Christmas In Palestine 1/46a.jpg

The younger kids in this photo were just lovely and sweet but the older girl to the left was lovely and sweet but also in the process of awareness that made her weary of me and my desire to take pictures. I do not blame her at all. She is wise not to trust me or any others and yet she let herself be photographed anyway. I always felt a debt just for being trusted at all; such is the result of Palestine being so violated for the last 50 years plus.

Taken from the United Nations website;

'Israel, the occupying Power, continues to commit grave breaches and serious violations of international law, including international humanitarian law, against the Palestinian civilian population in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. In the early morning hours of today (Palestine time), Israeli occupying forces, backed by more than 40 tanks and two helicopter gunships, carried out yet another raid in the densely populated Rafah refugee camp, killing more than eight Palestinian civilians and injuring more than 40 other civilians, many severely and permanently. One of the Palestinians killed was a nurse who was hit by Israeli fire while helping the wounded. In addition to the killings, Israeli occupying forces destroyed more than 10 homes by explosive charges and armoured bulldozers, leaving yet more Palestinian families dispossessed and homeless in the already desperate and impoverished refugee camp.

'Further, yesterday, Monday, 22 December 2003, a five-year-old boy, Mohammed Naim Al-Araj, was killed by Israeli occupying forces in the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. The young boy was standing at the gate of his house when he was shot with a bullet in the chest. Moreover, in yet another tragic incident, a 15-year-old girl, Noor Emran, died of the wounds she sustained when Israeli occupying forces shot her in the head with a rubber bullet during a raid in the Balata refugee camp on 16 December 2003.'

(Signed) Dr. Nasser Al-Kidwa
Ambassador, Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations