Even political and de facto violent behaviour can develop ritual character by the force of endless repetition: Every Friday after prayer for the past nine years, residents of the Palestine town Bil’in have been going to the wall that surrounds the Jewish settlement Modi’in Illit to protest the annexation of the land. They arm themselves with catapults, gas masks and the Palestine flag. Awaiting them there is a well-organised infrastructure of soldiers, themselves armed with tear gas and water cannons filled with sewagereeking liquid. The audience of this weekly one-hour performance is also split in two factions: Here are the international activists for peace, and from a safe distance on the hill, the youth of the settlement, who cheer with scorn at every tear gas attack. The theatre is anything but harmless: In April 2009, a resident of Bil’in died after being struck by a tear gas cartridge.