Popular committee member Hassan Mousa arrested by an army officer. Picture credit: Oren Ziv/ActiveStills

Two years have passed since the village of Ni'lin began a campaign. Hundreds of demonstrations have been held on the lands of a small agricultural village, located north of Ramallah in the West Bank. The demonstrations began when112 bulldozers arrived. We tried to block their paths with our bodies, stop their motors from uprooting our trees, destroying our livelihoods.

Mohammed Khawaja who was shot in the head on 28 December 2008 and died of his wounds three days later. Picture credit: Keren Manor/ActiveStills

The residents of Ni'lin began organizing when construction of the Wall first began in 2004. While a court injunction temporarily delayed the theft of village lands, the Army came back in May 2008. In response to just efforts, the Army put the village under a 4 day curfew, hoping to break the spirit of our resistance.

A demonstrator pointing at soldiers beyond the Wall. Picture credit: Oren Ziv/ActiveStills

The millitary intended to scare us into silently handing over our fields. In the first months of protests, Ahmed Mousa, aged 10 and Youself Amira, aged 17 were killed by Israeli armed forces. The demonstrations strengthened and the army turned to night raids to weaken our movement. Soldiers came regularly in the night, harassing family members of suspected protesters, trying to turn us against each other.

Demonstrators tipping-over the 8 meters high concrete wall. Picture credit: Keren Manor/ActiveStills

The violence on protesters intensified during the Gaza assault in December 2009. During an unarmed solidarity with Gaza demonstration, Mohammed al-Khawaja and Arafat Ratib al-Khawaja were shot with live ammunition by Israeli soldiers. The army began using a new high-velocity tear gas projectile and re-introduced a 0.22 caliber live ammunition as a means of crowd control. Tristan Anderson, an American solidarity activist was critically injured by a gas projectile and Aqel Srour was killed with a 0.22 bullet to his chest. But we continued, every Friday, to march from the center to the place where an electric fence replaced our olive trees.

A demonstrator spray-painting the concrete wall. Picture credit: Shachaf Polacow/ActiveStills

The settlement of Hashmonaim and the Wall, ruled illegal by the International Court of Justice in 2004 stole around 7000 dunums of the village, leaving us with 56% of our land. We began to cut the electrical fence, and implement international law ourselves. Israel hid the fence behind a high concrete wall.

A medic evacuating a boy hurt from tear gas inhalation. Picture Credit: Oren Ziv/ActiveStills

Yet we persist. Five deaths, hundreds of arrests, countless injuries from the weapons regularly intended to scare us, to stop us. Two years. A new wave of repression has been unleashed on all the villages who organize against the illegal theft of their livelihood. East Jerusalem, Bil'in, al-Ma'asara, al-Walaja, Beit Jala, and Nabi Saleh continue to fight for justice. We cannot be silent. Can you?

Demonstrators removing a segment of the electronic fence. Picture credit: Shchaf Polakow/ActiveStills