On Friday, as Israel celebrated Passover, also known as “the freedom holiday”, Israeli and international activists joined residents of al Ma’asara (near Bethlehem), Bil’in and Ni’ilin (near Ramallah) in their continuing weekly demonstrations against Israel’s Apartheid wall.

Palestinians prevented from marching on their own land by soldiers, Ni'ilin

In Bil’in, over a hundred people marched from the center of the village in the direction of the wall. Commemorating the International Children’s Day, a group of children from the village took part in the march holding Palestinian flags and banners that read “It’s our right to live safely” and “The wall kills our hopes and dreams”. At the front of the march they also held pictures of children with the caption “Wanted by the Israeli occupation for resisting the wall”. As protesters reached the separation barrier, Israeli troops stationed behind the wall prevented the crowd from getting near or going through the gate, by firing teargas canisters and hurling concussion grenades. Some of the village’s residents responded by throwing stones at the soldiers, while a couple of protesters managed to get into the road between the two fences of the separation barrier using a large piece of metal (painted to resemble the wall) as a shield, but were eventually driven back by teargas canisters shot directly at them. Overall, four demonstrators were injured, including two from direct hits by teargas canisters.

Weekly demonstration against the wall, Bil'in. Video by Yisrael Puterman

In al Ma’asara, over 50 demonstrators gathered after the traditional Friday prayers for a protest march against the wall and the occupation, as well as to mark the International Children’s Day. The march set off from the village towards the route of the separation barrier, carrying Palestinian flags and chanting slogans calling for resistance and national unity, as well as against the settlements and the occupation. As in previous weeks, the demonstration’s path was blocked at the entrance to the village by Israeli troops. Soldiers and border police set up a spool of barbed wire across the road and prevented al Ma’asara’s residents from marching onto their own lands. A few minor scuffles broke out as some demonstrators attempted to cross the barbed wire and continue with the march, to which soldiers responded with violence and the threat of arrests.

Injured protester treated by Red Crescent medics, Ni'ilin

In Ni’ilin, over two hundred people gathered on the village’s lands following the Friday prayers and set off in a protest march through the ploughed fields, olive tree plantations and rocky hillside, headed for the wall. Soldiers and border police waiting nearby soon attempted to stop them by throwing concussion grenades and firing large amounts of teargas into the demonstration, causing the crowd to scatter into smaller groups, and some of the village’s young residents to respond by throwing stones at the soldiers. Several demonstrators carried signs explaining that Palestinians should not be made to pay for crimes committed against the Jewish people by Nazi Germany, and some tried in vain to engage the soldiers in conversations about the occupation. This Friday was the first time since Tristan Anderson’s head injury that Israeli troops in Ni’ilin resumed the use of their extended range type of teargas canister, once more using it as a projectile by firing it directly at people. Confrontations between stonethrowers and soldiers, as well as between demonstrators and soldiers, continued in different spots surrounding the village, and later on moved to the outskirts of Ni’ilin, with Israeli troops - including a sniper - taking positions on top of a building as well as behind a row of tall cactus plants alongside the main road. Three Palestinians sustained serious injuries: one in his leg from live ammunition, and two others from the extended range teargas projectile (one hitting a protester in his jaw, the other hitting someone in the back).