On July 7th, 2008, the village of Ni'ilin was under curfew imposed by the army in an attempt to suppress the demonstrations there. Palestinians from surrounding villages, accompanied by Israeli and international activists, all carrying basic food supplies, held a march from the adjacent village of Deir Qaddis with the intention of breaking the siege on the on Ni'ilin. The march was attacked by the army on sight with teargas and rubber bullets, and two Palestinians were arrested.

One of them, Ashraf Abu Rahma, 28, cuffed and blindfolded, was led towards a military jeep by a high ranking officer. As the officer held him, another soldier, one of the officer's direct underlings, pointed his gun at him and shot a rubber-coated steel bullet at him from pointblank.

The incident, only exposed now, about two weeks after taking place, was filmed by a 14 years old girl from Ni'iln, which was besieged at her house and captured the events from her balcony.

Though catching such acts on film is very rare, the presence and involvement of the high ranking officer, the commander of the entire battalion in the region, is a good indication of the army's behavioral norm towards demonstrators in Ni'ilin. Last week saw two rather similar, though slightly less grave incidents in Ni'ilin. On Sunday, July 13th, a demonstrator was shot with a rubber-coated bullet by an officer from very close range, and while his arms were raised. The bullet lodged itself in the demonstrator's arm. On Thursday, July 15th, a photographer being shot with a rubber-coated bullet by a border policeman from a distance of about 10 meters. The bullet hit her hip, and penetrated. Surgical intervention under general anesthesia was required to remove the slug.