After word of the attack spread, children and young men came into the streets and began throwing rocks at the soldiers. The soldiers shot back with gas bombs and rubber bullets, and fighting continued this way for several hours in the street.

At least three people were injured by their ammunition, including two boys and a mother who had come to rescue her children from the fighting. One fourteen year old boy died on the playground, which lies across the street from the Church of the Nativity. Hospital reports show that he was killed by live ammunition from Israeli soldiers. The mother and other young boy are being treated at an area hospital. Anyone in proximity to the event, even those in their homes in the area, would have felt the burning and stinging of the gas for hours as fighting went on in the street.

HCEF Bethlehem staff did their best to record the event with pictures and video footage, but doing so put them in extreme danger. At one point the HCEF Accountant reported being seen by an Israeli solider as she took pictures out of an office window. "The soldier saw me and pointed his gun at me, and began firing into the office. They even shot poison gas canisters, so we were crying, we couldn't breathe, and we felt like it was burning in our lungs," she said. HCEF staff were confined to their office for over four hours while the fighting continued right outside their door.

"It's not fair," they said. "It's like a game to them - they have guns while we can only throw rocks. It's like they think, what will happen if I shoot at them? They were just teasing the Palestinians here. They don't respect the humanity of the other side." Staff emphasized that the Israeli military can come and go whenever they please, although Bethlehem is governed by the Palestinian Authority.

HCEF Country Representative reported that he was unable to join the other staff members in the office, although he was only 100 feet away. "I kept calling them every ten or fifteen minutes to make sure they weren't choking on the poison gas," he said. "They were very close, and I was afraid for them."

After being trapped in the office for four hours, staff members decided to run for their cars. The Administrative Officer ran first. As our Accountant was preparing to follow her, she saw a gas bomb explode in the path. Although it was dangerous, she and the Project Coordinator did not leave abandon their colleague. They ran to join her and escaped safely away from the scene. The Coordinator said, "Those moments when I was closing the office felt like slow motion, because I was turned around and the Israeli soldiers could shoot me easily then." The staff stressed that anyone in close proximity to an Israeli action is in danger, not just the people who are engaged.

Bethlehem has not seen this level of violence in years. Staff reported their shock at violence in the area, but noted, "Now it is like nothing happened - everything is back to normal again." There are no expectations of further military action or other disturbances in the area.

"Thanks be to God that they are all right" said the Country Representative "We are from the Holy Land, we live there as any Palestinian does, Christian or Muslim - there is no protection for us. We are serving as witnesses to all Palestinians who are living under occupation."

For more information about the Holy Land Christians or to find out how you can support and encourage them, visit www.hcef.org, or call (866)871-4234.

Al-Aqsa is among factions spearheading a six-year-old Palestinian revolt.

Israeli soldiers also shot dead a Palestinian civilian who tried to bypass a military checkpoint near Nablus, Palestinian witnesses and a Palestinian medical official said. An Israeli army spokesman said he was unaware of such an incident.

Palestinian witnesses said an Israeli drone had fired a missile at a group of people in an open area on the edge of Beit Hanoun.

A hospital doctor said the dead civilian was a 14-year-old boy, correcting medical officials who earlier said he was 17. The boy's father was among the wounded, medical officials said.

Israel launched an offensive against militants in Gaza after Palestinian gunmen seized a soldier in a cross-border raid from the strip on June 25.

Around 225 Palestinians, half of them civilians, have been killed in the offensive.

Israel has also been carrying out military strikes to try to stop gunmen firing homemade rockets at Israeli towns and villages near the border with Gaza.

October 8, 2006-Today, Palestinian, international and Israeli activists joined together to demonstrate against land theft, road closures and economic isolation by bringing two tons of the surplus Palestinian grape harvest to an occupation checkpoint along Route 60. In a display of civil disobedience akin to the North American Boston Tea Party, the demonstrators hoped to dump the surplus harvest onto the road, but were viciously attacked before they were able to reach the checkpoint.

