Throughout the West Bank, Israeli settlements and Palestinian villages co-exist in close proximity. Conflict over resources ensue, and can turn deadly. \u00a0National Geographic Emerging Explorer Aziz Abu Sarah takes a look at one such conflict, between the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh and Israeli settlement of Halamish. In this report, he embeds with Palestinian protesters as they clash with Israeli soldiers. To see this protest from the Israeli military\u2019s point-of-view, check out in Conflict Zone, Part 2: Israel Defense Forces.
", "is_us_only": "false", "title": "Conflict Zone, Part 3: Palestinian Protesters", "url": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/specials/conflictzone/cz-pt3-palestinian-protesters/", "country_code_deny_list": [], "allowUserEmbed": "True", "related": { "link": [ { "url": "http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/aziz-sarah/", "name": "More About Aziz Abu Sarah" }, { "url": "http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/19/first-person-learning-to-stop-hating-israelis/", "name": "First Person: Learning to Stop Hating Israelis" } ] }, "credit": "National Geographic", "smil": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/data/xml/cz-pt3-palestinian-protesters.smil", "country_code_allow_list": [], "HTML5src": "/video/player/media-mp4/cz-pt3-palestinian-protesters/mp4/variant-playlist.m3u8", "still": "http://video.nationalgeographic.com/exposure/core_media/ngphoto/image/65355_0_616x346.jpg", "transcript": "HERE IN THE HOLY LAND, ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS CLASH ON TWO MAIN FRONTS: \u00a0THE TERRITORIES OF GAZA AND THE WEST BANK.
IN THE WEST BANK, PALESTINIANS GATHER EVERY WEEK TO PROTEST AGAINST THE ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS HERE.
PROTESTERS THROW ROCKS AT THE SOLDIERS-WHO ARE THERE TO PROTECT THE SETTLEMENTS.
Female Protester: So basically we throw rocks as a message, a symbolic message saying that we refuse this occupation. It's not considered a weapon to a fully armed Israeli soldier who is having live ammunition or lethal tear gas canisters in his hands.
THE SOLDIERS USE AN ARSENAL OF WEAPONS TO DISPERSE THE PROTEST.
Male Protester:\u00a0 \u00a0This one is lethal.\u00a0 It was banned for a while-
Female Protester: But they still use them.
Male Protester:\u00a0 This one, especially when they throw it, it changes direction because there are a lot of holes around it. And it is very painful when it hits you, especially in the head.
SECURITY FORCES CLASSIFY THESE WEAPONS AS \"NON-LETHAL\"... BUT THEY CAN STILL KILL.
A PROTESTER WAS KILLED JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO BY A TEAR GAS CANISTER THAT HIT HIM IN THE HEAD.
THESE PHOTOS SHOW THE MOMENT HE WAS HIT.
Aziz Abu Sarah: This is actually the one that killed him?
Male Protester: \u00a0This one is the...this is the bottom of it.\u00a0 This is this one that actually one that make the hit.
Aziz Abu Sarah: Ok and then this flies out. Ok.
Aziz Abu Sarah: Tell me a little bit about the background.\u00a0 Why you go protest here.
Male Protester: Well, in Nabi Saleh the whole story started with the story of the settlements across the street, Halamish.\u00a0 After they took over the land, they took it as a military base and later it became an actual settlement.\u00a0 And since then, they started to expand it, to expand the settlement every other year.
THE PROTESTERS SAY THAT WHEN THE SETTLEMENT EXPANDED, IT TOOK CONTROL OF A NEARBY NATURAL SPRING.
AND NOW THEIR VILLAGE ISN'T ALLOWED TO ACCESS THE WATER.
Aziz Abu Sarah: So what's their justification, do you think?
Male Protester:\u00a0 There is no justification.\u00a0 Because the settler, for example, they don't need really need justification.\u00a0 They just do what they want.
Aziz Abu Sarah:\u00a0 And why do they want?
Male Protester:\u00a0 More land.
Female Protester:\u00a0 More land.
Aziz Abu Sarah:\u00a0 What's your goal? Why are you protesting?
Female Protester:\u00a0 Why do we this week after week is because if we don't then we're just passive people.
Aziz Abu Sarah:\u00a0 The risk for us is we could be shot, we could be in the tear gas range and we are right in the middle of it.\u00a0 This is the danger zone.
