84. Photo Essay - Israeli Settlers attack Palestinian School Girls in Hebron
The Israeli holiday celebrations in May of the creation of the state as well as the remembrance days for the war dead and the millions of victims of the Holocaust led to increased tensions in the Palestinian city of Hebron. There a group of approximately 500 fundamentalist settlers hold the town's Palestinian population under a state of siege. The first three photos in this collection deal with an attack by Israeli settlers on Palestinian school girls, which took place in late April. The final six deal with an attack that happened May 11th, the Israeli Memorial Day. The girls at the Cordoba school in the Tel Rumeida section had been dismissed and were walking down the stairs leading to the street below. At that point, six teenaged girls from the settlements in the area came running towards them. The settlers started throwing stones at the girls who had reached the bottom of the stairs and one physically attacked the girls. The Israeli soldier present grabbed the girl and pulled her down and then tried to push the Palestinian school girls up the stairs and away from the settlers. While this was going on, stones were thrown by the settlers from the street. The situation was chaotic and the girls were screaming in panic. They finally managed to pass the soldiers who were busy fighting of the settlers and ran away from the stairs where they had been easy targets.
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Girls scamper down steps after school to avoided being pelted by stones during the April 24th attack.
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Mrs. Feriel, the headmistress of the Cordoba school (center), tending to one of her pupils who had her nose bloodied in the attack. An Israeli soldier is also present.
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Palestinian school girls in Hebron being hit by stones thrown by teenaged Israeli settlers.
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A girl at the bottom center of the photo has just thrown a stone at the group of Palestinian school girls in this May attack.
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Another image of an Israeli teenaged settler throwing stones at school girls in Hebron.
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Israeli teenage settlers await Palestinian school girls at the bottom of the steps in order to hurl stones at them.
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One Israeli soldier is attempting to move the settlers away from the Palestinian school girls. Meanwhile another settler continues throwing her stones.