Al-Khadr is a center for vineyards, as is the Bethlehem area in general. Every year its fertile lands yield 11,000 tons of grapes. Not long ago, these grapes were marketed to the entire West Bank, as well as Jordan, Gaza and Israel. Nowadays, with some roads blocked and others closed, and with new decrees restricting the delivery of grapes, the local produce has no market. The prices have dropped so low that the farmers can no longer earn their living. Many are forced to just leave the fruit to rot on the vines. Soon the Apartheid Wall will reach the site of the demonstration, and the Ghettoization of the area will be complete. Where grapes are the prime source of income and unemployment rates soar, this maneuver will effectively strangulate the already fragile local economy.

The wall in the Al-Khadr region will annex 20,000 dunums of Palestinian agricultural land, while the expansion of Betar Illit, Neve Daniel and Elazar colonial settlements will similarly steal additional lands. The Wall in the Al-Khadr and Bethlehem area will also imprison 19,000 Palestinians in between the concrete barrier and the 1967 West Bank border line, known as the "green line."

For these reasons, local Palestinians, Israeli activists with Anarchists Against the Wall and Tay'ush, as well as international activists with the Palestine Solidarity Project (PSP), joined for a morning of civil disobedience with the intention of dumping a portion of the ample, though unmarketable, grape harvest onto Route 60 in protest. Approximately fifty demonstrators marched on Route 60, blocking northbound traffic, en route to Al-Khadr checkpoint, but were preemptively attacked by Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) police and soldiers. At the scene were numerous armored police jeeps, police transport vans and armored military jeeps. Also on hand was at least one agent with Shabak (Shin Bet), the occupation's covert intelligence agency, seen filming the IOF's brutality with a handheld video camera.

Despite the presence of Reuters cameramen and other international media, around thirty IOF soldiers and police quickly attacked the non-violent demonstrators who carried cardboard crates of grapes. With their hands unable to be used as shields, many were beaten causing the grapes to prematurely spill onto the road. As the demonstrators attempted to continue their march, IOF police and soldiers choked, kicked and punched the demonstrators. Some police used military-style 'pain compliance' maneuvers, such as applying immense pressure to wrists and other sensitive joints, as well as wrenching back fingers and hands. Activists were thrown, and dragged by their ears, noses, necks and hair, while other police and soldiers forced demonstrators to the ground by leaning their weighted knees onto demonstrators' heads and necks. Many activists were roughly thrown to the ground and dragged across the asphalt road, ripping their clothes. While attempting to stand up, many were pushed and kicked by the booted IOF police and soldiers.

During the assault, six people were arrested: two Palestinian males, one international female, and two Israeli males. The two Palestinian males, Mohammad Salah, 25, and Ahmed Salah, 30 were detained for carrying boxes of grapes, and while Ahmed was released at the end of the demonstration, Mohammad was not so lucky. Following the demonstration, Mohammad was taken by IOF soldiers to a wooded area near Betar Illit colonial settlement. When the soldiers reached this isolated area, they kicked and beat Mohammad in the head and shoulders. He is currently under care at a Bethlehem-area hospital. The international, an American woman, and the two Israeli men are currently still being held in Israeli custody at Gush Etzion police compound, housed within the colonial settlement of the same name.

Despite the unprovoked and extreme violence from the IOF, the demonstration was a great success. The primarily settler-used roadway of Route 60 was colored green and purple with the crushed remains of grapes and cardboard cartons. Passing settlers were able to witness the violence that their presence "necessitates," and many reacted by honking their horns, photographing the demonstration, and one man was even seen proudly waving a peace sign. Though the grapes never reached the mouths of consumers, they were purchased from the farmers and given a political purpose on the road-a stretch of route 60 bordering Al-Khadr checkpoint, as well as a currently under-construction terminal checkpoint, and a small length of the Apartheid Wall already built and waiting to be connected to the Bethlehem portion.