SOME OF THE KIDS ARE COVERING THEIR HEAD. THEY WEAR THESE MASKS TO HIDE THEIR IDENTITY FROM THE SOLDIERS.
[Aziz speaks to child protester]
Aziz Abu Sarah:\u00a0 I'm protesting, he said, because they killed Mustafa.\u00a0 Mustafa was killed just a few weeks ago by a gas canister. The town is only 500 people so when somebody is killed, everybody knows who they are.
Aziz Abu Sarah: What protesters will do is try to reach the spring through the mountain.\u00a0 It makes it also a bit more dangerous as the military can surround you from two areas.
[Audio of launched tear gas and yelling]
Aziz Abu Sarah: Okay. We're already being shot at by tear gas and we should back off.
Aziz Abu Sarah: Here's one more shot of tear gas.\u00a0 You can see it coming down and right in the middle of the guys throwing stones who are only about 70-80 meters from us.
Aziz Abu Sarah: Oh, the kid takes the tear gas and hits it back towards the soldiers.\u00a0 That is very, very, very dangerous.
Aziz Abu Sarah: The effect of the tear gas is it makes you feel like your suffocating, makes you feel like you can't see, makes you feel that you can't breathe and even lose consciousness sometimes.
Aziz Abu Sarah:\u00a0 It doesn't feel good to be tear gassed.\u00a0 It actually sucks.
Aziz Abu Sarah:\u00a0 We're gonna try to get closer without getting killed.
Aziz Abu Sarah:\u00a0 Okay, that wasn't good. That was actually a bullet. We're gonna have to move quicker out of here as the soldiers almost go to us.\u00a0 Let's move quicker.
Aziz Abu Sarah:\u00a0 Let's get out!\u00a0 Let's get out!
Aziz Abu Sarah:\u00a0 They will probably surround the town and we're gonna have to get out or we might be stuck here with the curfew for the next day.
PROTESTS HAVE BEEN HELD HERE EVERY FRIDAY FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS.
EVERY WEEK, MORE YOUNG PALESTINIANS ARE INJURED OR ARRESTED BY THE YOUNG ISRAELI SOLDIERS SENT HERE TO STOP THEM.
ON THE OTHER SIDE OF ISRAEL, THE CONFLICT IS MUCH MORE DEADLY.
MILITANTS IN GAZA LAUNCH ROCKETS INTO ISRAEL THAT THREATEN THOUSANDS OF CIVILIANS - AND ISRAEL CAN RESPOND WITH CRUSHING AIRSTRIKES.
THE STRIKES TARGET MILITANTS, BUT CIVILIAN HOMES ARE HIT AS WELL.
Fahmi, Gaza Resident: This wheelchair belongs to my neighbor. She was an old lady, 85 years old.\u00a0 She's innocent, of course. She was killed by the Israeli attack.
Fahmi, Gaza Resident: And there is our home.\u00a0 I am Fahmi Reah Dalub. I work here in Gaza. This is my room. I can't believe that I made it through to tell you this story.\u00a0 We were all sitting just having dinner, but we did not hear anything, we did not feel anything. Then I started to realize that we are bombed.\u00a0 I don't know how I made it through to the street. It was a lot of dust, a lot of dark. And this is the first time I have returned here.
Fahmi, Gaza Resident: \u00a0\u00a0My uncle's home there were 10 killed people. I am still afraid of this area, of another war, of another attack. I feel like I am not safe everyday. When the electricity is gone, everyday, I panic. Because, for a second I feel like it is happening again.
WHEN PEOPLE ONLY KNOW EACH OTHER THROUGH THESE EXPERIENCES, THEY CAN ONLY SEE EACH OTHER AS ENEMIES.
I tr\ufffd\u0001m\f \u0010e\u0001H\ufffd\ufffd\u0006\ufffd\ufffd\u0004\u0007 personal beliefs aside. I just know that right now this is necessary and so I do it.
Aziz Abu Sarah: \u00a0Taking it from here, what do you think you want people to appreciate about your work in the army?
Dekan, IDF Commander: People around the world needs to know that the Israeli soldiers are exactly like everyone else and I really hope that we can all sit right now without those uniforms in the sea of Tel Aviv without the needs of weapons and all of that, but unfortunately we can't so, uh, that's why we're here.
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