Posted by Odog
13/9/06

Another Day in Bethlehem

I was walking home with a friend from work yesterday. Normal day like any other. However, when we reached the Nativity Church, the suspected birth place of Christ, it was clear that the Israeli army had invaded and a clash was ensuing. The reality of occupation. Scores of youths were huddled around the corner from the parked Israeli jeeps, about ten of them. As always, the shabab were throwing whatever they could as an act of defiance, mostly stones . Israeli soldiers fired back with everything they had, rubber bullets, sound bombs, tear gas and live ammunition. We were taking shelter behind the Church of the Nativity, rubber bullets flew in from different directions as they bounced off the adjacent buildings. Suddenly a tear gas canister flew over the roof of the church and we were choked by the noxious fumes. Later that afternoon I learnt that someone had been killed, a young boy about twelve years old. He had been shot with live ammunition. He had arrived dead at the hospital, the bullet penetrating his liver and heart. Another man was in a critical condition suffering wounds in his head and shoulders. Another women, who was on her way home caught a stray bullet and was shot in the abdomen. This is no way to live.