By Palestine Chronicle Staff
Throughout the last ten weeks of ‘Great March of Return’ demonstrations, Palestinian youth have been using the slingshot, a symbol of popular resistance in Palestine for many years.
And all the world should see what happened yesterday..one of the killed Palestinian children, was having a small slingshot while being away from Gaza boundary area more than 1 km, he was shot directly in the head by the Israeli zionist army.
"Israeli" are international criminals pic.twitter.com/6ZcMqKkSbe— Rami رامي حيدر أحمد (@HaidarBig) May 15, 2018
The slingshot, which can vary in size and range is indicative of the creativity and skill of its makers.
The utilization of the slingshot rose to prominence as a means of popular resistance against the Israeli occupation particularly during the First Intifada, ‘the Stone Uprising’ of 1987-1993. Millions of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip stood bare-chested before Israeli soldiers to challenge the military occupation and demand their rights.
RT DaysofPalestine "A Palestinian woman uses a slingshot to throw stones at Israeli soldiers east of #Gaza ..#GreatReturnMarch pic.twitter.com/DYF4OQqmnX"
— Richard Hardigan (@RichardHardigan) May 26, 2018
The use of slingshot decreased during Al-Aqsa Uprising of 2000 or the Second Intifada, when clashes with the Israeli forces escalated into armed confrontations. Since then, it almost completely disappeared from the Gaza Strip after Israel’s unilateral disengagement from the coastal enclave in 2005. Gaza was then placed under a strict Israeli siege.
As a child I went to the amazing King David junior school in #Birmingham where I learned about the story of ‘Israeli’ boy David who used his slingshot to fight Palestinian Goliath. But as time passed, I came to realise that David today is unmistakably #Palestinian. #Nakba2018 pic.twitter.com/dmDplbWcqp
— Moazzam Begg (@Moazzam_Begg) May 15, 2018
For the 10th week in a row, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip continued to take part in the Great March of Return.
??#Palestine || A Palestinian elderly uses a slingshot to confront IOF soldiers during clashes at the northern entrance to al-Bireh city, in central West Bank, yesterday . . pic.twitter.com/kwiMWZLv0G
— Aya Isleem ?? #Gaza (@AyaIsleemEn) March 17, 2018
Protesters demand an end to the decade-long siege and respect for international law, especially UN Resolution 194, which calls for the ‘Right of Return’ for Palestinian refugees expelled from their homes in 1948.
Israeli forces killed over 120 Palestinians and wounded over 13,000 others. Since then, the slingshot has made a comeback among Gaza’s young resisters.
Although it is not effective as an actual weapon – for no Israeli soldier has been wounded thus far – the slingshot serves a symbolic meaning, that generation after generation of young Palestinians continue to actively carry on with the same noble fight for freedom.
Resistance started when occupation started.. Palestinian boy with a slingshot
(v Children of Gaza Memorial Page FB) pic.twitter.com/7GAthMaz5Q
— Abbs Winston (@AbbsWinston) September 7, 2015
(PC, Social Media)
