Nabi Saleh is a small Palestinian village located about 20 km northwest of Ramallah, with population of just over 530. The village is located on hilltop, amidst agricultural lands and olive groves. ‘Ayn Al-Qaws, a natural spring owned by Bashir Tamimi, a resident, was taken over by settlers of nearby Halamish in 2009. The settlement itself is built on lands confiscated from village’s residents.

Since 2010, the Ramallah-district village of Nabi Saleh has been staging weekly demonstrations, in which locals alongside Israeli and international solidarity activists have been taking part. The village is protesting the ongoing expropriation of agricultural lands for the purpose of expanding the nearby settlement of Halamish. This wave of weekly protests was launched after the settlers took over a water spring that belongs to the village, renamed it and have been using it as a recreational site. These protests have been met with excessive violence, as the Israeli army has been using tear gas, rubber-coated steel bullets, the “skunk,” stun grenades and even live ammunition in its attempts to disperse the demonstrators and squash dissent. Two of the village’s residents, Mustafa and Rushdi Tamimi, were killed within a year of each other. Mustafa was killed from a tear gas canister fired directly at his head while Rushdi was shot multiple times with live ammunition and rubber bullets. The Israeli army has regularly imposed a closed military zone order for the route demonstrators have taken, in an attempt to deter outside activists from participating and isolate residents from global outpour of support. Many international and Israeli activists have been detained over the years.