Umm Salamone demonstration changes

It appears that the imprisonment of several of the members of the organising committee of the weekly demonstrations against the wall in Umm Salamone in May has had some "positive" effects. All but one are now released from prison, and they have decided to be creative in their non-violent struggle. This week the organisers together with the Holy Land Trust and several internationals met to go over the strategy for the demonstration.

- We will let the soldiers wait in the sun for a few hours and surprise them by coming at 3 pm instead of 1 pm, one person suggested.

In addition to slightly changing the timing of the demonstration, the demonstrators brought watermelon and drinks and several sat down under a gigantic Palestinian flag to have a picnic in front of the soldiers.

More and more people are speaking up during this demonstration and some even travel from Hebron to participate. Awad from Artas also came to join this week and last week we met Nasser from Husan. This is a positive sign of increased communication, cooperation and awareness in the area.

It is impressive to see the organisers recently released from prison still coming to the demonstration area, although they stay in the background for obvious reasons.

While the soldiers are generally calm and do not raise hands or guns, the starting of army vehicle sirens when one Israeli demonstrator started translating the speeches into Hebrew shows the lack of interest in what is happening.

There are less young children present than what used to be the case, which is also positive as a demonstration a few feet from machine guns is no place for 3-year olds to play.

Over the past couple of months we have also seen the demonstration becoming increasingly international. On the positive side it is getting a lot of attention and media focus. However, we hope that the organisers manage to keep it in their own hands and let the internationals accompany, rather than lead.