CPTnet
April 29, 2004
WEST BANK: Demonstration at Biddu

by Phyllis Bergquist and Russell Schmidt

[Note: Bergquist and Schmidt participated in the most recent CPT delegation
to Israel/Palestine.]

On April 15, Rabbis for Human Rights invited the CPT delegation to
participate with other internationals in a peaceful demonstration in the
Palestinian village of Biddu to protest the Separation Barrier/Wall that the
Israeli government is building. The residents of Biddu have conducted daily
protests at the Wall that will divide their village, cutting them off from
services, family, friends and their land. In another village, these
non-violent demonstrations were successful in rerouting the wall so that
it did not separate them from their land.

We joined approximately 500 villagers and other internationals as they
marched toward the barrier set up by the Israeli army. When the front of
the march was about thirty feet from the soldiers, they suddenly fired
several warning shots, then fired tear gas into the middle of the crowd. We
found we also had to run through tear gas that they had fired behind us.

Coughing and choking, with eyes that would not open because of the gas, we
were quickly approached by women and children who appeared out of homes,
offering us slices of onions. We looked at them inquisitively. They showed
us how to breathe through the onion to relieve the burning of the tear gas.

Suddenly we heard shouting, and the crowd began to part. A man, carrying a
toddler, was running frantically to an ambulance stationed nearby. Numerous
press personnel followed, crowding around the open ambulance door to get
pictures of the injured child.

Many of the demonstrators again advanced toward the Israeli army barrier,
and again soldiers fired tear gas and percussion bombs into the crowd,
forcing them to retreat again. This cycle occurred five times over the next
hour. The air was thick with the smell
of tear gas, even from where we were standing at the bottom of the hill.

We spoke with Israeli Jews, internationals and Biddu residents about the
occupation and the Separation Wall. Mustafa, a local resident, told us how
sad he feels when he sees his children play. He said one pretends he is an
Israeli soldier and the other is
the Palestinian. They build a wall between them and then fight trying to
"kill" each other. He said he tells his children that there are Jews who
are good people, but it's hard for them to believe because all they see is
the Israeli soldiers shouting and shooting at them.

Our CPT delegation left Biddu after an hour and a half, but the
demonstration continued. According to the Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Arik
Ascherman, director of Rabbis for Human Rights, was later arrested for
trying to stop soldiers from beating a twelve year old boy. The Israeli
daily Ha'aretz reported that a twelve year old boy had been shot in the head
with a rubber coated steel bullet.

As we left Biddu, one man said, "Tell the world what is happening to us."
We promised we would.