" But before he could shoot, an Israeli activist stood between the soldier and the boy."

2004, Friday July 23

[March to Jerusalem Holy Sites] This morning we gathered at around 11 AM. The plan was to meet hundreds of Palestinians from Jenin, Tulkarem and Nablus at the Qalundia checkpoint and march toward Jerusalem in order to demand freedom of worship and access to the holy sites in Jerusalem. But many of these people never arrived. They were held up at various checkpoints within the West Bank. After nearly two hours of negotiating, about ten buses returned to Tulkarem and Nablus.

Internationals from a variety of groups joined with Israeli activists and Palestinians, both locals from A-Ram and those who had arrived from Jenin, to march to the Qalandia checkpoint. We walked along the path of the wall which will divide A-Ram in two. As we neared the checkpoint the number of military vehicles increased. At the foot of the bluff overlooking the checkpoint a group of soldiers attempted to stop the march. They were unsuccessful, standing with some amount of comic displeasure as this small, determined march pushed past and up the hill to stand with flags and signs above the checkpoint.

The soldiers, lacking anything else to do, stood idle at the base of the hill, waiting for reinforcements and playing with their tear gas canisters and their rifles. The reinforcements arrived shortly. A truck-sized APC unloaded about fifteen soldiers with riot gear and clubs for beating people. At this point,there were eight or so vehicles and this gigantic APC, now empty.

The situation never escalated. The soldiers were bored, directing traffic and becoming sunburned. The demonstrators, overwhelmed by the show of State force, were incapable of progressing any further.

As the demonstration dispersed, a smaller group of activists crossed to the Ramallah side of the checkpoint, where many of the soldiers equipped with riot gear (shields, rubber bullet guns, and clubs) were advancing on a group of young men from the nearby refugee camp. This story is repeated on a daily basis, with young men launching stones at the soldiers at the checkpoint, and the soldiers from behind concrete barricades and stone-proof riot shields, firing steel coated rubber bullets and live ammunition at the youth.

This situation was fairly tense between the Palestinian shabab and the soldiers with Internaitonals in between. At one point a soldier raised his rifle to shoot one of the boys throwing stones. But before he could shoot, an Israeli activist stood between the soldier and the boy.

After two hours of back and forth, shots and stones and the usual dance, the soldiers returned to the checkpoint to continue their process of illegal and often arbitrary harassment of Palestinian people.

New York Graphic Designer Released
from Detention-Allowed Entry into Israel

Ann Petter who has been detained at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport detention center since June 23 will be released on Sunday, July 25.

Ann had planned to join peace marches organized by the International Solidarity Movement and document the work of Palestinian, International and Israeli peace activists, one of whom is a 79-year- old Holocaust survivor, Hedy Epstein. Her case has received international attention.

Ann is expected to be released from detention by noon on Sunday, July 25. She will spend a few days in Israel and then plans to return to the United States. She will be available for media interviews upon her release.

For further information please contact :
Nirit : 972-54-792-3082
Ady : 972-54-643-1977