Several hundred protesters attacked the security fence near the village of Zububa outside Jenin Sunday to kick off an international protest day against the barrier in events from Ramallah to New York.
The November 9 date was chosen because it marks the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, said Jamal Juma, coordinator of the Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network (PENGON), which has worked on the event in conjunctions with the Palestinian grassroots anti-fence campaign.
"The day was announced by the Palestinian communities in the northern areas last June. The big comparison was the Berlin Wall and the apartheid system," said Juma.
This wall, like the Berlin Wall before it, separates people, said Juma. "It separates Palestinians from Palestinians, Palestinians from their fields and homes, villages from villages."
The hope, he said, is to highlight hardships created by the fence and to remind people that the Palestinians are part of the international community, said Juma.
According to PENGON's Web site, demonstrations are planned in more than 50 cities worldwide including Europe, Jordan, Japan, Latin America, Canada, and the US. In many cities events are planned throughout this week. In Palestinian areas there were demonstrations also in Bethlehem and Kalkilya, said Juma. According to the AFP, several thousand people marched in Rome on Saturday against the fence.
In Israel on Saturday, Gush Shalom held a demonstration in the Sawahra Valley in the morning and a rally in Tel Aviv in the evening.
Outside Zububa at 11 a.m. on Sunday, several hundred Palestinians attacked the security fence. They were joined by 30 foreign activists from the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement and about 30 Israelis.
One ISM volunteer named Ben said, "People used clippers and other tools to destroy the fence."
He estimated they damaged about 20 meters of it before soldiers threw tear gas at them. The IDF Spokesman confirmed that demonstrators cut the fence before soldiers dispersed them. There were no arrests and no injuries.
"We wanted to make it clear that the wall will not be tolerated," Israeli demonstrator Jonathan Pollak said. "We wanted to say that it will not be done in our name."
