1st report

We arrived in Tel Aviv safely on July 2nd. We are now in Nablus, occupied Palestine, writing from one of the ISM offices here.
The trip here was an experience in itself. El Al (Israeli state airline) employees at JFK personally escorted us, along with a Pakistani man, to the doors of the plane. They surrounded us and wouldn’t let other people in the airport near us. Immigration in Tel Aviv was surprisingly easy to pass through, although they were skeptical of why we would come to Israel right now.
After arriving in East Jerusalem, we stayed at a great hostel that was owned by a very friendly and helpful Israeli Arab. It was swarming with ISMer’s, all arriving for the Freedom Summer campaign, and awaiting training in Beit Sahour near Bethlehem. It was a two day program that prepared us for non-violent direct action, navigating in Palestinian culture, and legal issues surrounding our presence here.
Already we have been shocked by the brutalizing nature of the occupation. Palestinians are routinely harassed, de-humanized, intimidated, beaten and killed. On our first day in Jerusalem, we took an Arab bus to Bethlehem. As we were leaving, we were pulled over by Israeli police. All the men were forced to get off, hand over there ID’s, and wait while every single one was called in. We were questioned as well about why we were with “these” men, did we know them, etc. Luckily, everyone was allowed back on and we were on our way in about thirty minutes.
After arriving in Bethlehem, we met a man who was present at the Church of the Nativity during the forty day Israeli siege last year. He showed us where the sniper towers were which would shoot anything that moved inside the compound. The bullet holes and damage to the church are still visible. He introduced us to an older man, whose brother had been shot and killed by an IDF sniper while smoking a cigarette. Then he showed us where Jesus was born, just a few steps away.
We tried to enter Nablus at the Huwara checkpoint. IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers there were randomly harassing Palestinians trying to return to their homes. They would scream and yell for no apparent reason, then let a few people through. Then they would walk through the crowd, scream some more, and go back. The soldiers were extremely polite to us as we waited in line.
While we were waiting, we approached an ambulance to talk to the driver about his experiences navigating the checkpoints. He said there was a seriously injured patient in Nablus that he needed to bring to Ramallah, a trip that is delayed hours by the indifference of the soldiers there. No special status is granted emergency vehicles, which have to wait in line with the other cars, and then could still be denied entry. Some people try to bypass the checkpoint on foot by walking through the mountains, a dangerous (due to IDF patrols) but often necessary gamble.
After being denied entry at Huwara, we took a taxi to another checkpoint, which we were told we could pass through. We got through easily, and made our way into Nablus. There are about fifteen ISM activists staying here and we are all excited to contribute. There are about eighty to one hundred activists throughout Palestine doing similar work. We plan on working here for one or two weeks before heading off to Yanun, a small village in the Northern West Bank.

2nd Report

July 6, 2003 – From Jordan
Letter from Jenin

I can't even put my anger into words. Really, its so much worse than you suspect and fear.

While the media talks about a roadmap to peace, here's whats happening:

People want to know if its true that the Israeli military have pulled out of Bethlehem. Of course they haven't, but so what if they had? Can people from Bethlehem leave Bethlehem? "We haven't left this camp in two years," say my family in the Azzeh refugee camp. Where can they go? They are trapped by checkpoints, fenced in by bypass roads, and choked by settlements. The hills around Bethlehem are alive - with huge, monstrous settlements, built on stolen land.

Bethlehem residents can visit the church of the Nativity. But what about the other major holy site in Bethlehem, Rachel's Tomb? Rachel's tomb is off limits to Palestinian Christians and Muslims. Only Israelis have access to this major holy site. The several hundred yards around it are also confiscated. In fact, the Israelis are in the process of confiscating more of Bethlehem, to "annex" Rachel's Tomb into Israel. If they change the definition of Bethlehem - redefine it into a fraction of its former self - when its easier to "pull out."

This is what's happening in the whole West Bank. The definition of what is the "West Bank" is being physically changed. Once the Israeli Government has cut the West Bank into tiny pieces a fraction of their current size, it will be easier to "pull out" of the West Bank.

The major tool of this confiscation is the "security wall" being built by Israel. They call it a "seperation fence". Fine, lets call it that. And lets recall the the Afrikaans word for "seperation": Apartheid. The Apartheid Wall is nearing completion on the West side of the West Bank - where its estimated to have confiscated around %10 of the most fertlie
land. As well as cutting through or displacing - redefining - 30 towns or villages. But this is just the beginning. The Israelis are also beginning a Wall along the east side of the West Bank. The exact dimensions are unclear, because the Israeli government wont say its plans. Some estimate it will take another %40 of the West Bank.

