Birzeit--27 March 1997-- Yesterday afternoon, Birzeit students from all factions - except the Islamic Bloc - demonstrated at the 'Khammara' checkpoint, site of last September's clashes between Palestinian Authority and Israeli forces. The Islamic Bloc refused to participate on the grounds that "the Palestinian Authority wants the demonstrations to occur," according to one student commentator. The first bus left campus for Ramallah at 2:00pm. In Ramallah, the students marched towards the site of the "Khammara" checkpoint in the Ma'lufiya area on the road to Jerusalem. Palestinian police attempted to physically prevent the students from reaching the area but failed.
The students were again expressing their dismay at the continuing Israeli moves to create facts on the ground in Jerusalem before the final status negotiations - the building of the Har Homa settlement in Jebal Abu Ghnaim; what Israeli human rights organisation BTselem calls "the quiet deportation of Palestinians" through ID card confiscation, and the closure of the capital which has now entered its fifth year - all significant assaults on the Palestinian presence and claims in the city.
Left: Students overlook the scene on the road to Jerusalem below. The students and other demonstrators from Ramallah threw stones at Israeli troops, who responded with rubber bullets and teargas. A Birzeit Public Relations Office observer reported that Israeli soldiers themselves threw stones at demonstrators: "One group of soldiers who moved into an unfinished apartment block were throwing concrete slabs down at the students." One estimate suggested that 80 people were injured, none seriously. The demonstration dispersed when it became dark.
Today, all local Palestinian newspapers (right: Al-Ayyam) reported the story as front page news, with a photo of one Birzeit student carrying a boy who had been hit by rubber bullets to an ambulance (Click front page for a blow-up of the photo from Al-Quds newspaper). Media and political observers are waiting for further developments. Students released a leaflet today calling for an escalation in political protest.
Webpage and graphics by Nigel Parry. Digital images by Nigel Parry and Hanan Elmasu. Comments to webmaster@birzeit.edu