Palestine-Israel, Friday joint struggle against separation fence and occupation continue - Bil'in, Um Salmuna, Wadi Nis, Artas 13 Jul 2007

This Friday we had the 127th demonstration in Bil'in. It was also the 30th week of persistent demonstrations and other actions in the south of Bethlehem (There are few villages that are involved in the struggle there and there are usually some actions and demonstrations each week.) As usual the activists of the anarchists against the wall participated this week in both Bil'in, south Bethlehem, Hebron, and within Israel (the single parents camp in Jerusalem, the resistance to expulsion of tenants in Tel Aviv, and the Darfur refugees. The demonstration in Bil'in was much more interesting than the usual ones of the last two months or so. Before the demonstration was a short meeting as we had bigger than the usual contingent of international activist and a bigger contingent of Palestinians from Ramalla.

After the meeting we choose the road and the unpaved paths towards the separation fence on the south side of the village. The state forces who expected us on the norther road to the route of the separation fence were not prepared.

After our change of road was seen by the state force they started to converge on the south side, but they were not fast enough. Many of us run the last few hundreds meters. We dispersed between the olive trees located near the route of the separation fence. This Friday the wind was favorable to us - frequently changing directions. The state force could not shower us freely with tear gas as many of us were too near to them and some times the wind even carried the gas towards them.

Part of the time few of us even stayed for a while just near the route of the separation fence exchanging non friendly verbal communication with the state forces.

Due to the shooting of the tear gas canisters, the dry grass and shrubs were ignited and demonstrators worked hard to prevent the fire from caching the olive trees. After about two hours of protracted action most of the demonstrators left the "battle field".

------------------- South of Bethlehem -------------------------

This Friday, there were two demonstrations in the region. The first one was late morning, at Wadi Nis near Um Salmuna. This week the state force at the region were more belligerent than usual. they prevented the demonstrators from marching along the route of the separation fence in building. They also arrested a Palestinian comrade - member of the popular comity of the struggle against the fence.

The second one was early afternoon at the part of the route of the fence on the lands of the village Artas. Here too the state forces prevented the march along the route of the separation fence in building.