Jul 07, 2021, 19:14 pm
(This post was last modified: Jul 07, 2021, 19:23 pm by Resurgence. Edited 1 time in total.)
The Al-Tafawk Children’s Centre in Jenin refugee camp, West Bank, is run by local volunteers. It is the only one of its kind in the camp, which hosts around 14,000 Palestinian refugees made homeless by the establishment of Israel in 1948. It provides around 120 children aged three to 16 with play, education and food, as well as a warm welcome.
It is the only source of amusement they have to turn to in the bleak surroundings of the camp, which in 2002 during the Second Intifada lost dozens of residents in an Israeli army massacre and more than 400 homes in a brutal bulldozing campaign in yet another act of Israeli collective punishment of Palestinian civilians. The camp has been subjected to regular military incursions ever since.
Created in 2010, Al-Tafawk Children’s Centre largely managed to escape the attention of the Israeli military – that is, until recently. The first signs that the Israeli army had its eye on the center came in January, when its manager was detained for 24 hours and severely traumatized.
Then in the wake of the protests in occupied Jerusalem over the Israeli attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the murderous bombardment of Gaza, the Israeli forces stepped up their reign of terror across historic Palestine. It extended to the occupied West Bank as well, where more than 25 Palestinians were killed by the end of May. In Jenin, like in other Palestinian cities, demonstrations were held against the Israeli violence.
On the night of May 15, the Israeli military raided Jenin Al-Tafawk Children’s Centre and completely wrecked it. Their pretext was that they were looking for arms but of course, they found none.
Apart from damaging furniture and equipment, the soldiers deliberately destroyed the center’s infrastructure, making the building unsafe and unusable. They destroyed the water pipes and taps, cutting off its water supply, wrecked the electricity safety box, cutting off electricity, damaged the stairs and the doors, forcing off the handles. In all, the damage amounts to thousands of dollars.
They did not even spare children’s books. According to another witness, a soldier who was doing this said out aloud that Palestinian children did not need to read books since they would grow up to be murderers and be killed.
It is clear that to the Israeli occupation regime, Al-Tafawk Children’s Centre – or any Palestinian civil society organisation for that matter – represents a threat. This is because the center and similar initiatives like it, attempt to provide Palestinians with just a glimpse of normality in their lives.
But a displaced and traumatized population that is marked for complete ethnic cleansing cannot be allowed to put down roots and experience normality. It must be kept on edge at all times, regularly dispossessed and oppressed, so that it ceases to lay claim to its own land.
This is why Israel regularly demolishes Palestinian homes, by bulldozers or bombs; destroys Palestinian infrastructure, whether water treatment plants in Gaza or solar panels in the occupied West Bank; and harasses and attacks Palestinian Muslim and Christian worshippers in Jerusalem.
The destruction of Al-Tafawk Children’s Centre – as well as of many other civilian buildings – gives the lie to Israel’s assertion that it is engaged in self-defense. It is a lie that fewer and fewer people in the West are prepared to buy when the evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent is so clear.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why...ar-AALNmvx
It is the only source of amusement they have to turn to in the bleak surroundings of the camp, which in 2002 during the Second Intifada lost dozens of residents in an Israeli army massacre and more than 400 homes in a brutal bulldozing campaign in yet another act of Israeli collective punishment of Palestinian civilians. The camp has been subjected to regular military incursions ever since.
Created in 2010, Al-Tafawk Children’s Centre largely managed to escape the attention of the Israeli military – that is, until recently. The first signs that the Israeli army had its eye on the center came in January, when its manager was detained for 24 hours and severely traumatized.
Then in the wake of the protests in occupied Jerusalem over the Israeli attacks on worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque and the murderous bombardment of Gaza, the Israeli forces stepped up their reign of terror across historic Palestine. It extended to the occupied West Bank as well, where more than 25 Palestinians were killed by the end of May. In Jenin, like in other Palestinian cities, demonstrations were held against the Israeli violence.
On the night of May 15, the Israeli military raided Jenin Al-Tafawk Children’s Centre and completely wrecked it. Their pretext was that they were looking for arms but of course, they found none.
Quote:One witness said:
“Last night they raided the center. First, they started to shoot from outside the center. Then they blew up the front door and entered the center. They threw everything around. Damaging everything of value.”
Apart from damaging furniture and equipment, the soldiers deliberately destroyed the center’s infrastructure, making the building unsafe and unusable. They destroyed the water pipes and taps, cutting off its water supply, wrecked the electricity safety box, cutting off electricity, damaged the stairs and the doors, forcing off the handles. In all, the damage amounts to thousands of dollars.
They did not even spare children’s books. According to another witness, a soldier who was doing this said out aloud that Palestinian children did not need to read books since they would grow up to be murderers and be killed.
It is clear that to the Israeli occupation regime, Al-Tafawk Children’s Centre – or any Palestinian civil society organisation for that matter – represents a threat. This is because the center and similar initiatives like it, attempt to provide Palestinians with just a glimpse of normality in their lives.
But a displaced and traumatized population that is marked for complete ethnic cleansing cannot be allowed to put down roots and experience normality. It must be kept on edge at all times, regularly dispossessed and oppressed, so that it ceases to lay claim to its own land.
This is why Israel regularly demolishes Palestinian homes, by bulldozers or bombs; destroys Palestinian infrastructure, whether water treatment plants in Gaza or solar panels in the occupied West Bank; and harasses and attacks Palestinian Muslim and Christian worshippers in Jerusalem.
The destruction of Al-Tafawk Children’s Centre – as well as of many other civilian buildings – gives the lie to Israel’s assertion that it is engaged in self-defense. It is a lie that fewer and fewer people in the West are prepared to buy when the evidence of Israel’s genocidal intent is so clear.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why...ar-AALNmvx