The weekly protest in Ni'ilin commenced after a large Friday sermon on the village's land, when demonstrators carrying pictures and signs calling for the release of the popular struggle's prisoners marched towards the Wall.

Chanting and shouting slogans, demonstrators decided to no march towards the shut gate in the Wall this week, but rather the point where the eight meters concrete Wall ends and the barrier turns into a 40 meters wide set of obstacles, ranging from razor-wire, to an electronic fence, to a military access road and anti-vehicle trenches.

The path of the Wall in this specific point, planned solely to allow settlement expansion,  grants the demonstrators a strategic height advantage, making it very difficult for the Army to effectively control the protest with its violence from afar.

Only several minutes after demonstrators started blocking the military access road below them with rocks, lookouts spotted two military jeeps and over a dozen soldiers crossing the gate in the Wall and advancing towards the village - either in order to create a provocation or to flank the protesters from behind.

The protesters quickly retreated towards the village western entrance, reaching it just in time to ward of the jeeps from entering the village. The soldiers, who must have been surprised by the demonstrators presence, numbers and stout resistance, were forced to retreat.

Israel began construction of the Wall on Ni'lin's land in 2004, but stopped after an injunction order was issued by the Israeli High Court of Justice (IHCJ). Despite this previous order and the 2004 ruling from the International Court of Justice declaring the Wall illegal, construction of the Wall began again in May 2008. Following the return of Israeli bulldozers to their lands, residents of Ni'lin have launched a grassroots campaign to protest the massive land theft, including demonstrations, strikes and direct actions.

The original route of the Wall, the one Israel began constructing in 2004, was ruled illegal by the IHCJ, as was a second, marginally less obtrusive proposed route. The most recent path, now completed, still cuts deep into Ni'lin's land. It was planned and built to include plans, not yet approved by the Army’s planning authority, for a cemetery and an industrial zone for the illegal settlement Modi'in Ilit.

Since the Wall was built to annex more land to the nearby settlements rather than in a militarily strategic manner, demonstrators have been able to repeatedly dismantle parts of the electronic fence and razor-wire surrounding it. Consequently, the army has erected a 15-25 feet tall concrete wall, in addition to the electronic fence. The section of the Wall in Ni’lin is the only part of the route where a concrete wall has been erected in response to civilian, unarmed protest.

As a result of the construction of the Wall, Ni’lin has lost 3,920 dunams, roughly 30% of its remaining lands. Originally, Ni’lin consisted of 15,898 dunams (3928 acres). Post 1948, Ni’lin was left with 14,794 dunams (3656 acres). After the occupation of the West Bank in 1967, the illegal settlements and infrastructure of Modi'in Ilit, Mattityahu and Hashmonaim were built on village lands, and Ni'lin lost another 1,973 dunams. With the completion of the Wall, Ni’lin remains with 8911 dunams (2201 acres), 56% of its original size.

Ni'lin is effectively split into 2 parts (upper and lower) by Road 446, which was built directly through the village. According to the publicized plan of the Israeli government, a tunnel will be built under road 446 to connect the upper and lower parts of Ni’lin, allowing Israel to turn Road 446 into a segregated-setter only road. Subsequently, access for Palestinian vehicles to this road and to the main entrances of upper and lower Ni’lin will be closed. Additionally, since the tunnel will be the only entryway to Ni’lin, Israel will have effective control over the movement of Palestinian residents.

Israel commonly uses tear-gas projectiles, rubber-coated bullets and live ammunition against demonstrators.

Since May, 2008, five of Ni’lin's residents were killed and one American solidarity activist was critically injured from Israeli fire during grassroots demonstrations in Ni'lin.

• 5 June 2009: Yousef Akil Srour (36) was shot in the chest with 0.22 caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
• 13 March 2009: Tristan Anderson (37), an American citizen, was shot in the head with a high velocity tear gas projectile. He is currently at Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv with uncertain prospects for his recovery.
• 28 December 2008: Mohammed Khawaje (20) was shot in the head with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition. He died in a Ramallah hospital 3 days later on 31 December 2008.
• 28 December 2008: Arafat Rateb Khawaje (22) was shot in the back with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.
• 30 July 2008: Yousef Amira (17) was shot in the head with two rubber coated steel bullets. He died in a Ramallah hospital 5 days later on 4 August 2008.
• 29 July 2008: Ahmed Mousa (10) was shot in the forehead with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and pronounced dead upon arrival at a Ramallah hospital.

In total, 20 people have been killed during demonstrations against the Wall.

Israeli armed forces have shot 40 demonstrators with live ammunition in Ni'lin. Of them, 11 were shot with 5.56mm caliber live ammunition and 29 were shot with 0.22” caliber live ammunition.

Since May 2008, 117 arrests have been made in relation to anti-Wall protest in the village. The protesters arrested by the army constitute roughly 9% of the village's male residents aged between 12 and 55. The arrests are part of a broad politically motivated Israeli campaign to suppress grassroots resistance to the Occupation.