A lone Israeli woman stood in the middle of the 30- meter stretch between the IDF soldiers blocking the road and the march of hundreds of Palestinian protesters in the village of Bidu outside Jerusalem on Thursday.
"Disperse, or we will use tear gas," yelled one soldier at her and the protesters behind her, using a loudspeaker.
She walked forward a few meters and begged them not to use violence.
On the side of the road, black smoke billowed from a number of burning tires.
"We came here for one reason," she yelled in Hebrew. "We came here for a protest against violence. It won't end until you understand something. This is the only option we have to show the Israelis and the Palestinians that there doesn't have to be violence, that there can be joint activity. There are many people here who really believe that."
A second Israeli shouted to the soldiers, "There is no violence here, go home."
The standoff ended with the soldiers firing tear gas. The demonstrators scattered and some threw stones.
For the third day in a row, violence erupted in Bidu as villagers, with the help of Israeli and international activists, protested the construction of the security fence whose path cuts into their agricultural lands. Violence has broken out many times in the last few months as villagers try to stop work on the fence.
On Thursday, 35 Palestinians were injured, including an elderly woman, a small child and a journalist, according to villagers. Ten protesters were arrested, including four members of the International Solidarity Movement and two Palestinians. Four Israelis were also arrested including the head of Rabbis for Human Rights, Arik Asherman.
A spokesperson for Rabbis for Human Rights said that Ascherman was trying to stop soldiers from beating up a 12- year-old boy.
In the case of some arrests of foreigners and Israelis, soldiers simply walked up to them and dragged them away, including the woman who asked them to refrain from violence.
An army spokesman said the soldiers tried to prevent violence. He said that stones were thrown at the soldiers and in one case a Palestinian tried to stab an army medic with a pair of scissors.
The protest, intended as a nonviolent one, started from the village's council offices around noon. Hundreds marched down the road. A number of protesters held signs against the "wall" and Palestinian flags.
In anticipation, soldiers spread out along the hill above them and perched on the rooftops of homes along the road.
After marching for 20 minutes, the protesters' way was blocked by a number of military jeeps and a row of border policemen and soldiers.
From the ground it appeared that security forces sparked the violence.
Once the tear gas flew, demonstrators used slingshots to throw stones at the soldiers.
Many scattered behind the homes and into the farmland beyond. Skirmishes lasted into the afternoon, along the road and in the fields.
Residents brought out water and onions to help protesters overcome the impact of the tear gas. Others hid in their homes listening to the noise of the guns.
Among the Israelis who came was an artist. In a quiet moment, he spread a large canvas on the side of the road, urging villagers to express their emotion in paint.
A group of young men stood and stared at the canvas.
"Can someone translate for me?" the artist asked the group. One man answered, "We're too tired from all the tear gas." One Bidu resident said he is so filled with despair that he doesn't even think the protests will help.
"Soon, I don't know what will be. There is no solution between us. Every day there is a demonstration, every day a few are wounded," he said.
He was born in the Old City of Jerusalem and used to be able to travel there in 10 minutes. Now it can take two hours. When the wall, which is taking six dunams of his land, is finished, he said, he won't be able to go at all.
