A Birzeit student leader rallies colleagues
to a demonstration in Ramallah.

The Beit El settlement lies beyond the IDF blockade.

A lone palestinian approaches road
block under a hail of stones.

An Israeli soldier crouches in the distance as tires burn.

September 28th, Birzeit and Ramallah, West Bank, Palestine
Photos and text by Russell Maier

For the first time in months, the rain fell from the West Bank skies. And so did the stones. During a grey morning, Ariel Sharon, leader of the right wing Israeli Likud party attempted a visit of Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa Mosque, revered by Muslims as a holy sanctuary. The visit, which Sharon claimed was “to bring a message of peace”, was interpreted by Palestinians as a deliberate affront. Sharon is notorious to Palestinians for his involvement in various Israeli military initiatives since 1967, in which thousands of Palestinians have been killed. The Israeli Minister of Justice, Yossi Beillen, commenting on the visit, said “Ariel Sharon... embodies the desire to keep the tension here as it is.”

Protests erupted immediately in Jerusalem where Muslims clashed with Sharon’s security entourage. Officials reported that a total of 31 Palestinians and Israelis were injured in the confrontation. News of Sharon’s visit quickly spread to the West Bank. At Birzeit University, classes were suspended as student leaders from various political factions cooperated to spread the news across campus. By noon, five busloads of students were on their way to Ramallah, a nearby Palestinian city 30 minutes from Jerusalem and located in an area were the Palestinian Authority has full control.

Student protesters marched from the center of Ramallah to the City Inn Road which borders the Beit El settlement, an area of full Israeli control. Military Jeeps and armed soldiers were already in place anticipating the march.

In a protest reminiscent of the violent clashes last April, students and protesters threw stones, bottles and tires in the direction of the soldiers. The soldiers returned with bursts of rubber-coated bullets and tear gas canisters. In a sudden rush by Israeli jeeps, five Palestinians were injured and rushed to hospital.

The West Bank and Jerusalem clashes pose a serious challenge for the peace process, which had been pledged to be further mediated in the U.S. The violence provides both sides with fodder for their claims that the other is not interested in peace.

According to a Birzeit student on his way to the demonstration, “violence is the only language Israel understands. To throw stones is the only thing that we can do to say something about all this.” Although, the protest focused on Sharon’s visit, what urged demonstrators this afternoon to risk rubber bullets is rooted in deeper issues. Despite Al-Aqsa’s significance to Palestinians, many have never in their life been to Jerusalem. To pass the military check point that separates Jerusalem from the West Bank requires a difficult to obtain Israeli permit. In addition, Palestinians have watched for years as their Israeli neighbors have constructed settlements and modern road systems next to their debilitated own. To the protest of a host of international human rights organizations, many Palestinian houses have been destroyed to make way for these construction initiatives. Yesterday, soldiers expanded a security fence around the Beit El settlement, close to where the clashes occurred today. The expansion resulted in the uncompensated destruction of orchard trees on properties of numerous Palestinian homes.

The growth and existence of such settlements is not only to the upset of Palestinians, but in defiance of the Oslo Accords, UN Resolutions, and the Geneva Convention’s stipulation against permanent settling of occupied territories. Peaceful Palestinian protests, petitions and rallies on such issues garner little change in Israeli policy, and significantly less media attention than today’s clashes which were widely observed by the international press.

Photos and text by Russell Maier