Heres some of what I've seen here in Jenin:

All of the villages here along the "green line" border are facing land confiscation. There is no formal notice. One day, Israeli engineers come onto their land, leaving behind blue flags marking a line. Within days or weeks, the bulldozers come. Then, the builders. And within weeks, their land is gone, and a Wall is in its place.

One farmer uprooted his own trees, hoping to replant them somewhere, rather than see them destroyed. He is currently being threatened with a prison term.

The wall is being built at a devastating speed. In the Jenin area, there are at least seven Israeli companies working at building the Wall, so it is being built in several places at once. In some areas, the Wall is almost 100 meters wide. There is barbed wire, followed by a trench, followed by a fence, followed by a settler road, followed by another trench. The atmosphere in the cities is different from before - a quiet desperation.

People are still being terrorized by regular invasions: last night, there was an explosion, and all the power in Jenin went out, tonight, there was a tank outside our building - but the real terror is in the villages, where a massive land grab and depopulation is happening, with almost no media attention.

This is ethnic cleansing on a massive speed and scale. Remember that when the media talks about a roadmap to peace.
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This is my fourth time here with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). ISM activists have been called "tank chasers" and "human shields". Neither is accurate. Human shields is particularly inaccurate, as it refers to a specific human rights violation regularly practiced by the Israeli military.

This Summer, we are working hard at community building and outreach. The ISM Freedom Summer campaign was officially launched in Tulkarem, where we attended a demonstration organized by the residents of ten local villages affected by the Wall. ISM organizers in Tulkarem spent three weeks organizing in advance of this demonstration, meeting with at least three individuals, organizations, or municipalities every day.

Here in Jenin, we have kept a similar pace. I can't say all of our plans, but I will say this: in the West Bank, the Wall is coming down this summer.

For a map of the wall in this region, please see: http://www.nad-plo.org/maps/Qalqilya_land_grab.htm

3rd Report

July 6, 2003 – From Thomas and Adam

Letter from Salim, Occupied Palestine.

Friends,

Please forgive the scattered nature of this letter, we are sunburned and we had a very intense demonstration this afternoon (below).

Even though there is a ceasefire, the occupation is not over and Palestinians still suffer on a daily basis as a result. Their struggle continues. One major issue is freedom of movement. The Israeli government's tight control prevents Palestinians from getting to work, visiting friends or relatives, or, in the worst case scenario, getting to a hospital.

Today, Adam, Thomas, and Jordan were marching with 150 Palestinians and internationals to a demonstration which was intercepted by the military. The IDF has complete control of Palestinian movement, and can stop peaceful demonstrations or harass people as they wish.

The IDF would not allow us to proceed. They told us it was a "closed military area," even though it was a road between two Palestinian villages. We decided to proceed anyway, to demonstrate our belief in the right of freedom of movement. The IDF soldiers roughed up a few marchers, and one man was knocked unconscious. Luckily every one was ok in the end, and no Palestinians were arrested.

Checkpoints

IDF Checkpoints cut off local communities from each other and their livelihood. Locals are often detained for hours, or arbitrarily not allowed to cross from one city to the next. The ISM works with Palestinians to monitor the checkpoints, and negotiate with the soldiers to ensure that locals are not being mistreated or detained as a form of collective punishment. Over the last week, we have worked with Palestinians, Israeli human rights groups, and other internationals to secure the release of many detainees. Often time they are detained, and held all day in the sun, just for crossing their own land, which bypasses checkpoints. A few days ago, we saw soldiers draw and aim their M-16's and chase down a father and his child just for crossing an open field to get to home.

Roadblocks

IDF roadblocks also serve to sever communities. They often cut off farmers from their land, villages from the larger city near it, which suffocates the village and keeps vital supplies from entering. The ISM follows the lead of local Palestinians, and joins them in removing roadblocks that cripple their communities. The presence of internationals gives Palestinians a sense of safety, since settlers and soldiers are much less likely to use violence if they are present. Thomas, Adam, and Jordan have been involved in several successful roadblock removals over the last week.

Come to Palestine in October!

