Israeli Soldiers Fire Teargas into School in Beit Ommar - Nov 11 2010

See translated script below the video

Students Protest, Soldiers Tear Gas Elementary School On Anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s Death

Source: Palestine Solidarity Project

Soldiers tear gassed a girls elementary school in Beit Ommar this morning following a student demonstration commemorating the anniversary of Yasser Arafat’s death. Three hundred students ages 7 to 15 marched from the Beit Ommar il-Assasiyya boys school to the checkpoint at the entrance of the village waving Palestinian flags and chanting against the occupation. Several students gave speeches in memory of Yasser Arafat.

Soldiers responded by shooting teargas and sound bombs into Zaharet il-madayim, a Palestinian girls elementary school, and into the preschool next door. 30 girls ages 3 to 13 suffered tear gas inhalation. This morning marked the third time in the past two years that soldiers have shot tear gas into the school.

Yasser Arafat, former chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and president of the Palestinian Authority, died on November 11 2004 from mysterious causes. Many senior Palestinian officials have expressed suspicions that that he was poisoned by Israeli secret policy, though such allegations have never been confirmed.

Beit Ommar Nov 11 2010 Soldiers Fire Teargas into School:

"PalestineSolidarity | November 11, 2010

Soldiers tear gassed a girls elementary school in Beit Ommar this morning following a student demonstration commemorating the anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death.



Below is a quick transcript of the interviews

- Female Teacher:
All of a sudden we realized the soldiers have arrived, Some of them were on foot (unintelligible). They entered the Kindergarten and threw two gas canisters.
We, of course, tried all we could to keep the children away from the gas and get them inside the classrooms, but no matter how hard we tried the gas spread inside the kindergarten and reached the children.
There were cases of light suffocation, but we tried to treat them. We were affected too.
One of the teachers who tried to avoid this situation was able to throw the gas canisters to the street outside.

Preschool child:
There was gas and the children started to cry. they were scared
Adult female voice: What else did the soldiers do?
Child: They threw gas canisters.
Adult female voice: were you scared?
Child: yes
Adult female voice: How about the children, were they scared? did they cry?
Child: yes

Interviewed man states his name
Reporter: Can you tell us what happened at the school today?
man: all of a sudden, gas canisters were thrown in front of the school today. There was 30-40 girl student who were unconscious and we transferred some of them to the clinic in Beit Ommar [Ummar].
We don't know what went on, we suddenly realized there was gas in the school. We closed the doors and windows but that did not help. The girls from mostly first and second grade were all affected and were unconscious. We moved some of them to [unintelligible] and we took them to the second floor. However, we found that the rooms were filled with gas. We transferred them all to the clinic in Beit Ommar. At least there was 30 female students and I treated some of them myself, that is, personally.


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