I've been following Joseph Dana, an Israeli journalist, on Twitter, as he reports from a large demonstration at the Qalandiya refugee camp outside of Ramallah in the West Bank. Today is Naksa Day, the 44th anniversary of the occupation of the West Bank, Golan and Gaza Strip by Israel in 1967. Palestinians reserved the day for another round of nonviolent resistance to Israel's occupation and denial of the Palestinian refugee right of return to their homes.
Qalandiya is home to Israeli's notorious border crossing station that monitors the comings and goings of Palestinians into and out of the northern West Bank to areas around Jerusalem. The majority of Palestinians are not permitted through this checkpoint, and those with the coveted permissions to go to Jerusalem are subjected to humiliating abuse and wait times (crossing the checkpoint on a morning commute to work or school can take hours). I have cousins living in Ramallah who are in their 20s who have never visited their church in Jerusalem. Israel denies the city to Muslim and Christian worshipers. It has destroyed the economic livelihood of Palestinian Jerusalem-based business owners by cutting them off from their natural markets. The Jerusalem of today has been ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian and Arab character as Israel creates facts on the ground ahead of any settlement "based on the 1967 borders."
Today at Qalandiya, thousands of Palestinians challenged this injustice by marching peacefully and without arms and were met with extreme Israeli violence. As events unfold, Dana concludes that "Israel is losing in its bid to crush the people."
Protesters gathered today from both sides of the checkpoint. Very soon, 15-20 rounds of tear gas were shot into the air, injuring many. Dana reports that at least one female protester was severely injured when hit directly in the head with a tear gas canister. Soldiers invaded private Palestinian homes in the area to take post from rooftops to be able to fire down on the crowd.
Here's some rough video footage that shows the level of military presence Israel deployed and the amount of tear gas fired. Over and over again in the video, we see Palestinians holding their hands up with the "V" sign as Israeli soldiers point automated rifles in their direction. Many of the protesters today were women and children. Some Palestinians begin to throw stones in the direction of the soldiers. Dana observes, "Any sane person watching this unfold would see the imbalance of power rendering stone symbolic and not effective against the soldiers."
Israeli soldiers then begin to fire live ammunition, very small canister-shaped bullets into the crowd.
Israel then brought in the "Skunk", and sprayed the sitting traffic and a group of journalists. A BBC report described the Skunk this way:
Imagine the worst, most foul thing you have ever smelled. An overpowering mix of rotting meat, old socks that haven't been washed for weeks - topped off with the pungent waft of an open sewer.
Imagine being covered in the stuff as it is liberally sprayed from a water cannon.
Then imagine not being able to get rid of the stench for at least three days, no matter how often you try to scrub yourself clean.
Dana cynically observes that Israel is testing its weapons on unarmed Palestinians so that it can sell this technology to the rest of the world. The BBC report confirms Israel's desire to market its stink fest:
The Israeli police force has high hopes of turning Skunk into a commercial venture and selling it to law-enforcement agencies overseas.
Superintendent David Ben Harosh treats Skunk as something of a pet project. The way he hugged the litre bottle of dirty, green liquid close to his chest as we talked was odd - most people would surely keep it at arm's length.
(Who buys that this weapon is organic, by the way?)
So far, I've seen reports that up to 90 people were injured today at Qalandiya. I have not heard of any deaths.
Meanwhile, on the Syrian border with the Golan Heights in a reprise of the May 15 Nakba Day demonstrations, Palestinian refugees demanded their right of return. At least 5 protesters were killed and over 10 injured.
Palestinian nonviolent resistance will not cease. Israel can either end its occupation or continue to face off with these demonstrators with overwhelming force. As the Arab Spring has shown us, force will not prevail once the people have lost their fear. Another wave of protests is being planned in July on the anniversary of the International Criminal Court's ruling on the illegality of Israel's Annexation Wall.
Update:
Ali Abunimah posted this video from the Golan today.
He writes:
A video posted on YouTube by the website Baladee.net shows marchers trying to evacuate injured and possibly dead people in the Golan Heights today after Israeli forces opened fired on marchers commemorating the 44th anniversary of Israel’s occupation of area which is part of Syria.
Media reports say that more than a dozen people have been killed and scores injured as Israeli forces opened fire on the marchers.
The video, which appears to have been shot from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights toward the frontier line with the Syrian-controlled side, shows unarmed people in civilian clothes crawling over an earth mound and into an area of long grass and recovering several bodies of people who were injured or may have been killed.