by Kathie Uhler

On 10 July, CPTers Kathie Uhler (a Franciscan Sister) and John Lynes attended a demonstration at Ni'lin protesting Israel's construction of the Annexation/Security Wall there. The village of Ni'lin, located in the Ramallah district, has for more than a month led intense, nonviolent demonstrations-three-to-four each week-against the Wall, which will confiscate 1/3rd of village's land or 2500 dunams (one dunam=¼ acre).

Veterans of these demonstrations told the CPTers that the crowd on 10 July was very large and that there was "a lot of media," including Reuters and The Guardian. The march began at 10:00 a.m. At 10:22, the IDF launched the first of innumerable rounds of tear gas. The crowd, heading toward the Wall construction area, moved to a ridge, then down through olive groves and up a steep incline to the next ridge. (See photo at http://cpt.org/gallery/Nialin%3A-Demonstration-Injury/101_0703)

As the demonstrators fled the teargas around 11:30 a.m. (See http://cpt.org/gallery/Nialin%3A-Demonstration-Injury/101_0732), a soldier shot Uhler in the right hip with a rubber-coated bullet. When paramedics approached her with a stretcher, Uhler said she did not think she needed to be carried, but they whispered, "All of us will be protected as we carry you." She thus allowed them to carry her down the steep, rugged ridge. At its base, a journalist from the Guardian interviewed her.

The march ended at noon and Uhler, with Lynes, was able to continue on foot back into the village center. There, the CPTers, thinking to get a lift to Jerusalem, followed some journalists to a hilltop and into the village medical clinic. Doctors and nurses were treating about a half dozen demonstrators, mostly Israelis, whom soldiers had wounded in the march. A doctor said Uhler's wound, a large bruise, would hurt for two days and a nurse applied an ice pack. An Israeli woman receiving treatment said she worked for the Israeli human rights organization, B'tselem. Two soldiers with clubs had left large bruises on her legs and arms. Uhler remarked that she had not seen any close contact between IDF and marchers. The woman said, "We were in the front line of the march. We did not make it to the Wall or to the bulldozers." When Uhler asked her if she thought the demonstration was a success, she said, "Yes. There was a lot of media there and a good crowd."

As Lynes and Uhler were going back into the village to wait for public transportation to Jerusalem, an entourage of automobiles and walkers approached them. Several people motioned for the CPTers to follow, saying that the Palestinian prime minister had come. In a large meeting room, Salam Fayyad, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, addressed the crowd in Arabic and English. (See http://cpt.org/gallery/Nialin%3A-Demonstration-Injury/08_07_10_Prime_Minister_1.)

As he was leaving the hall, Fayyad stopped by Lynes and Uhler, who were wearing their red CPT hats, shook their hands and said to each of them, "Thank you for all that you are doing for our people."