Ramallah: Three Days of Dignity

Photo Blog by Lazar Simeonov
Text by Omar Rahman

A series of protests challenging the Palestinian Authority’s continued negotiations and security coordination with Israel were held in Ramallah over a three-day period ending on Tuesday. The first two protests held Saturday and Sunday were brutally suppressed by agents of the Palestinian Authority security forces. Organizers originally rallied around a scheduled visit by Israeli vice Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, but continued in response to the PA’s violent crackdown of Saturday’s demonstration.

Plain-clothed and uniformed officers beat protesters with batons as they tried to reach the presidential compound, leaving several hospitalized, including women and journalists. Yet the protesters, organized by the Palestinians for Dignity, remained undeterred and planned for an even larger demonstration on Tuesday.

After the public backlash at its actions, the Palestinian Authority did not confront the last demonstration and let the 500 protesters march to the presidential compound of Mahmoud Abbas to vent their frustration.

Yet the Palestinian Authority is visibly on edge. Already in Jenin over a hundred have been arrested over the past few weeks as the PA is clamping down in an effort to stay in control of a volatile situation arising in the West Bank. Palestinians are fed up with the situation on the ground and are more inclined to begin resisting the occupation. The Palestinian leadership has provided little vision for the future outside of a continuation of the status quo, which remains unacceptable to most Palestinians, and many are increasingly looking at the PA as an obstacle.

1 July 2012