Friday protest in West Bank remembers activist Rachel Corrie

By +972 Magazine August 25, 2012 | Edit

Friday protest against the wall in al-Ma’sara August 24, 2012. The late American activist Rachel Corrie is pictured in the sign. (Activestills)

Some 200 Palestinians and a handful of Israeli and international solidarity activists joined the protest in Kufr Qaddoum on Friday. The demonstration was dedicated to the commemoration of American peace activist, Rachel Corrie, who was run over by a bulldozer while attempting to prevent house demolitions in Rafah in 2003. The verdict in the civil lawsuit against the State of Israel in her case will be announced next week on August 28. The protest opened with speeches, following which the crowd started marching towards the main road of the village. Without any provocation on behalf of the protesters, the army started repressing the march with tear gas and rubber coated bullets. Fortunately, the demonstration ended without any arrests or severe injuries.

Protest against the Israeli separation wall, Al Ma’sara, West Bank, 24.08.2012 (Activestills)

The protest in Ni’lin started with a sermon and prayers on the land, following which the demonstrators marched to the gate in the wall. The army unit that was stationed on the other side of the wall used tear gas canisters against the demonstrators, but did not make any attempt to cross the wall and conduct arrests.

In Bil’in, demonstrators marched to the Abu Lamon grove and burned tires near the barbed wire protecting the wall. The soldiers reacted with a barrage of dozens of gas canisters, rubber coated bullets and the “skunk.”

In al-Ma’asara, dozens marched to protest the confiscation of lands and the construction of the wall. The crowd marched peacefully to the end of the village, where the army was awaiting. The marchers advanced peacefully and were stopped by the soldiers. The crowd stood their ground, facing the army. Slogans against the occupation were chanted, and many demonstrators started talking to the soldiers. The march ended peacefully. The planned route of the wall in this area would cut off 3500 dunams of Palestinian land and would also cut off the village’s acess to water and the primary routes between Hebron, Bethlehem, and Ramallah—three of the largest cities of the West Bank.

The IDF conducted house-to-house arrests during the weekly demonstration in Nabi Saleh. For more information, see this photo report.

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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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