‘A year with no checkpoints’: Handing out flowers in the West Bank

By Activestills January 3, 2015 | Edit

In one of the first Palestinian protests of 2015, demonstrators call for 2015 to be the year of no occupation and no checkpoints.

A Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus hands out flowers cars passing through the Huwwara military checkpoint, south of Nablus, during a protest against Israeli occupation, January 1, 2015. One protester was arrested during the action. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

Dozens of Palestinian and international activists, some dressed as Santa Claus, protested at the Huwwara checkpoint near Nablus in the West Bank on the first day of 2015. Some of the demonstrators distributed flowers to people passing through the checkpoint.

Signs carried by the demonstrators called for: A year without occupation; A year without checkpoints; and the realization of the Palestinian right of return.

The Israeli army arrested one activist.

Palestinian activists protest against the Israeli occupation at the Huwwara military checkpoint, south of Nablus, January 1, 2015. (Photo by Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

A day later, Friday, the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh held its weekly demonstration. A number of demonstrators climbed onto a military bulldozer parked at the entrance of the village and waved PLO and Fatah flags on it.

The demonstrators then marched toward the village’s spring, which has been taken over by settlers. Two soldiers entered the village and a soldiers in a jeep later positioned themselves at a gas station at the entrance of the village.

Soldiers used .22 caliber bullets along with other more traditional crowd dispersal weapons to repress the demonstration.

Protesters place Fatah and Palestinian flags on an Israeli army D9 bulldozer of the during the weekly protest against the occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, January 2, 2015. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Palestinian children argue with Israeli soldiers during the weekly protest against the occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, January 2, 2015. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

An Israeli army sharp-shooter stands guard in a gas station during the weekly protest against the occupation in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, January 2, 2015. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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