Just before I went down to the actual checkpoint area, I saw these soldiers moving in on an unfinished Area A (I suspect) house on the other hill across the valley. It was a military manoever, no doubt about it. Photo by Nigel Parry
The second photo shows them closer to the house, the furthest forward solder in the last picture holding his position to offer cover to his collegues. Photo by Nigel Parry
As I and the director of the computer center approached the scene, it became obvious what was going on. Young people from Ramallah were positioned behind a ridge on the same hill throwing stones at the approaching soldiers. The most striking thing was the lack of fear on the part of the protesters, who were getting injured at the rate of one every fifteen minutes. In this picture, one of the soldiers is trying to advance on the students with a rifle, but was driven back inside the house by the stones. This photo was taken about the same time as the previous two photos. Photo by Kifah al-Fani
I met Kifah, a student photographer, as I arrived at the scene, and he accompanied me closer to the events. Opposite the confrontation, a swarm of "rubber" bullets from across the road peppered the walls around us. Several journalists took off and we leapt over a wall, from where this photograph was taken. The soldier, visible in silhouette through the window, had fired them. Yes, it was a little freaky, I admit, but staying lodged behind the wall for another ten minutes enabled us to get some photographs of the injured, which appear in the next entry. Photo by Nigel Parry