AN Otterburn family joined more than 200 Palestinian and Israeli demonstrators to protest against an illegal separation wall.

Naomi Wallace, husband Bruce McLeod and their three daughters Nadira, 18, Caitlin, 17, and 15-year-old Tegan braved the threat of the Israeli Army's shock grenades, tear gas and rubber bullets to take part in the march in the West Bank village of Bilin.

They also witnessed a fight between local youths and soldiers.

Every Friday for the past ten months residents, activists and Israelis face up to armed soldiers guarding the wall, which is still under construction.

The teenagers were taken to the less-than-conventional holiday destination as their mother, who is a theatre and film playwright, wanted her daughters to see the place which had inspired her play, Twenty-one Positions.

Mrs Wallace, of Bodkyn House, has been out to the turbulent Middle East six times in the past three years to carry out research for the drama, which she is penning with two other writers.

She has experienced the ill-effects of tear gas and has found herself looking down the barrel of a tank after she went on the streets during a curfew.

She told the Herald she knew it was a dangerous place to take her children, but she wanted them to be aware of what was happening.

"I was nervous. I know the areas that are safe but unpredictable things happen. I thought it was worth the risk and I thought it would allow my children to view for themselves a heavily conflicted area of the world and meet the people there," she said.

Before they set off on the demonstration they were given onions, which help to lessen the effects of tear gas. When the crowd reached the soldiers a battle broke out after demonstrating youths started pulling at the barbed wire in front of the wall and were beaten back with batons.

Mrs Wallace made sure her family kept a reasonable distance and they were not directly affected by the gas.

But she said the uncertainty of the situation was scary as soldiers did use live rounds at demonstrations, although not usually when Israelis were involved.

Mrs Wallace said: "You can see them (soldiers) talking on phones and you know whenever they talk on the phones they are getting advice from higher up."

Her three daughters told the Herald they had not been pleased when their mother broke the news to them about their eight-day trip and were worried whether they would make it home alive.

It did not help that their first experience in the country was extremely nail-biting.

Nadira, who is a student at Oxford University, explained: "We arrived at the first checkpoint at 4am.

"We had four young men with huge machine guns and flash lights in our faces who didn't speak English before. It was very surreal and quite frightening."

Skipton Girls' High School sixth former Caitlin said she had been scared at the demonstration at Bilin.

She said: "It was scary when they (soldiers) started hitting people and you think about what they are capable of."

Tegan, who is also a pupil at the school, said the trip had been exhilarating and had changed her perception of the troubles in the Middle East.

All three girls, who organised a walkout at school over the Iraq war, want to return to Israel.

Nadira said: "I have come back quite changed. Just coming back and not having to worry about security or checkpoints or freedom of movement, the things that Palestinians and Israelis have to go through every day."