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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it    
Occupation magazine - Activism

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Their neighbor’s goat gave birth while we waited for news from the hospital.
Amitai Sandy
email - May 21st, 2010:

Here’s a short report from the demo in the village of Maasra, east of Efrata settelment.

The demos in this village are usually much quieter, as the people of this village are much calmer. They don’t throw stones AT ALL.

And yet, today, when we marched to the village’s entrance, and met with the soldiers, they had their plan ready in advance.

They told us to get off the main road – we did exactly what they said. No violence, no stone throwing, no nonsense. The demonstrators decided to sit down on the road leading into the village, not blocking the main road AT ALL.

So we hear the commander tell his soldiers:
“They’re gonna start throwing stones now, so you better start shooting gas.

They did.
Direct shooting, no arcs.

All of us ran into the village, but that wasn’t enough for the soldiers.

After arresting two Palestinians, they chased us into the village and continued shooting tear gas canisters, though none of us threatened them in any way, no stone throwing, no nothing. We were just running away from the tear gas canisters.

The tear gas is no fun, but the effect wears off after a few minutes.
But when shot directly, those canisters are as lethal as live ammo.
Hassan, one of the demo’s organizers, was shot in the head with a tear gas canister.
He’s in hospital now.

If I was a believer, I’d pray for his health. As an atheist, all I have left is hope.

I met his and his brother’s kids today. They are so cute and smart. I climbed a mullberry (or some tree berry) tree with them today, and we ate the berries together. Their neighbor’s goat gave birth while we waited for news from the hospital.


bz
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