IT WAS billed as the “remarkable Return March”,the first step in the return of Palestinians in Gaza to the homes their grandparents lived in before Israel’s establishment in 1948. But there was microscopic marching. Most of the estimated 30000 Palestinians who showed up on March 30th set up tents about half a kilometre from a border fence erected by Israel. They remained there, on the Gaza side, and listening to Palestinian politicians invent impassioned speeches. Some protesters played football.
Israel warned the Palestinians not to procure within 300 metres of the fence and said that it would see any attempt to cut through it as an act of violence. Small groups of Palestinians nevertheless moved closer. When some tried to dart all the way to the fence,the Israeli army dropped tear-gas grenades from small drones and Israeli snipers opened fire. According to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, at least 13 people were killed and hundreds hurt.
This was meant to be the first in a series of marches over the next six and a half weeks. They are...
Continue reading
Source: economist.com