This summer all the internationals have made major contributions to the Palestinian struggle for freedom. Our presence makes it possible to open roadblocks between villages, and villages cut off from their olive fields. In Beit Fareek, with just Thomas, Adam, and three other internationals, we have helped over 100 Palestinian men get released from detainment at the checkpoints.

October is an incredibly important month for internationals to be in Palestine. The Olive harvest happens then, and Palestinians farmers need international presence to stop settlers and soldiers from shooting and beating them. You will make a major difference in the economic and cultural life of Palestinians, and its quite a lot of fun to get to know a family here. If you have a week, two weeks, or a month, please think about coming.

Thank you for reading our reports – we would love any feedback or questions We hope you are all well and we'll see you soon.

In Solidarity,

Adam and Thomas

4th Report

Sorry to all recipients if this is a deluge of emails, but we had an interesting last few days and will be out of email touch until next week. Thomas and Adam left the village of Beit Fareeq, outside of Nablus, the biggest city in the West Bank on Sunday evening. We were sad to leave but some internationals have stayed behind and more are expected soon.

On Monday, we spent the day in Jayous, a village in the north, to attend a demonstration against the building of The Apartheid Wall, as the Palestinians call it, or the security fence, as the IDF calls it. The stated idea is to provide more “security” for Isrealis, but in reality it is another Isreali land and water grab and limitation of Palestinian movement. The limitation of movement for Palestinians is so horrifying. It may not seem a big deal to Americans, but our experience demonstrates how difficult economically, socially, and culturally the checkpoints and fences are. We traveled from Beit Fareeq to Jayous on Monday. Physically, they are about 20km apart. We had to take six different vehicles, go through two checkpoints, illegally enter Isreal, costing up about 5 times as much as a straight drive would. It took about 3 hours to get there; exhausting, expensive, and certainly dangerous for any Palestinian taking the same trip. Lack of movement hurts Palestinian communities so, so much; families can’t visit relatives, children can’t compete against other children in school or sports, Palestinians can’t discuss politics, society, and culture with others. How can Isreal and the US expect Palestinians to “follow the road map” if they can’t even discuss it? It makes peace seem far, far away.

Today we will take the day off in Jerusalem, but early tomorrow morning we will head to Yanoon, a small village that asked for an international presence to protect against settler attacks. Although just about 10 families live in Yanoon, they are surrounded by settlements in the mountains that consistently send vigilantes down to the village to intimidate, beat up, and sometimes shoot at Yanoon farmers attempting to work their fields.

Also, we have seen how the IDF continually punishes Palestinians for any kind of vocalization and demonstration of their opinions. In Jayous, they are losing 95% of their farm land to the building of the wall. Basically, Jayous will be a ghost town in a few years if the wall is finished. The demonstration on Monday was a joyous, peaceful event. About 200 villagers and 50 internationals walked to the fence, sang songs, held banners, and stated our opposition to the wall. Seems fine, right? Three hours after the demonstration, two of the gates leading to Jayous farmland were roadblocked, and today we have heard word that no farmers are being allowed to attend to their fields. Also, in Salim, the village that had the demonstration on Saturday, soldiers have been moving through the village intimidating and harassing Palestinians.

There is no way for us to express the frustration of daily life for Palestinians, except to quote an oft-heard statement: “Palestine is good, the life is bad.” Simple but true. We have heard much hopelessness from Palestinians, and until things change in the United States and Isreal, we don’t see a way that the occupation will end any time soon.

We will send another update next week. In the mean time, email us!! We would love to hear some gossip, stories, etc., from home. We are having a wonderful time but it means a lot to hear from our friends. And please ask any questions you may have, as well.

In Struggle,

Adam and Thomas

5th Report

We are staying in Yanoun, an apparently Idyllic village of ninety-three Palestinians. Yanoun is about five miles from Acroba, the village with an Internet connection, of about 8000 people. Yanoun is absolutely gorgeous. It is on a hillside, surrounded by olive trees and rolling hills. Below is a valley, where farmers tend their goats and plant peppers, cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes. Settlements, however, surround the village on three sides. Approaching them is forbidden, and the imposing guard towers discourage you if the thought of taking a walk crosses your mind. At night, their spotlights pollute an otherwise serene view of the stars, valley, and moon.

