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by Allison Deger for Mondoweiss

This past week while the world was watching eight days of air strikes on the Gaza Strip, the West Bank erupted in unexpected protests at every major checkpoint and city, leaving three Palestinians dead and at least 200 arrested including government officials, in an incursion by the Israeli military.

The less reported clashes in the West Bank began raging on November 15, the day after Ahmad al-Jabri, the second in command of al-Qassam Brigades, was assassinated by an Israeli missile that incinerated the Hamas official in his car. Within hours the West Bank Palestinians initiated their own struggle against the Israeli occupation forces that spanned the entire duration of the Gaza bombing, with lulls only during school hours and late at night. But halfway through the week, Palestinian schools and universities went on strike, which extended the hours of popular resistance.

On a normal day under Israeli occupation, at the Qalandia checkpoint, the militarized gateway into the West Bank, there are about eight soldiers who range in appearance from lack of interest to annoyance. But during times of political tensions the number jumps to around 20, suited up like a life-size G.I. Joes in green. Yet during the past week Qalandia was controlled by three units of around 10 soldiers who broke off into smaller groups in the village and the refugee camp of the same name.

Although there is organized non-violent resistance to the Israeli occupation, it is a misnomer to classify the fighting at Qalandia as pacifist. Still, the disproportional force is obvious to anyone who sees it. The Israeli military uses weapons that if used in the United States would send crowds fleeing. Here the ammunition is dodged, ducked -- and at times, plopped into a slingshot and fired back. The youth responded to the military entering their neighborhood by throwing stones and shooting dynamite in homemade launchers constructed from cardboard. In a region that is de-militarized beyond the Palestinian Authority police force, these tools are the only weapons at the youths’ disposal. And this past week they used their handicrafts against live fire that was shot indiscriminately in a populated area.

B’tselem reported two days ago that in total since November 15, 39 were injured in the West Bank, 16 from live fire.

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