The spirit of the intifada, with restraint on both sides

Israel Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said he had no reports of wounded border policemen.

 

“The riots were dispersed, we will continue our heavy deployment and continually make security assessments today and going forward,” Rosenfeld said.

 

Youths arriving at Kalandiya around noon seemed ready for clashes with Israeli forces from the outset.

 

Ostensibly the reason for the gathering was a peaceful protest involving Mustafa Barghouti, the leader of the Palestinian National Initiative.

 

But some protesters brought tires to the scene and set them alight, while others picked up building blocks from a nearby construction site and broke them apart, using them as rocks to throw at the Israeli troops.

 

“Why is there no gas around to burn the tires?” one young man complained, only to be schooled by an older man that he ought to be placing the burning tires closer to the checkpoint to create a smokescreen for the stone-throwers.

 

When Barghouti and some 100 men and women arrived at the scene, they were quickly met by tear gas and retreated.

 

“People are suffering because Israel is demolishing homes and committing war crimes,” said Barghouti, whose party has advocated nonviolent resistance to Israeli policies. “It’s like India [before 1948] or South Africa, I am sure this is a third intifada and a new moral feeling and new consciousness [has emerged],” Barghouti said.

 

“It is the spirit we had during the first intifada.”

 

Among the protesters, a young man named Fadi could be heard consoling a relative over his mobile phone.

 

“Don’t worry, I’m stuck in a yard in Kalandiya, but I’m okay,” he said.

 

Fadi wasn’t wearing anything around his face to protect against the gas, and sweated profusely. Like a dozen of his friends, he had come to throw stones at Israeli soldiers and then go home.

 

Despite the tensions, both sides seemed to show enough restraint to suggest they prefer to avoid any major confrontation. Israeli soldiers and border policemen advanced to occupy several buildings under construction and fired stun grenades, rubber bullets, and tear gas to disperse the hundreds of protesters throwing stones.

 

One unit of Border Police advancing towards Kalandiya had as many troops holding cameras with which to photograph the perpetrators as forces wielding tear gas launchers. They seemed more interested in detaining the Palestinians later on rather than take the risk of chasing them through the alleyways of the neighboring refugee camp, which abuts the checkpoint.

 

Read More: The spirit of the intifada, with restraint on both sides – Arab-Israeli Conflict – Jerusalem Post

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