The Beit Umar weekly demonstration took place saturday July 24 on the lands of Beit Umar near the settlement of Karmei tzur.  Although the settlement is surrounded by a fence and no attempt is made to break it, the soldiers nonetheless wait for the demonstration on the Beit Umar side of it. It should be pointed out that the fence surrounding the settlement also includes agricultural land belonging to Beit Umar farmers, that is, on top of the lands the settlement houses are built on. A supreme court decision was supposed to grant the farmers access to their lands but in practice the access is made so difficult by bureaucratic obstacles or the whims of settlement security, that cultivation of the land is impossible. 

 

In recent weeks the army's strategy has been to stop the demonstration as far away from the settlement as possible. This could be motivated by settlers demands that they don't want to see the demonstrations or a new confiscation order handed down by the military and delivered to the Beit Umar city council. Apparently the army plans to fence in a further few hundred meters radium around the settlement. This would effectively confiscate another large plots of land and bring the settlement fence to within a few meters from the last houses of Beit Umar. As some of these houses are built on area C (under Israeli administrative control, and therefore impossible for Palestinians to obtain building permits) their fate is also in jeopardy. 

 

This week's demonstration was larger than usual. Unlike previous weeks, a large number of international supporters took part, as well as several women from Beit Umar. As the demonstration approched the lands near Larmei Tzur, about 100 meters from the fence, it was met with about 40 soldiers in regular army and border police units. The officer in command of the regular army was one named Amit and the border police unit was commanded by one name Yusef. The soldiers used a large number of shock grenades thrown from close distance and sometimes thrown directly at protester as projectiles. Combined with the explosive momentum they become much more dangerous when used that way. One American demonstrator was hit in the head with a shock grenade but was spared the main force of the explosion and was not seriously hurt. Apparently other army units used shock grenades in a similar way in nearby Ma'asara the day before causing activists to wonder if the grenades are on sale.

 

 

 

About 100 Palestinians and their international and Israeli supporters gathered next to the closed gates of the Israeli army blockade on Shuhada street in the Saturday demonstration of the “Open Shuhada Street” campaign in Hebron. After some chanting and speeches against the occupation and settlements and for freedom of movement in Hebron, the protesters headed towards one of the old city allies, blocked by Israeli soldiers. The soldiers violently attacked the demonstration and in the commotion that erupted have managed to grab into arrest 4 internationals and one Israeli protester. Due to the Israeli army's determination to end the demo, the protesters sat on the ground in front of the soldiers, continuing the demo while sitting.

 

After a while the demo was declared over and participants started going away from the soldiers, who kept going after the retrieting crowd. At a certain point one of the soldiers threw out a sound bomb.

 

The arresties were then taken to interrogation in the Kiryat Arba settlement police station, where Palestinians and internationals held a solidarity demo demanding their unconditioned release. During this demo one Palestinian was arrested.

 

 

 

In Ma'asara a larger than usual demonstration took place. The demonstrators, accompanied by a group of drummers, marched from the village towards their land and chanted slogans against the occupation and for the freedom of Palestine. The soldiers attempted to block the demonstration on its main route, and when the demonstrators turned to the road they were attacked with tear gas and sound grenades. Many suffered gas inhalation and one international demonstrator was hit in her ear by a grenade and was evacuated to the hospital for treatment. A smaller group of protesters reformed at the entrance to the village and sat on the ground in protest of the amy's violence, whilst continuing to chant, sing and drum. 

 

 

 

In  Bil'in, Over 80 internationals and some 30 Israelis joined the village's residents and other Palestinians in the weekly demonstration against the occupation, land grab, and State terrorism. The merry march to the fence ended abruptly as the army started shooting gas at the demonstrators about two minutes after their arrival at the gate. The usual scenario of running away through clouds of gas while the shabab keeps the soldiers away with sling shots ensued. One demonstrator did not run away - European Parliament Member Louisa Morgantini. She was detained by the soldiers and taken away to their post. Then a few demonstrators approached the soldiers demanding Morgantini's release. The end result was that Morganitini was indeed released, but the army replaced her with Israeli demonstrator Kobi Snitz, so as not to go home empty handed.   

 

Bil'in