On the morning of Friday, Feb. 15, more than 200 Palestinian youths came from throughout the West Bank to gather in the center of Ramallah. They were not preparing for a national march or a demonstration at an Israeli checkpoint, as has been the practice during every similar gathering in the Palestinian territories.
They all stood with backpacks and tennis shoes, listened to the briefing about the journey, distance and number of Israeli checkpoints along the way, boarded the bus that was waiting for them, and headed to that day’s destination: al-Lubban al-Sharqiya village, south of Nablus.