Some 150 trees were already mauled before peace activists in the vicinity managed to arrive and sit down in front of the bulldozers, preventing the destruction of the entire grove of 1,500. A subsequent Supreme Court appeal was denied, although the Court limited the size of the area that the army could legally clear, and the peace activists camped out and waited for the bulldozers to return. Neta and Yasmine had wrapped chains around their bodies and chained themselves to olive trees in the path of the bulldozer. The soldiers demanded that they leave, but the women refused. The soldiers went off to find tools to break the chains.
Villagers watching the confrontation knelt down in prayer.
Two other young Israeli peace activists who had just arrived on the scene, Shelly Nativ and Eyal Oron, were arrested with them. After fairly brief interrogations, Shelly and Eyal were released, but they remained on site to support Neta and Yasmine. If you live near Kishon, you would be performing a patriotic deed by going to Kishon right now and welcoming Neta and Yasmine with a voice of solidarity. They will undoubtedly spend the Passover seder not at home. After all that, a loss of only one tree was reported, as the army bulldozer backed into it while trying to turn around.