Down to Bil'in

“On the last day of summer, ten hours before Fall,

My grandfather took me out to the wall”

Friday was the 23^rd anniversary of the beginning of the first intifada, and several of us – along with a few hundred others – joined the weekly march at Bil’in in opposition of the Separation Wall. Marches have been held here since January 2005, and these non-violent protests have been a constant thorn in the side of the occupation. Regular marches against the wall began in the village of Budrus, where protestors were successful in having part of the wall diverted around the village, thus saving the families from having their olive groves annexed to Israel; in itself, this was only a small victory, however their success inspired other people throughout Palestine, Israel, and all along the border to create their own peaceful protests against the building of the wall. Today, the marches have moved on to Nabi Saleh, to East Jerusalem, and to Bil’in.

We joined the protest, and as always there were people from both sides of the wall. This time, alongside the obligatory Palestinian flags there were Argentinean and Brazilian banners flying; a show of thanks and appreciation of their recognition of an independent Palestinian state. The march started in the village, then proceeded the 500 yards-or-so to the wall; we were still over 100 yards away when the IDF started to launch tear gas at us. Everyone who’d not been on the marches before were warned that this was the normal run of things, that we should expect gas canisters and stun grenades and to watch out for rubber-coated bullets. The gas, they noted, had a nerve-agent in it which doesn’t actually choke you – it just makes you feel like you can’t breathe. If you have problems, just sniff on an onion, they said. I don’t think I’d taken my flatmate seriously when he said he had a bag full of them.

Despite over three hundred people starting off the march, only a few dozen made it to the Israeli line. With the wind in our faces, the tear gas was enough to deter most people. Many, though, had done it many of times before – several, every week since the beginnings in Budrus – and knew to just follow the wind and run towards the soldiers: they can’t gas you if you’re standing next to them, and the stun grenades are just flashes and bangs. We managed to break around the gas and come up from the side to join the Israelis and the Palestinians and the Press at the line. At first the soldiers looked suitably menacing with their shields and rifles, but the old Indian-looking guy (who’d told us he was from London) sat peacefully by them with his homemade “Repair the World / Keep Hope Alive” banner and made them look half like toys and showed them for the children that they were. Not one could have been more than twenty.

Whilst we were there, one soldier came up to us saying that this was a closed military zone and if we didn’t leave we would be arrested. We pointed out that it was in fact Palestinian land, but he ignored this. When he came back to give us the second warning he grabbed the German volunteer and, with another soldier, wrestled him away. He had done nothing wrong, but was arrested nonetheless. Given that we feared this would mean deportation for him we were very concerned, but there was nothing we could do; we carried on filming and dodging the grenades, before returning back to the town to regroup. We waited for an hour or so, but were told he’d probably be released after dark, and possibly somewhere around Ramallah. As we had no way of contacting him, we flagged a taxi home. Luckily, on the way back to Nablus we saw him walking down the road in the village – a huge relief – and shouted to the driver to pick him up. We stopped for a beer in a nearby hotel, and returned, tired but together.

Before the march I was interviewed by a Saudi Arabian news caster, who asked “What do you think will be achieved by today’s march?” Really, I don’t think anything could be achieved by one day’s protest. Indeed I don’t think much can be achieved directly by marching at all; what has been the great success of the marches is that they have united Palestinians with the huge number of Israelis who condemn the occupation. For many here in Palestine, the marches have been the first opportunity people have had to meet Israelis who are sympathetic to their position, and who are not dressed in body armour and carrying machine guns. The occupation will be beaten through cooperation, and the wall will be dismantled from both sides.

As it was an anniversary – and incidentally also International Human Rights Day – Friday’s protest made the news in Palestine; you can read the story on Ma'an News and PNN. When we returned home, Jonas checked his Facebook account and found a friend request from the soldier who’d arrested him. That, I think, gives a very clear glimpse of just how warped this conflict has become, with soldiers so young fighting at the command of fools who are so, so old.


- One of the volunteers here put together a video of our day trip to Bil'in. Click the links to Part I / Part II