Soldiers Run Amok at Women's Demonstration

On Wednesday we went to a women’s only demonstration in Ni’lin. Women from all over the West Bank joined Israeli and international women in a demonstration against the construction of the Apartheid Wall and the confiscation of land belonging to the village (see post below for background).

I had thought that being a demonstration made entirely of women, the soldiers might show a little restraint in the use of their weaponry, but it was not to be. As we walked down towards the construction site, holding banners made by the children at the local school, the soldiers walked straight towards us and threw tear gas canisters and sound bombs at us.

We were not to be deterred however and repeatedly regrouped after every attack. For over an hour, the women of the village stood in front of the soldiers between attacks and told them what the occupation and the Wall was doing to their lives. Some of the soldiers, many of them only 18, looked thoroughly uncomfortable with what was going on. Presumably because they knew these women could be their mother or their sister. For the rest of the soldiers however, there was to be no moment of reflection.

As the women tried to speak to some of the soldiers there were others bursting with excitement with tear gas canisters and sound bombs dangling from their finger tips and bulging out of their pockets. It was as if they simply had too many toys to play with. Every time we tried to regroup, they would just hurl their weapons at us. Even their commander could not control them. Every time a weapon was thrown he shouted at the soldier to stop, as he was reprimanding one soldier, another soldier ten metres away would throw his weapon, as he went to reprimand him, the same would happen again. It was honestly like a comedy sketch except there was nothing funny about it, everything they were throwing had the potential to kill or seriously main if used from such close range. That their commander was trying to control them was a positive but the fact that he couldn’t, was a very dangerous negative.

As the soldiers became bolder and bolder as more and more of them managed to use their weapons while the commander wasn’t looking, a full scale assault on the women began, with tear gas and sound bombs being thrown from only meters away. When men from the village, who had been standing away from the demonstration, saw the attack, they came in to help the women get away. As they did, the soldiers, now free of any inhibitions they may have had previously, used their batons and rifle butts to beat the men. It was as if there was a huge sense of release that they could physically hit men while only being able to gas women.

At one point I saw a man emerge with blood pouring from his head. As medics came to treat him one soldier threw tear gas directly at them. As they ran away the soldier followed them and each time they tried to sit the man down to treat him, the soldier threw tear gas at them. It was as if it was a game where all rules had been abandoned (even the lawless Israeli army are not allowed to target medics). In the melee that resulted, two men were arrested; one was an international taking photographs of the demonstration who, after being held in detention for 6 days, was deported this evening and the second man was the father of the girl who filmed the incident that made international news last week, in which a soldier shot a bound and blindfolded Palestinian. He has been in prison since his arrest and is yet to appear in court. There is no indication of how long he will be held for and what he is charged with.