This Friday, mass demonstrations held in Bil'in, Ma'asara, and Ni'ilin, marked the 20th anniversary to the fall of the Berlin wall:
In Ni'ilin, demonstrators brought down a section of the eight meters tall concrete wall that cuts through the village's land. The soldiers, positioned at the other side of the wall, fired scores of live rounds at the demonstrators as well as tear gas, and sprayed them with the "skunk-bomb" (a foul-smelling liquid). This is the first time since Israel began the construction of the wall in 2002 that demonstrators succeeded in toppling down a part of the wall. One of the demonstrators, Moheeb Khawaja, said during the protest: "Twenty years ago no one had thought the monster that divided Berlin into two could be brought down, but in only two days in November, it did. Today we have proven that this can also be done here and now. It is our land beyond this wall, and we will not give up on it. We will win for a simple reason - justice is on our side."
Meanwhile in Bil'in, demonstrators carried posters demanding the release of Adeeb, the member of the village's popular committee still in the Israeli jail, and a large styrofoam model of the wall which they set in the space between the main gate and the fence. Upon arrival to the fence parallel to the trail, the Shabab started busily cutting through it. Covered by the smoke of a burning tire, two of them made impressive progress for quite a few minutes before the army noticed them. A Belgian choir gave the demo a wonderfully surreal character, as they sang in harmony songs of resistance and struggle in various languages. The army demolished the mock model of the wall and threw gas and shock grenades, while the Shabab, enjoying the support of a very favorable wind, was returning the many unexploded canisters accompanied by stones.
At the same time in the village of al-Ma'asara, the army prevented from some 50 demonstrators to protest at the path of the wall. Blocked by an impromptu barbwire fence and held back by soldiers, demonstrators gave speeches in English and Arabic about the illegality of the Wall and Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories. The children of the village succeeded in temporarily removing the barbwire and attempted to walk forward, the soldiers threatened the demonstrators with arrests and violently pushed the children back across the fence. As the demonstrators began marching back to the village, they were blocked by a military jeep that entered the village from the back and parked on the main road. Trapped between the soldiers by the barbwire on one side and the jeep on another, the demonstrators crowded around the military vehicle with singing and clapping, accompanied by an Israeli group of percussionists. The soldiers in the jeep made threats of arrests and eventually left the village, the protesters headed back to the village and the percussions group gave a drumming workshop to the children and youths of the village.
