Bethlehem Riots 2

Title:
Bethlehem Riots 2

Description:
This is a video following up my sprint to Hebron Road. Things seemed to calm down for a few minutes. The crowd of over five hundred protestors was spread out along Hebron Road in Bethlehem. By my estimates, the vast majority of protestors were between the ages of 10-20. The situation escalated when the Israeli humvees came back towards the crowd. Immediately people scattered. I ran into an alley of a lower level of a refugee camp. For a second, you can see an Israeli humvee that parked itself right in front of the camp. Many kids threw rocks while I recorded the events. That's when I heard shots. There are several important things to remember from this video. 1) The Israelis were not shooting live ammunition. In reality, the Israeli's fired blanks and tear gas at the protestors. I was hit hard with some tear gas after this video. At the time, I thought they could have been firing live bullets. However later on I saw no shell casings, and I saw no gunshot victims. Later in the day, Israeli and Palestinian news outlets reported no causalities. 2) Do not watch this video and treat it like a picture of everyday life in the West Bank. I travel to Bethlehem at least twice a week. This is not the norm. Tensions were building due to the Palestinian killed in a prison riot, the upcoming peace talks in November, the presence of many Jews at Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, and raids conducted in Bethlehem the night before where 19 people were arrested. Please do not watch this video and think that the West Bank is a constant war zone. That is simply not the case. 3) I apologize for the profanity in the video. "I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done." (The Buddha)

Author:
Samaritan2007

Tags:
Bethlehem, riots, peace, talks, Rice, Abbas, Bush, Olmert, war, terrorism, fighting, Palestinian, Israeli, soliders, Jew, Muslim, Hebron,