i dont know what happened but there is an email down below here

Well I kind of had a feeling, and, well, yesterday things all came to fruition. The demo in Biddu was the largest i have seen so far, which was amazingly encouraging for me to see, there were over 50 israelis and internationals, as well as around 500 palestinians or so. Unfortunately the army had declared the area a closed military zone, which mean absolutely no one is allowed to be there.

We marched towards the worksite at the briskest pace i have ever marched in my life, mostly due to peoples' excitement i think. We were met by a long line of soldiers and jeeps, as well as some soldiers on a roof of a house where a 16 year old boy was a shot and killed from on the third day i got to biddu.
The scene in many ways was eerily similar to that day. As we stopped about 300 feet from the soldiers, we were immediately fired on with tear gas—most of the 20-30 canisters hit people in the legs and backs, as they were fired directly at the crowd, not lobbed in the air, and were traveling at very high speeds.

The gas overwhelmed most of us in the front and so we took some refuge in the unfinished bottom floor of a house. A woman who lived upstairs and was in her 60's, passed out and needed to be carried to the ambulance which was fired at upon coming to pick her up.

The crowd reconverged in the street only to be fired at again, and this time the border police came charging at people while throwing concussion grenades at the dispersing crowd. I quickly realized one specific border policeman was running directly at me and as i turned to run he began to chase me, through the garage, around the back of the house, around the olive tree, through the front yard, and then he gave up as i made my way back to a larger crowd of people.

I returned to the front shortly after to maintain a presence with other internationals, and again the border police charged. I ran again but this time two men were chasing me, and eventually grabbed on to me and tried dragging me from the side of the house where I'd been caught. I repeatedly asked them why they were grabbing me, what had i done wrong, and that the demo, and my participation in it, was peaceful.

Several other women whom i work with began to latch onto my body in an attempt to discourage the police from taking me away, and for a minute or so it seemed to work. One of the two border police disappeared for a minute, and some press began to shoot my little struggle. Unfortunately the policeman who was still holding me was absolutely huge, and extremely strong, and every time i looked in his eyes i got frightenend as he just looked extremely angry, eyes wide open, pupils huge and black, and face with this distorted angry grimace. As he continued to try and grab me away from the girls, i had my hands kind of on his wrists, one of his hands became free and he punched me as hard as he could in the top of my head---it really hurt and i don't think i have been punched in the head before.

I continued to say i was non-violent, and that i weighed 100 pounds and he didn't need to use excessive force, which got no response. After several minutes, his buddy returned with about five other policemen with big guns. They quickly pushed the girls off me and pulled me away, choking me as they yanked me by the bandana tied around my neck---about 7 in all, all grabbing firmly to different articles of clothing and my body carried my through the police lines and threw me into a jeep where i was handcuffed and sat for 30-40 mins before we left the scene.

The police station was a whole nother story i will mostly save for my return. I continued to demand to see a doctor or get some ice as my head had a pretty good lump on it, and it was rather throbbing. I was repeatedly refused this medical care. One policeman even said, "even if i had ice right now i wouldn't give it to you."

i stayed at the station for about 3-4 hours, had an interrogation type thing where the arrest report he questioned me from ended not being for my arrest. I was asked questions like, do i think the wall is legal, and do i support the palestinians or the israelis? It was rather bizarre. I was ultimately released on 2 conditions. The first, i can't return to biddu for 15 days, and the second, i am not allowed to go to any demonstrations against the wall for 15 days—which is basically the end of my trip—so we will see how that all works out, i have many friends i need to say goodbye to.

Well my friends, i am not deported, not seriously injured, my head barely hurts today, and i am off to the high court to listen to the negotiations in a language i dont understand.

For those of you in olympia, i will be on KAOS for an hour today doing an interview on my time here. It will be somewhere between 2 and 4pm your time so tune in if you are missing my voice. Ok sending all my love, just about two weeks left, which is really sad as i think about it, but also offers in it new opportunities, new doors to walk through, and new people to see and reconnect with. This place has become intertwined with my heart and my passion in quite enexpected ways—but i will save that for another day. please be well and may the people in your life treat you well, love you son, friend, and brother, neal

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