Israeli Cops Beat Palestinian Students

http://Mediafilter.org/guest/Pages/October.07.1996.16.52.30

This Event Happened in Ramallah, West BAnk
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The first day On Wednesday, September 25 ... things blew up. BY MARWAN TARAZI, DIRECTOR, BIRZEIT UNIVERSITY COMPUTER CENTER There is only so much that one people can take. On Wednesday September 25, 1996, things blew up. I was in my office at Birzeit University that morning when the loud speakers began to wail. Students were trying to voice their anger and frustration about the opening of the now-infamous tunnel underneath the third holiest Islamic site. A strike was declared at the university in protest and busses were called in to shuttle students to Al Aqsa mosque where they could pray.

The news of the opening of the tunnel below and beside Al Aqsa mosque came in early Tuesday morning. The tunnel had been opened in the middle of the night "to avoid the heat of the day," an Israeli spokesman claimed. The opening of this tunnel is one more aggravation, one more humiliation, ... one violation too many for the Palestinian people.

This is also Al Aqsa, the third holiest site in Islam. The "pressure cooker" that everyone has been talking about for so long began to explode. The "Peace" Accords that were supposed to bring peace to the area have been nothing more than a disappointing and humiliating experience for Palestinians.

Just outside Ramallah, on the way to Jerusalem, the students busses were stopped by the Israeli army, and the students were prevented from passing through the Israeli checkpoint separating Areas A (areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority) and Area C (areas controlled by the Israeli authorities). Clashes broke out--students began throwing rocks, and the Israeli army started using rubber bullets--scores of students were injured by these bullets.

As the ambulances began to pour into the heart of Ramallah carrying the injured students, residents from the surrounding areas rushed in to join the protesting students. ...Then a molotov cocktail was thrown at the Israeli army. According to Israeli army regulations "once a molotov cocktail is used, the army is allowed to use live ammunition to protect itself".

The army opened fire with live ammunition, and scores more Palestinian protesters were injured. Then a Palestinian policeman manning a post near the Area A/Area C divider was hit with a live bullet. This is when the Palestinian police and army began to fire back. "I could not sit back and watch my friends and brothers getting razed by the Israelis and do nothing about it," one Palestinian soldier later told me.

Once the news of the fighting in Ramallah spread, fighting between Palestinians and the Israeli army broke out all over the West Bank and Gaza. People found an outlet to express their frustration.... People were fighting alongside the Palestinian army with stones and rocks, and they were being razed like sheep. It was madness, it was fury, it was frustration.... and it was only the beginning.

... I was still in the office Wednesday afternoon, when the news of the injured started to come in ... a student on the microphone yelled, his voice breaking in mid-sentence "a student has been killed, dozens are injured, we need blood donors...."

I just froze in my chair. Violence again ... will there be an end to this? I just couldnt help think of the parents of the student. A handsome young man, I was told, who has transferred from engineering into commerce last year and is excelling in his class.

I couldnt help thinking of the injured students who will start coming to the university in crutches or wheelchairs, and remain using crutches and wheelchairs for the rest of their lives. When you live in Palestine, the injured and the dead are not mere figures on television. They are people you love and you live with and their suffering is part of your miserable reality.

.... I left work and headed down to the Ramallah hospital. Half the town was there. It was completely chaotic. Ambulances were zooming in and out with the injured at the rate of one every few minutes. Some of the wounded were left on stretchers on the ground at the entrance of the emergency ward.

People were lining up and competing to donate blood, parents were roaming around looking for the sons and daughters, and the rest of us just stood there in solidarity, not knowing what to do and how to help. Scenes of the massacre prevented most of us "sensible" people from joining the protesters -- they also left us more frustrated and angry. The sort of feelings that led to this happening in the first place....

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