Friday, March 05, 2010

Remnants of the Intifada

The Second Intifida, which began in 2000, has long fizzled out but the memorials remain. Today is the seven-year anniversary of a suicide bombing which took place near my house and blew up a bus. Seventeen people were killed on bus number 37, which goes to and from the University of Haifa through the Carmel and Hadar, all the way down to the old central bus station at Bat Galim. One of my former students was lucky - he survived this bombing, albeit with hearing and vision damage and a face full of shrapnel.
An unofficial memorial has also grown on the location. It is made up of personal messages dedicated to the various victims of the bombing and messages to humanity in general that people have left all over the wall by the site.

On the other side of the Green Line, there are memorials as well. My friend took some pictures on her visit last year to Nablus and was most struck by the line, "Never Forgive, Never Forget" on the memorial below.
The memorial is obviously intended for the international media as well, having been written in (misspelled) English. The memorial below for "shaheeds" is not meant for the international community.

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