From Berlin to Na'alin
Protesters knock down concrete wall
The following lines are from the Reuters dispatch, Nov. 6 (here taken from Ha'aretz).
The weekly demonstrations against the West Bank separation barrier in the towns of Bil'in and Na'alin reached new heights this Friday when activists, seeking to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall, knocked a part of the barrier over.
Masked Palestinian youths breached the 8-meter high section of Israel's security wall that runs through Na'alin, while Israeli border guards fired tear gas and a foul-smelling spray from behind the high concrete barrier.
Protesters levered open a space under one the pre-cast panels and used a hydraulic car-jack to topple it out of position.
"NO MATTER HOW TALL, ALL WALLS FALL", read one banner pasted onto the structure by Palestinian youths assisted by Israeli activists, who say the wall on Palestinian land and through Palestinian communities is simply a land grab by Israel.
The panel, cast in the same inverted T-shape as those erected by communist East Germany through Berlin in 1961, was tilted back close to tipping point onto the Israeli side, but did not fall completely.
The youths scattered when the Israeli guards behind the wall rushed to close the breach.
Thick black smoke from a stack of tires set alight by the youths mingled with white trails of tear gas against the blue sky.
Clouds of Israeli "skunk" spray -- smelling of corpses and feces -- drenched the protesters' side of the skirmish.
