By Liel Kyzer
Tags: separation fence, IDF
At about noon on Friday, at the village of Na'alin a demonstration begins against the separation fence, which signals to the residents of Hashmonaim, a community several hundred meters away, that it is time to close the blinds and windows and stay inside.
Nearly six months have passed since several dozens protesters against the fence have began to regularly demonstrate in the area, and the Israel Defense Forces and Border Police who arrive to contain the demonstration use a variety of means to disperse the crowd. The means, including tear gas and a sprayed substance that covers the demonstrators with a terrible smell, helps disperse the demonstrations, but they also disrupt the routine of the people in nearby Hashmonaim.
"This was a quiet place, a nice place to live," said Osnat Gilad, a resident of Hashmonaim, near Modi'in Ilit, for the past decade, "but since the trouble started everything changed."
She says that "on Fridays, midday, it is impossible to go outside, you just cannot breathe." She lives at the edge of the community, very close to the fence.
"If you want to go out and enjoy the garden on Friday afternoon, it is simply impossible because of the strong smell outside," she said. "At first, when the demonstrations began and the army began using the foul smelling stuff, we were sure that the neighbor is using fertilizer for the lawn, but we understood later that it came from the direction of the fence. Our relations with the residents of Na'alin are very good and we've hired them to work here for years, and suddenly we found ourselves living on the border."
About 500 families live in the religious community, and on Friday evening several dozen people walk to prayers at the local synagogue, as the tear gas and the smell still lingers in the air....
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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1121967.html
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