On Friday, residents of al Ma’asara (near Bethlehem), Bil’in and Ni’ilin (near Ramallah) were joined by Israeli and international activists in their weekly protests against Israel’s wall and its ongoing, brutal military occupation.

In al Ma’asara, around one hundred people took part in a protest march that set off from the outskirts of the village, after the noon prayer, in the direction of the wall. However, as the army has been doing for the past several months, Israeli soldiers and border police were waiting at the entrance of the village, with a spool of barber-wire stretched across the road as a makeshift barrier. As demonstrators attempted to continue marching past the barbed wire, soldiers used violence to stop people from advancing. After a while, Israeli troops were reinforced by a riot police unit and, in the face of what seemed like an imminent attack by Israeli forces on demonstrators, organizers decided to end the protest and return to the village. However, even as people had moved away from the troops and were already on their way back, soldiers nevertheless fired teargas canisters at the retreating crowd.

Weekly demonstration against the wall, Bil'in. Video by David Reeb

In Bil’in, several dozen people gathered in the center of the village and marched through its main street towards the wall, with the young people at the front playing goblet drums, waving Palestinian flags and singing. As the march reached the separation barrier, Israeli troops positioned on the other side of the fence, behind concrete blocks, began to fire teargas canisters and concussion grenades at the demonstrators - progressing later on to rubber-coated steel bullets. A few of the village’s youth responded to the army’s attack by throwing stones at soldiers. People at the head of the march held their ground in spite of the shooting, calling in Hebrew for the soldiers to “Go Home!”. However, as the direction of the wind and the amount of teargas used made it impossible to remain close to the separation barrier itself, demonstrators retreated towards the village. Several people suffered from gas inhalation, and two journalists were injured in their lower body from rubber-coated steel bullets.

Protester throws stones at a military jeep behind the separation barrier, Ni'ilin (in the background: Hashmonaim settlement)

In Ni’ilin, as residents tried to gather at noon for the traditional prayers at their usual spot, near the village’s clinic, they discovered Israeli troops were already there, occupying the very same place. Soldiers fired teargas canisters at anyone trying to make their way uphill towards the village’s clinic, and so the prayers were moved to a different location. Afterwards, a protest march set off from the center of the village, circumventing the hill were the soldiers positioned themselves, through the fields. Protesters managed to get to the barrier, and soon many members of the crowd began attacking it, trying to dismantle or sabotage the fences and barbed wire by which Ni’ilin’s lands are being stolen. As soldiers and border police jeeps arrived on the other side of the fence, they began firing teargas canisters and rounds of live ammunition at the crowd, to which some responded with slingshots. Eventually the demonstration was forced to retreat further and further, and the confrontation moved back inside the village, where residents set up barricades and tried to fight off troops with stones as well as paintbombs. Clashes continued until soldiers finally retreated from the village and left the area. One young Palestinian was injured from live ammunition. The bullet went through two of his fingers, and he was transferred to a hospital in Ramallah.