The narrow streets of Deheishe camp were filled on Wednesday, October 14 by thousands of Palestinians who attended the funeral of Mutaz Ibrahim Zawahreh, 27, who was shot dead by Israeli forces in clashes the day before during protests in front of the Separation Wall.

The confrontations have been a daily occurrence at this location in Bethlehem, where the Wall enters deeply inside Bethlehem municipal boundaries, to encircle Rachel’s tomb. Palestinian youth throw stones at the 8 meter high Separation Wall.

The tension and anger was very palpable during the funeral. Mariah a 25-year-old Palestinian from Deheishe explains: ‘My feelings are a mix of anger and sadness, Mutaz was amazing and loved by everyone in the camp. Young people are being killed. This is because of the occupation. These are not two equals parties here.When you keep destroyed our lives, you expect us to be quiet all the time? This killing just brought more anger. This is not a new Intifada, we are in a continuous intifada. We deserve freedom.’

Muntaz was the 30th Palestinian killed since the soaring of tensions and violence in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Israel since October 1st. More than 1,300 Palestinians have been injured in the same period, many by live ammunition.

The funeral was followed by hours of clashes near the Separation Wall, on the location where Mutaz was killed, during which there were several injuries, The Israeli army used scores of tear gas canisters, rubber-coated steel bullets and live ammunition.