movement. Every border crossing in Gaza is closed, including the sea and air on which Israel exerts full control. The only Gazans allowed to exit are people requiring treatment in a foreign hospital, students and pilgrims. Even for these people, exit is never guaranteed and often requires days of sleeping at the border and humiliating security checks. The wait can be so long that many people die before they can visit a specialist hospital outside of Gaza. Families spread between Gaza and the West Bank or other counties outside the Occupied Palestinian Territories are not permitted to meet. A new policy enacted in April 2010 seeks to deport to Gaza all Gaza-born Palestinians living in the West Bank. This policy creates further suffering, causing families to become separated. This policy has direct implications for Gazan students studying at West Bank universities, as they can be arrested and brought to Gaza at any time, preventing them from completing their studies.. For the last three years, families who have a member in an Israeli jail have also been denied prison visit permits.

Over time, Israeli will perhaps take further measures to ease the assault on daily life Gaza. However, until Israel permits exports out of Gaza, raw materials to enter, and freedom of movement, no amount of chocolate and mayonnaise can ease the misery the siege is causing.

Bianca Zammit is a Maltese activist with the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza.

Hebron visit by Knesset member provokes settler venom

International Solidarity Movement

24 June 2010

A member of the left-wing Knesset party visited Tel Rumeida settlement in Hebron Wednesday, generating a large crowd as walked through the city. He came to speak and was given a tour of the settlements. The group was surrounded by around 10 police, 40 border police, and also at least two vans of secret police (according to Palestinian bystanders these are the same group who shot dead several people on board the Gaza flotilla last month). There were also representatives of Breaking the Silence, and three or four coach-loads of Zionists following the press and party member into the Tel Rumeida settlement. The heavy police presence suggested concern that settlers would attack the visitors.

Local Palestinians and internationals waited at the bottom of the street as he entered the settlement as well as coaches and the soldiers stationed at the checkpoint there. When the tour/demonstration made their way back down the road towards the coaches, Zionists approached the internationals and began shouting at them. One man was accused of drinking Jewish blood because he was drinking a can of Arabic coke. The settlers shouted ‘This is not Palestine, it is not Arab land and you’d better get used to it!’.

One woman screamed into the face of an international that foreign money had gone to buy the Palestinians shopping malls and that Jews could not even build on a tiny scrap of land. The deluded and venomous nature of what they were saying, caused several internationals to break down in tears. The presence of the police and army to step in and defend the Israeli visitors, and their accommodating attitude towards the ‘peaceful protest’ was also a source of distress. Palestinians are accustomed to being shot at and tear gassed in response to their own peaceful demonstrations.