Tank girl

 

This young girl was with her father and several other demonstrators at the entrance to the West Bank town of Azzun on 21 February. The people were protesting the constant erection of barricades and road blocks on many roads in the West Bank. Although these barriers are considered illegal by both international and Israeli law, they are commonplace. The road block just in front of the girl looks something like this (photo taken from UNRWA).

Such blockades really bother me as it unnecessarily restricts the movement of Palestinians in their own land. There is no strategic purpose to do such things other then simply screwing the people around.

Demolished childhood

This was a demonstration I attended along with members of EAPPI and ISM on 21 Febraury 2008. Local as well as international media were present, along with a further collection of representatives from other organisations active in the West Bank. The short story is that this playground was built by donors and international donor money from such sources as USAID but due to technical and legal problems, the Israeli government had deemed the area an illegal development for reasons such as lack of a building permit and that it is built on Israeli land; in other words, Area C. They have already demolished half of the playground that lies between the towns Azzun and Jayyous.

Click here to learn more about the division of land in the West Bank in the name of Area A, B or C as a result of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

The even shorter story is that without a stop order from the Israeli supreme court, bulldozers will finish the job on 15 March 2008. This of course is not a desirable prospect for the local communities and so the protest was organised. Why exactly the Israelis would care about a children’s playground I have no idea; especially when it is in dispute whether the playground does indeed lie in the Area B or Area C, depending on who’s map you look at.