This weeks Friday demonstration in Ma'asara celebrated the Palestinian Day of the Tree. Some 70 demonstrators, Palestinian, Israeli and international, marched from the centre of the village towards the route of the Apartheid fence, carrying young olive trees to be planted in the lands near the fence. Amongst the demonstrators were Palestinian Minister of Agriculture Ismail Du'eik and other officials from the Bethlehem area.

Maasara, January 22, 2010
Shortly before reaching the soldiers who awaited the demonstration demonstrators stopped to watch the minister plant two olive trees at the end of the built area in the village. The march then proceeded to meet with the larger than usual number of border policemen and soldiers, some of whom had taken over the rooftops of nearby houses, aiming guns at the demonstration. The minister and other demonstrators gave speeches in Arabic and Hebrew, and left two plants near the fence. The demonstration ended peacefully.
About an hour later, soldiers arrested one of the Palestinian demonstrators inside the village. The grounds for the arrest are still unclear, and the activist was released later that evening. Army jeeps patrolled the village for a good few hours following the arrest.
 Maasara, January 22, 2010

Bil'in

This Friday, the 22nd of January, 30 to 40 Palestinian, Israeli, and other international protesters marched through the West Bank village of Bil’in to the Israeli built separation barrier, ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice. Per usual, the demonstration was dispersed by tear gas projectiles and concussion grenades shortly after the marchers arrived at the gate.

At least one Palestinian protester was injured and many other demonstrators were treated for varying degrees of tear gas inhalation. As of Friday evening, there have been no reported of injuries from the Israeli army.

After the midday prayer, Palestinians and internationals assembled outside in the village of Bil’in and proceeded to march to the barrier while chanting pro-Palestine slogans and waving Palestinian and Fatah flags. Tear gas and concussion grenades were initially employed to disperse the protesters, but roughly thirty minutes into the demonstration Israeli soldiers crossed the barrier line into the village and attempted to chase and detain Palestinian protesters. No arrests were reported.

Several Palestinian youths wearing keffiyehs to cover their heads threw rocks and shouted insults at the Israeli soldiers. International demonstrators recorded and photographed the clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers. Israeli forces invaded the village in response to the clashes with the demonstrators and eventually fell back across the separation wall over an hour after the protest began.

This week’s demonstration in Bil’in marks a continued escalation of repressive tactics employed by the Israeli military. 2010 has seen a dramatic increase in night raids, arrests, and harassment directed towards the organizers of the Popular Committee resistance in the West Bank. 

In Ni'ilin, some 150 demonstrators marched to the route of the wall to demonstrate there against the annexation and the aggressive suppression campaign held against the village. For the last nights, some 16 of the village youth were arrested in military night raids. And yet – the villagers alongside the international & Israeli supporters who once again joined the demonstration after crossing fields by foot, went on demonstrating and resisting the soldier's invasion to the village fields for hours.

In Nabi-Saleh 4 volunteers from IWPS along with internationals from International Solidarity Movement (ISM), and several Israeli anti-occupation activists attended the 5th demonstration in An Nabi Salih today - 22nd January 2010. Approximately 60 residents from the village took part in today's demo, a smaller number than previously. The demonstrators were also joined by Palestinians from surrounding villages in solidarity with their struggle to regain access to their land.
 
The village people decided to take a different route to march towards their land today, as the army has been blockading their movement on the main road of the village with tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. As during previous demonstrations the procession started from the center of the village.  It had only walked about 150 meters when the army started firing tear gas, from much farther up the road to the village than previously.

When IWPS volunteers arrived at the village at about 11.45am the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) had already surrounded the village, and were standing on the hilltop on the south west side of the village prepared to break the crowd.

Because of the unusually large amount of tear gas fired only minutes into the demonstration it didn't take long for the IOF to disperse the demonstrators in several directions across the village, many pursued by soldiers who came very close to the village centre. This resulted in the Shabab throwing stones at the aggressive soldiers. IWPS volunteers were once again finding it difficult to take footage, and a tear gas canister was fired directly at two IWPS volunteers who were attempting to film the soldiers.
 
Three Palestinian women were arrested at today's demonstration, and were physically assaulted by the soldiers and had their scarves torn off. The first woman was arrested when she went into her garden to remonstrate with soldiers who had fired teargas into her house, breaking two windows, traumatizing the 7 children under 5 years old who were sheltered there.   Her sister was arrested when she went to help her. This was witnessed by some of the children. Two of the women had been arrested during previous demonstrations. Two of them have 4 children each.
 
Nabi-Saeh, January 22, 2010
Two Palestinian men were also arrested including one of the main organizers of the protest campaign, as well as an Israeli activist who was attempting to calm the soldiers down;  he was released shortly after his arrest. 6 people have been reported injured at today's demonstration, some by rubber bullets. This includes three Israeli activists.

[Report Quoted from IWPS]

In Sheikh Jarrah this week the demonstration was even bigger than those of previous weeks. 350 demonstrators, amongst them former minister and Knesset Chair Avraham Burg, former minister Yossi Sarid, MK Muhamad Barak'e and former MK Uri Avneri, gathered in a park near the neighborhood to protest the racist evictions taking place there in spite of intensifying police oppression of the struggle (see last week's report). Two demonstrators offered the police officer in charge, Avi Cohen, a big bouquet of flowers, thanking him for helping the struggle gain nationwide attention by arresting about 20 activists every week. Cohen refused to accept the flowers and they were left at his feet.

Sheikh Jarrah, January 22, 2010
After about an hour of demonstrating in a tense atmosphere, demonstrators started marching towards the neighborhood. Border and Riot policemen stopped the march, while still allowing settlers and visitors of the Shimon Hat'sadik Tomb through. After a quarter of an hour police attacked the demonstration, arresting about 15 people and beating on others. The demonstration continued for another two and half hours, with police occasionally beating people and shoving them back, but attempting to avoid too many more arrests. The day ended with 22 arrested.
During the demonstration it became apparent that settlers were attacking Palestinians inside the neighborhood, and two residents required medial care. At the same time police raided Palestinian homes and arrested people who participated in the demonstration and then went home. The demonstrators' protests outside against the police's siding with the violent settlers were met with yet more police brutality.

On Saturday night tens of demonstrators gathered at the entrance to the Jerusalem court house, protesting the arrests of their friends the day before in Shiekh Jarrah. Inside the court prosecution announced that all those arrested are to be indicted, and asked that they be held in custody until the end of proceedings. The court released the activists, barring them temporarily from returning to demonstrations. The trial started on Tuesday.