Residents of Nabi Saleh and solidarity activists staged the weekly march towards the al-Qaws spring, which was expropriated by the settlers from nearby Halamish in 2009. This weekly demonstrations began after the settlers took over the spring and adjoining lands owned by Nabi Saleh and Deir Nizam, renamed the site “Maayan Meir” and with the assistance of the IDF, blocked Palestinians from using the spring. In 2013, the Israeli supreme court ordered the settlers to cease any further works in the site and the immediate dismantling of existing structures. Nevertheless, the IDF still prohibits the Palestinian owners from reaching their lands. On the first Friday of October 2015, settlers staged a demonstration, marching from Halamish to the spring as a show of force, under military protection, while Palestinians were forced to watch from the opposite hill.

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