An Israeli soldier detains a Palestinian boy during a protest against Jewish settlements in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah August 28, 2015

The desperate moments when a young girl and two women overpower an Israeli soldier who had grappled a 12-yr-old Palestinian boy with a broken arm to the ground echo the struggle of Palestinian existence.

The incident happened in the village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, during protests against Palestinian land confiscation to expand the nearby Jewish Hallamish settlement. The army said that one other Palestinian was detained in Friday’s clashes, along with one foreign activist.

According to the army, the youth was throwing stones at the troops, who did not realize he was a minor.

Activists who were at Friday’s protest said that the soldier used violence against the 12-year-old boy, whose arm was in a cast at the time of the attempted arrest. Jonathan Pollak, one of the activists present, said that the boy did not throw stones and that the IDF force, which was in an abandoned building before approaching to detain the boy, could see he was a minor. Pollak told Haaretz that the soldier pointed his gun at the boy when he was detaining him.

Yesterday the European Union’s outgoing envoy to the Palestinian territories said the 28-nation bloc was moving forward with measures against Jewish West Bank settlements.

The envoy, John Gatt-Rutter, did not provide a timeframe. But his remarks to reporters underline European discontent with Israel’s continued expansion of settlements in territory that Palestinians want for a future state.

I noted that the soldier also threw a grenade into the crowd of press in apparent frustration as he was ushered away by his commanding officer.