Beit Surik, Bilin, Sulfeit
My last 4 days have been quite full of action:
Thursday in Beit Surik:
I went to a demonstration there. This village is losing more than a third of their land due to the construction of the annexation barrier being built by Israel. The barrier will allow the Israeli settlers to expand their land by stealing the land of the Palestinians. This is their agricultural land - they have been cultivating olives here for a long time, but now are seeing these olive trees uprooted and the land destroyed. The demo was pretty small, but it involved Palestinian teenagers throwing stones and the response by the Israeli border police - tear gas, rubber bullets, and a new crowd control mechanism (larger rubber bulets maybe?). One Palestinian kid (maybe 8 years old) got shot in the leg with a rubber bullet.
This was my first experience with tear gas, and it was ok - we were not in the middle of the gas exactly, so my eyes simply teared up for a few minutes. I felt quite a bit of fear during this demo though because the police can do anything they want to. They were trying to dispurse the demo, but also acting in a malicious manner. One example of this is that the tear gas shot by the police started a couple fires on the people's land, and while Palestinians were simply trying to put out the fires so their trees would not burn down, the police relentlessly continued shooting tear gas. I was steaming with anger while watching this.
Friday in Bil'in:
This demo was a march to where the Israelis are building the wall near the city part of Bil'in, a town of 1500 people. The march was huge for Bil'in - over 1000 people were there, and everyone was carrying Palestinian flags that the people of Bil'in had made. It was beautiful - people were chanting, there were lots of internationals there (including people from some christian groups that work in solidarity with the Palestinians).
The end of the demo brought tear gas, sound bombs (basically an exploding mechanism that makes a very loud noise but usually harms no one), and some live ammunition shot in no particular direction. The police were relentless again, and they succeeded in stopping us from marching to the wall - we had to stop a couple hundred meters away. 2 Israelis were arrested, including Rann from ISM-NC. They were both released later that day. The next day one of the Palestinians organizers of the march was arrested at a checkpoint.
Saturday in Sulfit:
We marched from Marda to Kifl Hares - maybe 200 attended. This was a wonderful demo - no tear gas or sound bombs or bullets. The police made us alter our route a bit, but we made it to our destination, where some Palestinians and internationals proceeded to dance, sing, and make speeches. There were tons of kids there - in fact the Palestinian kids had their own march toward the end of ours. It was amazing to see people at such a young age participating in the resistance.
Sunday again in Beit Surik:
Today we sat on and near som land that the Israelis are trying illegally to construct a road on to keep them from working. The police made us move back at one point, but we stayed around for most of the day to make sure they did not do their illegal work. While were at the demo a little ways away from the main part of the village, we learned that 3 Palestinians (2 12-year-olds and one 17-year-old with Williams Syndrome - a mental disability) were arrested from their house, presumably for participating in the resistance. They were arrested by Israelis who were dressed as Palestinians in an attempt to fool the locals into not being suspicious of them.
Overall I have had a lot of emotions at these demos and afterwards as I process them. Mainly anger, fear, frustration (that we can't stop this violence immediately), and hope. I have been inspired by the limitless bravery of the Palestinians, and because of them i know that we can make this a more just world.
Posted by Allison
Thursday in Beit Surik:
I went to a demonstration there. This village is losing more than a third of their land due to the construction of the annexation barrier being built by Israel. The barrier will allow the Israeli settlers to expand their land by stealing the land of the Palestinians. This is their agricultural land - they have been cultivating olives here for a long time, but now are seeing these olive trees uprooted and the land destroyed. The demo was pretty small, but it involved Palestinian teenagers throwing stones and the response by the Israeli border police - tear gas, rubber bullets, and a new crowd control mechanism (larger rubber bulets maybe?). One Palestinian kid (maybe 8 years old) got shot in the leg with a rubber bullet.
This was my first experience with tear gas, and it was ok - we were not in the middle of the gas exactly, so my eyes simply teared up for a few minutes. I felt quite a bit of fear during this demo though because the police can do anything they want to. They were trying to dispurse the demo, but also acting in a malicious manner. One example of this is that the tear gas shot by the police started a couple fires on the people's land, and while Palestinians were simply trying to put out the fires so their trees would not burn down, the police relentlessly continued shooting tear gas. I was steaming with anger while watching this.
Friday in Bil'in:
This demo was a march to where the Israelis are building the wall near the city part of Bil'in, a town of 1500 people. The march was huge for Bil'in - over 1000 people were there, and everyone was carrying Palestinian flags that the people of Bil'in had made. It was beautiful - people were chanting, there were lots of internationals there (including people from some christian groups that work in solidarity with the Palestinians).
The end of the demo brought tear gas, sound bombs (basically an exploding mechanism that makes a very loud noise but usually harms no one), and some live ammunition shot in no particular direction. The police were relentless again, and they succeeded in stopping us from marching to the wall - we had to stop a couple hundred meters away. 2 Israelis were arrested, including Rann from ISM-NC. They were both released later that day. The next day one of the Palestinians organizers of the march was arrested at a checkpoint.
Saturday in Sulfit:
We marched from Marda to Kifl Hares - maybe 200 attended. This was a wonderful demo - no tear gas or sound bombs or bullets. The police made us alter our route a bit, but we made it to our destination, where some Palestinians and internationals proceeded to dance, sing, and make speeches. There were tons of kids there - in fact the Palestinian kids had their own march toward the end of ours. It was amazing to see people at such a young age participating in the resistance.
Sunday again in Beit Surik:
Today we sat on and near som land that the Israelis are trying illegally to construct a road on to keep them from working. The police made us move back at one point, but we stayed around for most of the day to make sure they did not do their illegal work. While were at the demo a little ways away from the main part of the village, we learned that 3 Palestinians (2 12-year-olds and one 17-year-old with Williams Syndrome - a mental disability) were arrested from their house, presumably for participating in the resistance. They were arrested by Israelis who were dressed as Palestinians in an attempt to fool the locals into not being suspicious of them.
Overall I have had a lot of emotions at these demos and afterwards as I process them. Mainly anger, fear, frustration (that we can't stop this violence immediately), and hope. I have been inspired by the limitless bravery of the Palestinians, and because of them i know that we can make this a more just world.
Posted by Allison
posted by ISM-NC at 10:27 AM
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