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On May 14, 2010 Bil’in commemorated the 62nd anniversary of the Palestinian nakba with its weekly protest at the Separation Wall. Demonstrators marched in remembrance of the approximately 700,000 Palestinians who were forced to permanently flee their lands during the 1948 war. Representatives from the Fatah, Hamas, and PFLP movements, along with members of the Popular Committee Against the Wall, marched carrying a giant key to represent the rightful return of the refugees. The demonstration was visited by Handala, the Palestinian symbol who was created to represent the children who left their homelands and were forced to settle in refugee camps. Demonstrators processed to the site of the Wall and endured large amounts of tear gas as Israeli soldiers tried to force them to retreat. A Palestinian TV journalist was arrested when the soldiers crossed the fence. The fields around the Wall quickly caught fire due to the high afternoon heat and the tear gas canisters, and demonstrators tried to extinguish the flames with olive branches. Eventually, after much of the fire had been contained by individuals, firefighters came and extinguished the remaining areas.
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