Yanoun has had an international presence for six months, in response to settler attacks last October. The village, surrounded by settlements, was completely vacated after settlers violently attacked the village. Children were made to walk barefoot on extremely sharp thistles at gunpoint, and men were beaten and more than a few have scars and broken bones. Doctors from the UN have documented a higher than average case of psychological disorders, including autism, amongst the village's fifty children. The settlers usually come down after Shabbat, on Saturday, and often wash their dogs in the villagers' drinking water, try to steal sheep, or beat them up.

Today, there was another attack on the village. A white Israeli truck (indicating settlers)sped into the village, and uniformed, armed men got out and started yelling at some villagers, then sped off again. Apparently, they were settlement security, and had come to tell the villagers that Palestinians had been attacked by settlers. As the details emerged, it appeard that four settlers, armed with M-16's(they can legally carry them, Palestinians can not), began to harass some locals with the intent to steal their sheep. Another local appeared, Adnan, and began arguing with the settlers. He is a good friend of many of the internationals here, and a father. They settlers beat him with the butt of their guns, and then shot him in the foot. Fortunately, he is ok, and will be home from the hospital in a few days (thankfully he made it to the hospital in Nablus with no problems).

Tomorrow we will go out with the farmers while they tend their sheep. It is Shabbat, and after today's confrontation everyone is on edge that something will happen. Although our presence does not guarantee anything, hopefully the settlers will be dissuaded from using violence. It has worked in the past, as the settlers seem to be very concerned about how they are represented in the press. In any case, we can quickly call for help and document abuses.

Its sad, our first two days of Yanoun were so wonderful... swimming in the spring, playing with children, eating, reading, just looking at the mountains. Every day we are given fresh bread and food, play with the children, and enjoy tea and coffee with the villagers. And then this happens and we know why the people of Yanoun are heroes to all Palestinians.

In Struggle,
Thomas and Adam

Letter from Salim

By Thomas

Palestine at night is a scary, dangerous place. You don't know if the rumble around the corner is a tractor coming from the fields or a tank. Flares illuminate the night, and sporadic gunfire interrupts the donkeys' bellowing. I made the mistake, against the advice of all the Palestinians present, of walking between the villages of Salim and Beit Fariq as the sun was going down. The reaction I got from the soldiers I encountered was enough to convince me never to do it again. The only reason I wasn't arrested, or worse, was because of my foreign passport and light skin.

Last night, I stayed in Salim with two young friends, Fadi and Shadi. Seventeen and sixteen years old, respectively, they sell flowers from their father's garden in the Balata refugee camp and Beit Fariq every day. I have become quite close with them. They are sharp, witty kids who always keep us laughing.

The night was uneventful, but very pleasant, at first. They have a beautiful family, and it is always a pleasure to visit them. We ate Makluba, a delicious dish that means upside-down in Arabic. Afterwards, we chatted and taught each other games until we fell asleep at 1:00 AM. I was sleeping well, except for the occasional jab from one of Fadi's bony appendages or an insect bite. Some time later, Shadi startled me awake with, "Soldiers in Salim! Soldiers in Salim!" I woke up, and looked out the window to see a jeep crawling up the main road. Jeeps patrolling the area are common, so I was not too alarmed. However, more jeeps started appearing, then hummers and troop transports, which Shadi said are used for arrests. They began to make announcements in Arabic, and Shadi translated. They had declared a curfew, and anyone who was outside would be shot on the spot. I looked at my watch, it was 3:00 AM. The jeeps continued patrolling, repeatedly broadcasting their message. At that point, Fadi and Shadi's father came to the door, which we had left open to let the breeze blow through, and told us to close it in case the soldiers came to the house (we were staying in a separate building than the rest of the family). Shadi then gave us instructions on what to do if the soldiers came. If they knocked on our door, we were to open it, but if they knocked on the main door, we were to keep quiet and stay still.

Their father was worried that the soldiers were looking for him. Suprising, since he is a quiet man, who seems cold at first, but who I have learned is a very warm, compassionate person. Whenever we need something, he responds with, "what makes you happy, makes me happy." He is a hard-working man. He tends to his garden, works with the Palestinian Authority security service, and is freelance "archeologist." Yesterday he found four tiny vases, each thousands of years old, in a cave. They are worth 300 dollars each to archeologists in Jerusalem if in good condition. He broke three trying to excavate them.

He was also a wanted man during the first Intifada. He was a Fatah activist, and has pictures of himself embracing Arafat on the living room walls. When soldiers came looking for him then, children began throwing rocks, and one of his sons, who was a baby, was tear-gassed. To this day he can not speak, and he walks around mumbling. His family attributes it to the gas.

