Tourists and tear gas in Bilin
Demonstration against the wall in West Bank village offers surreal sights: Kids throwing stones alongside tourists taking pictures
There were five people in the car: A retired psychologist, a journalist, a filmmaker, an artist and me. I later learned that some of them belong to the political group called "Anarchists Against the Wall." Had I known this before, I don't think I would have gotten into the car. In Germany being with an anarchist group in a demonstration means trouble.
During the ride, the journalist asked me what I had heard about the demonstrations. I told him of what I read - about clashes between the Israeli soldiers and the Palestinian residents of the village; that in the last three years people have been protesting there every Friday; and that these demonstrations have become a symbol for the Palestinian fight against the wall.
He asked me again, "But, what do you know about tear gas?" I was shocked. I said, "Nothing really" and added: "I wasn't really planning on getting close to any tear gas." He then suggested that I watch the demonstration from a little hill close to the village. I really wanted to do so. But just in case, the journalist gave me a little piece of cotton soaked in alcohol. "Hold this up in front of your nose when there's tear gas in the air, and you will be able to breathe," he explained. Okay, I thought, I'm not going to need this.
Pictures for the friends back home
We drove into the West Bank without encountering any problem. I didn't even realize that we passed through several checkpoints. But the environment changed. The streets became more narrow, some villages poorer and more plain than the Israeli settlements seemed to be. Soldiers controlled the entrances to all the villages, including Bilin.
A demonstration in Bilin (Archive photo: AP)
At about noon the demonstration started. A narrow path through olive orchards led to the wall and to where the demonstration regularly ends. The group of nearly 100 demonstrators was very diverse. There were international peace activists, Israeli protesters who support the Palestinian people, some tourists, and of course journalists.
The weirdest thing was the tourists. Some of them took pictures of a three-year-old boy holding a Palestinian flag. Others even tried to take pictures of the youngsters throwing stones. Something for their photo collection, for the friends back home, that would enable them to say "I was there" - at a demonstration in the West Bank - an action-filled experience, which up until now they could only see on television.
It was absurd. I asked the journalist about my impression and whether this could be true. His reply made me laugh: "Yes, soon enough the Friday demonstration in Bilin will be recommended by 'Lonely Planet' as a touristic highlight in the West Bank."
Like a game
At some point several children began throwing stones at the wall. This caught me off guard and the soldiers responded with tear gas grenades. The filmmaker, who was with me, was unlucky: A grenade hit her in the back, but she managed to jump sideways and sustained only mild shock.
But now tear gas was in the air and I was in the midst of it.
It was like a game, the events seemed choreographed, a routine for those familiar with the drill. Stones, tear gas grenades and smoke. Some protesters reached close to the wall and chanted slogans like "No wall" and "Fight against the wall." But the children kept on throwing stones and the soldiers fired rubber bullets.
That wasn't fun anymore and the tourists stopped taking pictures (except for one, who even took a picture of a tear gas grenade.) More and more tear gas was in the air and I couldn't breathe anymore. I started to run like the others did. The journalist and the filmmaker were a hundred meters ahead of me, and as I reached them they reminded me of the alcohol-soaked cloth. It helped a lot.
And then suddenly the demonstration was over. The tourists gone with taxis, the Palestinians back in their houses and the Israelis back in their cars.
So, here is what I learned on that crazy day:
For some, the Friday demonstrations in Bilin are still a serious thing, because they fight for their land, for freedom and for self-determination. For others this isn't so.
Anarchists do not cause trouble.
Tear gas hurts and some demonstrators are violent and brutal, too.
In a way it was a sad experience and I truly do hope that the demonstrations will never be mentioned in "Lonely Planet."
Diana Zinkler is a German reporter who is in Israel as a correspondent for the "Hamburger Abendblatt". During her two months' stay in the country, Diana will write a column for Ynetnews about her experiences in Israel.
For her German blog: http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2008/11/04/965281.html
