For three hours, more gas grenades, stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets were shot than ever before in any demonstration in Bil'in. From time to time, a water cannon was also employed. Never, in all the 102 weekly demonstrations that have taken place up to now in Bil'in, such an amount of ammunition was spent.

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A 75-year old Palestinian demonstrator was hit by a stream of water, and while he was lying helpless on the ground, the water cannon continued to concentrate its jet on him, until he was surrounded by paramedics. Dr. Mustapha Barghouti, the physician who has been a candidate for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority, treated him on the spot.

To mark the end of two years of weekly demonstrations in Bil'in, the "Palestinian Stalingrad", this demonstration was larger than usual. Five buses and a convoy of private cars brought the 300 Israeli protesters, who joined some 1000 local demonstrators. The occupation forces had blocked all the roads leading to the village in time, but the protesters got in anyway.

The main street of the village looked like a big happening. The veteran and new participants passed through several exhibitions: a huge Palestinian flag that covered the walls of several houses; an exhibition of hundreds a large photos hanging on the walls along the street, showing memorable events of past demonstrations; huge scales that showed the inequality between the weight of Israel and that of the rest of the world; street players and guests from a British circus group in their vivid costumes, who passed between the participants and amused the children.

Together, the Palestinians and Israelis then started the march to the Fence, bearing Palestinian flags, posters with the joint flags of Israel and Palestine, and posters saying: "Israelis and Palestinians Against the Wall!"

The first of the demonstrators reached the gate of the Fence area and started rattling it. Within seconds the soldiers reacted with a heavy salvo of tear gas.

For the first time, the demonstrators tried to speak to the soldiers. Drenched by the water cannon, which had dragged him on the ground and caused some abrasions, Uri Avnery was hoisted by a Palestinian protester on his shoulders and addressed the soldiers, while the explosions of the grenades provided a kind of background music. "You don't have to react, just think about it," he told them, "You are not defending the security of the state. You can see for yourselves that the fence could be moved two or three kilometers to the west, without affecting security in any way. But this area of agricultural land, which has been stolen from the village, is worth hundreds of millions of dollars when it is used for building. These millions go to real-estate tycoons. You were brought here to protect their profits, not the security of Israel." The soldiers listened silently.

Immediately afterwards, the shooting started again. The confrontations lasted for three hours and the air was filled with tear gas. Two protesters were arrested, 17 wounded, including a Palestinian who was hit by a rubber coated bullet and spit blood. The demonstration ended when the army released the arrested persons. Two of the wounded remained in hospital.

The event was covered by many media people from all over the world and transmitted live by Al-Jazeera. The official Israeli radio spread a curious story - that some protesters had used a powder which, on coming into contact with water, turned into a blood-like liquid. That was an outrageous lie - further evidence to the fact that after 40 years of occupation, the Israeli security establishment has been contaminated by a culture of mendacity.