Amazingly, our mood during the curfew was playful at first. We chatted and joked, and Fadi and Shadi cursed the control the soldiers have over their lives. I guess you learn to adapt to such situations. Fadi has an odd relationship to the soldiers. He lost his ID card (a serious problem), but manages to charm the soldiers into letting him pass the checkpoint everyday. He also looks very young, which helps. One soldier even invited him to his house in Tel Aviv, "after we have peace, of course." Yet the rage he has towards them is very evident.

The IDF announcements continued, and began to blend with the morning prayer recording from the local mosque. It was odd to hear verses from the Quran mixed with the IDF death threats. Needless to say, we all got very little sleep.

This morning, I found out that seven people were arrested last night, for unknown reasons. The two day curfew had been cancelled, evidently, and people were walking about.
I will never know what it is like to live like this, but every day I am here I get a small glimpse. I think Shadi said it better than i could, when he said, "The fucking night. Soldiers, mosquitos, and barking dogs..."

Final Report

From Jordan

Dear everyone,

After almost six weeks in Palestine, I'm returning home. I left via land, traveling through Jordan and Syria before flying home. While in Jordan, I visited the Baqa Refugee Camp, just outside Amman. Baqa reportedly has over 150,000 residents, far larger than any of the camps in the West Bank and Gaza. I walked with a couple of friends into the Camp, not knowing anyone there, and within minutes we had been invited into someones home, where we spent hours drinking tea and talking about the situation in the camp, and in Palestine.
Most residents of the camp came there during the ethnic cleansing of 1948, though many came in 1967 as well. Today, most people in the Camp are the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of these original refugees.

In 55 years, most of them have had no chance to even visit their former land. Our hosts showed us Palestine documentaries they had on video (one about the massacre at Deir Yassin, one of the many villages that were ethnically cleansed in 1948; and one about Mohammed al-Dura, the small Palestinian boy who was assassinated before TV cameras at the beginning of this intifada), and books on Palestine - including a book of martyrs from the first intifada which was later given to me as a gift.

It was clear that people in this Camp - even though most of them had never set foot in Palestine - still feel an unbreakable attachment to the homes their families were forced from. If you ask them where they're from, they wont say Baqa refugee camp - they'll talk about the place their family has been from for generations: they'll say Jericho, Hebron, or Jenin, or Burqin, Beit Jibrin, Howwara - any of the hundreds of cities, towns and villages from which hundreds of thousands of families were forced in 1948 and 1967 - a mass transfer that finds it continuation is Israel's current policies.

Here in the US, people often talk about the Right of Return as open to negotiation, as if a fundamental right can be negotiated away. I wonder how they would feel if it was their own family's land and home that were up for negotiation.

Sitting in Baqa, once again receiving incredible kindness and generosity from Palestinian hosts, it hit me once more how vital it is to remember the Palestinian refugees, not just in the West Bank and Gaza, but those in the camps in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, and all of those spread throughout the diaspora. Because, no matter how much time passes, they still remember the towns their family is from - many of them still have the deeds to their former homes, and even the keys to their front doors.

When it comes to Israel, it sometimes seems that all of the international laws regarding human rights are open to negotiation. From settlements, to collective punishment, apartheid laws governing everything from housing to employment to marriage, illegal arrests, political assassinations (including the one carried out in Lebanon last week that started a new round of violence between Israel and groups in Southen Lebanon), home demolitions, and, of course, the massive illegal land grab known as the Apartheid Wall.

As the papers cover todays bombings - one in a settlement, and one in Tel Aviv - remember that Israel never agreed to last month's ceasefire. While Palestinian groups offered their hands in peace, Israel made no promises. Instead they've continued with illegal arrests (arresting far more Palestinians than were released in their so-called "goodwill" prisoner releases), settlement expansion, land confiscation, and assassination, including the assassination of a four-year-old boy in the town of Barta, near Jenin, where I've been this last month. As the newspapers report "renewed violence", remember that for Palestinians, the violence never stopped. Israeli soldiers, tanks and guns have been a daily fact of life for residents of the West Bank and Gaza during these last six weeks.

