Early in the morning construction of the wall started at a fourth site on the land of Aboud village. The new site was in Wadi Barbara and closer to the village than the other construction sites. They started bulldozing Olive Trees  for the area in which heavy equipment and vehicles will be kept. The trees belonged to a close relative Hanna Khoury, the spokesperson for the Popular Committee Against the Wall in Aboud. Early in the morning Hanna Khoury had gone to the new site and pleaded for them to stop the bulldozing until pending court action about the construction of the wall in that area was heard. They refused and he was threatened with arrest unless he left. 

A decision was made to change the destination of the protest march and to march to Wadi Barbara..  The original plan had been to march to close to one of these points where ancient ruins are in the walls path, to occupy the ruins and listen to a speech by an archaeologist. 

The change in destination  took the Israeli army by surprise and we did not have to face the thugs of an elite army unit who have been unleashed on some recent demonstrations in Aboud. They were waiting at the originally planned destination. Ironically they  could not have quickly moved to our new destination because of the mounds of boulders the army has used to restrict Palestinian movement by blocking most tracks and roads near the village.

150 villagers participated together with 20 Israeli peace activists and 15 internationals-mostly Italian. We marched out of the village, across a barrier  and along the blocked road towards Rantis that runs through Wadi Barbara. Children were prominent in the march but were sent back by adults as we approached the construction site and the army. When we reached them the soldiers threw some tear gas. 

This had what was probably the intended effect of thinning out the demonstration, many moved back and observed from a distance. About 60 closed with the soldiers 

Hanna Khoury again remonstrated with the officer. 

Once military reinforcements arrived the soldiers pushed us back with unnecessary force.

Some demonstrators were clubbed. 23 year old Israeli demonstrator Jonathan Pollack was clubbed on the head and poked in the chest by a soldier. He was stunned and carried away by medics on a stretcher. 

I had interviewed Jonathan before the start of the demonstration.

One young Aboudi was also clubbed on the head than arrested. After some negotiation and demonstrators agreeing to leave he was released.

Totally unnecessarily a group of soldiers moved past us high on the hillside to a location above where the children had been moved, to away from the potential danger of the face to face confrontation with soldiers on the Road. The children wanted to play their part in defending the village land and some went up hill among the Olive trees to throw stones up towards the soldiers who responded with tear gas.