In what appears to be an escalation in the Israeli army’s attempts to intimidate unarmed protesters from joining protests in Nabi Saleh, soldiers apprehended a Palestinian-American college student this morning at the entrance to Nabi Saleh as the weekly demonstration against the occupation was starting.

The demonstrator, who wishes to remain anonymous, told +972 that he was on his way into the village in a private taxi from Ramallah. At the entrance to the village, Israeli soldiers prevented him from entering and searched him and his driver mutiple times. After the searches were complete, soldiers took his phone, passport and wallet while leaving him and his driver to sit in the sun.

After one hour, soldiers informed him that he must return to Ramallah and demanded that he “tell people not to come to Nabi Saleh because it is closed.” One military jeep then followed his taxi as it drove back to Ramallah.