Israeli forces fire at Bethlehem home, destroy room

[Jefferson23]

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Israeli soldiers on Wednesday shot a tear gas grenade into a home in Bethlehem's Aida refugee camp during clashes with youths, causing a fire to break out and destroy the room.

Locals told Ma'an that the canister was fired out of a high-velocity tear-gas canister gun and hit part of the building located on the roof.

After the canister hit the room, it caught fire and destroyed all of the property inside, before locals were able to rush upstairs and put the fire out while clashes continued in the area.

Locals said that Israeli forces have fired tear gas into the camp every day for the last year, with local youths throwing rocks at the soldiers in response.

http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=739846

[oberliner]

1. Local youths are throwing rocks in response to Israeli forces firing tear gas?

Definitely not the other way around, right?

I trust the crackerjack journalists from Ma'an will bring us the full story.

[Jefferson23]

3. What do you expect, they're Palestinians.

Your message rings loud and clear, each and every time, oberliner.

Would you like to talk about the weather in Gaza now, too?

[Mosby]

2. why are there refugee camps in Palestine?

Are they being denied citizenship? Why can't these folks settle anywhere in Palestine? They are Palestinians right?

Seems really cruel, and very much like South African Apartheid.

[azurnoir]

4. ya I'm sure they'd be welcome somewhere near Salfit, Israel will surely expedite building permits

especially for Palestinian refugees, just like they always do

[azurnoir]

5. More about Aida located next to Gilo settlement

This surrealistic scene was played out during another day of serious unrest in the refugee camp. Between last Thursday night and Friday morning, youths had smashed a hole in the separation barrier which chokes this small camp and segregates it from the Gilo neighborhood and the rest of Jerusalem. The breach in the wall was dubbed the “Gate of Freedom” in the camp.

Since then, the guardians of Israel have neither slumbered nor slept: A large force of soldiers and policemen entered the camp, while repairs were being made in the breach in the wall by Israeli workers with the use of heavy machinery.

This site, adjacent to Rachel’s Tomb and behind the luxury Intercontinental Hotel, is a veteran battlefield. The fortified watchtowers are black from the smoke of Molotov cocktails, the walls are covered with bellicose graffiti and the streets are littered with spent ammunition. A year ago, I wrote about a boy, Salah Amarin, who was shot here from a tower.

On Saturday morning, troops fired large amounts of gas through the hole, creating a pall of smoke over the camp.

The army evacuated the three-story house of the extended Abu Aqar family on Sunday. Before that, all 45 of the occupants, including children, were shut into their apartments. The order to leave the building, which was declared a closed military zone, came at midday.

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/twilight-zone/.premium-1.582447

[Jefferson23]

6. Thanks for adding that important info...maybe some will read it. n/t