18 May 2011

Israel's skunk truck


Demonstrating against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is a hazardous occupation at the best of times. The Israelis enforce their occupation very forcefully, some would day heavy handedly, and Palestinians are regularly killed by IDF troops – including in the course of the IDF’s use of supposedly non-lethal crowd control options like tear gas. Several Palestinians have been killed by being struck by a tear gas canister fired at close range – always a regrettable accident of course.

According to a 3 May 2011 article in The Seattle Times (see here), the emerging weapon of choice for crowd control is the so-called Skunk truck, a vehicle fitted to spray a nauseatingly offensive liquid all over the protesters, and, Palestinians allege, into homes, making them uninhabitable.

All part of the Israeli quest for peace, I guess.

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