'Jerusalem is more than just a city to us,' say protesters in Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, Occupied West Bank - MEE correspondent Yumna Patel reports that hundreds of Palestinians have marched towards the Israeli separation wall.

Sajida Allan, a 24-year-old Palestinian refugee living in Bethlehem's Aida refugee camp, spoke to Middle East Eye as Israeli forces suppressed demonstrations.

"We were marching peacefully - men, women, children, young people. No one was even throwing stones. But just two minutes after we arrived outside the Israeli military base, the soldiers threw sound bombs and tear gas, forcing people to run away."

"We tried to avoid the gas because it was burning our eyes and hurting our chests," she said. "They fired at us, but we were just trying to express ourselves and our frustrations with the 70 years of exile we have been living and the opening of the American embassy in Jerusalem."