I feel fortunate to have been in Palestine this Summer. Once again, the people I met have been like family to me. During Freedom Summer, ISM has been busy, supporting the nonviolent resistance that happens every day in occupied Palestine, and building coalitions for future work. Many people I've spent time with this Summer have almost lost hope. They've seen the world ignore their suffering, turning away as their land was stolen, and their children killed. They see how Fox and CNN calls them terrorists, while they live in the gunsights of the fourth largest army in the world.

But resistance has continued. I'll close this report with these words from Emily, another ISM volunteer. She describes a demonstration led by the children of Beit Furik, a village near Nablus. Her report ends with the words of the children themselves - words more powerful than anything I could write.
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What the Children said to the Occupation Forces in Occupied Beit Furik
From Emily, ISM International

In Beit Furik, a small village near Nablus, the days can be long and unbearably hot. No one understands this more than the Palestinian men who try to travel to the city in search of work. Everyday, they are captured by the Israeli military while trying to cross a nearby field, searched, interrogated and made to sit for hours underneath the blazing sun.

Their only crime is attempting to enter the city in search of jobs that will allow them to bring food and other necessities to their families. Palestinians often cut across nearby agricultural fields, avoiding checkpoints, because of the army¹s order that no man between16 and 35 can cross into Nablus. Lately the army has been tenaciously enforcing this rule, conducting daily roundups of men walking in the fields.
Every day, the checkpoint is filled with detainees. The soldiers keep them while supposedly checking their IDs. "It¹s punishment," one young soldier openly admitted. "But they should not be walking in the fields." I asked him whether he believed this punishment was fair and humane. "Look," he said, "I have my orders."

Before the occupation, Beit Furik was a sleepy agricultural village with magnificent rolling hills, endless rows of olive trees and breathtaking views of the Jordan Valley. Today, the village is plagued with checkpoints, incursions by the army, the threat of violence from local settlers and Israeli control of water and agricultural exports, all part of the economic hardship the occupation has brought to Beit Furik.
ISM internationals have maintained a presence here, monitoring these situations and trying to bring relief when possible. In addition to being inside the village, we have had a daily presence at the Beit Furik checkpoint, pressuring soldiers to be more humane and bringing food and water to the detainees. Community relations has also been an important aspect of ISM work in the village where we have met with several families, political organizations such as the PPP (Palestinian People's Party), and political officials including the mayor. We have also been working in the women's center of Beit Furik and the children's summer camp. Some of the greatest rewards for us have come from working with the children of Beit Furik.

The children here are profoundly affected by the occupation. It is both heartbreaking and motivating to be in their presence. During the "freedom summer campaign", ISM internationals held a workshop with the children to express their feelings about the checkpoints and occupation. They made posters, most of which showed their houses, trees, flowers and hearts
underneath Palestinian flags. We asked the children "If you could say anything to the soldiers, what would you say?" Using the children's words, we composed a poignant speech to be read to the Israeli occupation forces.
On the afternoon of July 24th, the ISM accompanied about 20 of children in a peaceful march to the Beit Furik checkpoint. The children faced the soldiers, held their posters, sang songs and chanted "Free, Free Palestine" while one of us read their speech to the soldiers.

Here now are the words of the children. I hope you will read them carefully and take them to heart.

____

Today, we have made this demonstration because we need freedom

We need to pass freely with no problems

We need to live under democratic conditions
We want to go to Nablus with no delay
Do not catch our fathers and brothers and put them underneath the hot sun,
When they come back to the village, do not make bomb sounds
Let emergency cases pass freely to the hospital
Do not stop ambulances
Treat men and women equally as human beings
Do not shoot Palestinian children
We need to live under peace
Move the roadblocks
It should not be up to you when we can and cannot cross
Do not put our people in prison
Do not destroy our homes
Do not search us
Treat us like human beings
Do not destroy our farms
Do not put young people in prison
Do not come at night and scare the people
Give us our freedom
Do not search our houses at night and scare us
Do not detain people in the cold night
Do not destroy our land and make new settlements
Do not cut down our trees to extend settlements
Stop letting people shoot at farmers
Do not cut down our trees
Do not destroy our olive trees to make roadblocks
We are against the wall
Do not occupy our houses
Do not point lasers at our houses-- it hurts our eyes
Do not light flares-- it is dangerous and can start fires
Stop assassinating our people
Leave our land
Stop killing and scaring children
Stop destroying our roads with your tanks
Leave Palestine
We want a free state.

____

The demonstration lasted about a half-hour. It ended peacefully with the children marching back home.