If you are facing a heavily armed army and you yourself are without weapons you have to find creative ways to ‘fight’ your enemy and bring out its weaknesses, even Gandhi knew this already.
Last Friday the weekly non-violent march against the Israeli wall and settlements in the village of al-Ma’sara was enlightened with the presence of brides and grooms, in celebration of a local couple that got married on the same day in al-Ma’sara.
Hundreds of people joined in the march, that was stopped at the entrance of the village by the Israeli army that had put up a road block. Gathering in front of the barbed wire which separated them from the rows of soldiers and military jeeps, demonstrators shouted slogans and gave short speeches in Arabic, Hebrew and English, that were met with loud cheers and applause by the crowd.
Many internationals and Israelis were among the protesters, as well as a large group of students from Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem. The atmosphere in the protest was warm and positive as people were singing and clapping, celebrating the wedding while at the same time protesting the Israeli occupation that steals land’s of the village for the Israeli wall and settlement blocs.
The brides and grooms seemed to have disappeared for a while from the demonstration, but later popped up behind the line of soldiers, as they had exited the village through an alternative route. As they approached the road block the couples were cheered on by all the protesters. The move of the couples broke the routine of the weekly demonstration and seemed to have taken the Israeli soldiers by surprise.
As the couples tried to cross the barbed wire to join the crowd of protesters, soldiers surged forward toward the larger crowd, beating those trying to break through and knocking protestors to the ground. The Israeli army arrested three Israeli activists, dragging them back to waiting jeeps before reforming their line.
After the couples joined the cheering crowd and people started dancing and singing around the brides and grooms, soldiers proceeded to declare the area a closed military zone, giving the protestors ten minutes to vacate the area and threatening to arrest anyone who remained. This failed to intimidate the protestors, who refused to be coerced. People continued to chant and dance at the barbed wire long after the time limit had expired, with the soldiers standing idly by, merely gazing at this slightly odd display of Palestinian culture.
At the end of the protest the Palestinian organizers were called forward by Israeli soldiers and were told that they were not allowed to have a demonstration in the next week, as the Israeli soldiers were apparently not amused by the surprise act of the wedding couples. The organizers received threats that if they would continue to have a demonstration that the army would put the whole village under curfew. A clear act of collective punishment, as the majority of the villagers doesn’t join in the weekly protest against the wall. After all Palestinians had left the scene of the demonstration a remaining Scotsman, wearing the tra
ditional Scottish quilt, surprised the soldiers once more by lifting up his quilt to show them his behind. In Scottish tradition this is seen as a grave insult. In Scottish history men used to lift up their quilts to the British occupier.