On Friday morning, May 25, 2007 we watched a soccer game at Umm Salamuna village close to Wadi an Nis.  These two villages are being separated by a wide illegal road being constructed to accommodate the Apartheid Wall and a new Israeli checkpoint.  The soccer game was played on this illegal road.

The new checkpoint will be used to screen Palestinians who now pass through the dreadful Bethlehem checkpoint.  With Palestinians redirected to Umm Salamuna checkpoint, tourists going to Bethlehem will not see Israeli soldiers subjecting Palestinians to shameful discriminatory practices, and they will not be delayed by the inordinate amount of time the soldiers take to process the Palestinians.

We were late in arriving at the soccer game because our driver was not familiar with the route.  Once we made a wrong turn and came right up against a big yellow gate that closes the road to all but those who live behind the gate to an illegal Israeli settlement.  We stopped a few moments on the road beside another settlement to call a friend for directions.  This caused the soldiers to stop our taxi to search the driver and ask us many questions about where we were going and why.

One soldier got into the passenger side of our taxi to rudely search through the glove box.  Then he threw the driver’s documents at him.  Another soldier then told our driver to turn around and go another way.  As we drove on we expressed to our driver our regret about the poor treatment he had received.  He said it happens to him every day, every day.

When we arrived at the soccer game it was almost over, but we enjoyed the last few minutes of it.  The game appeared to be between Palestinians on one side and Israelis and internationals on the other.  The point being made was that Palestinians can still play on their land, even as it is being stolen from them.   Everyone was having a good time, including the soldiers on duty who sat down to watch.  The game was very well attended, but we don’t know who won!

After the game, a leader of the popular committee in the area announced in Arabic and in English that we would be going to a nearby village called Artas.

In Artas the Israeli army has recently destroyed a pretty little Palestinian apricot orchard that is located in a valley.  Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli peace activists had slept in the orchard several nights, but the bulldozers were not deterred.  Three Palestinians had been arrested there this past Monday, but we were happy to learn that they have been released.  The Israelis plan to build a sewage system on the Palestinian land to service an Israeli settlement on the hill above.

Soldiers were stationed all over the place when we arrived, many of them in riot gear.  Someone told us, perhaps tongue in cheek, that they were there to protect a bulldozer parked on an upper level.  The freshly upturned earth made it clear that the bulldozer had been working hard in previous days.

The large group assembled in the valley waited comfortably in the shade of trees still standing until we were joined later by many people from Artas village.  While we waited for the villagers the Muslim men already present started the activities by praying on the land.  As you may have discerned, this is a common practice at Friday actions, and a nice one.

When the villagers had arrived, we all began to move purposefully toward the soldiers, who were blocking the road upon which Israel intends to construct more of its Apartheid Wall.  When we tried to pass on the dusty road, which is part of a Palestinian village, the soldiers continued to block the way.  There was some vigorous pushing and shoving between demonstrators and soldiers, and one international man was detained and taken away by soldiers.

Demonstrators in the front lines sat in a circle asking for the detained man, a young Greek peace activist, to be released.  The soldiers continued to detain him.  The situation did not, however, escalate to the level of tear gas and rubber bullets, perhaps because a demonstration leader kept calling out, “No violence, no violence.”  Perhaps soldiers as well as demonstrators heard and heeded his words.

The crowd was often chanting in Arabic the words that mean, “No, no, no to the wall.”  After a while some speeches were made and the action was over.  We returned to our apartment, again feeling privileged to have stood in solidarity with Palestinian people who are sincerely peaceful in their hearts, even as they resist the Israeli occupation.   It is important that the Palestinians continue to gather where their lands have been taken in order to demonstrate to themselves and to the Israelis that these land grabs are illegal and immoral.