No life for a flower"...... 3 minutes. See it here

See my last edited soundslide from the West Bank:

http://ingeborgrefsnes.com/West_Bank_Slideshow/

Kamar - just another child with stomach pain

4 years ago he saw his uncle being shot by Israelian soldiers. His father has deep worries for Kamars psychological development.

Their son was shot by Israelian soldiers

The 3th of July a fifteen year old boy, Ahmid, was shot on his way home from the store. 200 meters from his home, 30 bullets hit his body. According to reports.

- The policew told me he was playing with a plastic gun and they felt threatened, says his father and twins his fingers.

There has been five months since he lost his son. He has always feared soldiers, but never imagined that his son would be shot at 2 pm in the day.

- He passed by my shop and I gave him some money to buy some sweets for his sisters.
Few minutes later he was dead, says his father.

Later neigbhour has told that there were several soldiers in a house nearby Ahmids family in the days before he was shot.

- Why would they kill your son?
- They kill our childrean so that we shall feel fear. They are demonstrating their power. Ahmid was not a threat to them, he was a child. I never saw him with a plastic gun, they are lying.They shoot children at every age. Dont you know?

Jerusalem soundslide

I am back in Hebron after spending three days in Jerusalem.
Doing street photography in Via Dolorosa was something else, you cannot walk those streets without feeling weird, warm, cold and comforted. At least, I cant.
Took a photo of a girl and her grandfather, got into conversation and was invited in for coffee by the girls father Kahlid. The arab is living with his african wife in two rooms, "Life is a struggle in Jerusalem", they said and invited me for dinner. Many relatives came in to say hello, warning the family there was an earthshake coming up...I was more prepared for bomb threaths....but anyhow, I left them and didnt have the chanse to go back...and didnt notice the earth shake..
Jerusalem is a complex scene. I tried to move around in the jewish area, but to get a cab to move from a jewish to an arab area was quite a challenge. I had to talk my driver "Joseph",an arab jew (one of the few) to set me of in the Palestinean area, which is one of the better, where the diplomats live.
"WHY do you stay there????" he said and offered to put me off at a lightcross somewhere "close".
"Joseph, are you going to leave a woman in the street because you dont like the idea of going in there?"I asked and tried to smile him into it. So he drove me"Inggøbørsjg, I havent been here for 15 years", he said when he left me off outside my house. Joseph felt fear. He has Isrealian sign on his car.The Palestinians I talked about afterwords, claimed that noone would have thrown stones at his car, even though he had passed there 10 thousand times. But you never know. And thats what its all about. You never know...(A jew told me of his mothers car that was ruined by stones. but that was from the jewish orthodox, she thinks it was because her hair wasnt covered, on a Saturday, Sabbat. The orthodox wont speek to or look at another seculariced jew)
I was desperately looking for Israelians that would give me a more moderate view on Palestinans and fortunately, at the end, Ifound a few. They were quite radical , strong left politically engaged and I made an interview with a young brave Israelian , aged 21. I hope he will use his intellect and sharpness to more than me. I will put his voice to my snapshots from Jerusalem. Jossi is now living in Berlin and studies there. He cannt appreciate life in Israel- because of all the Injustice he claims is taking place. Jossi more than once has gone to the Westbank to demonstrate with the Palestinians. He knows that Israelans has a harder time pointing their guns against Palestinians if he is in the demonstrations. He is not allowed to go to the Westbank by the Israelian but has several times made his way through the checkpoints. Many of his Palestinian friends has been murdered in their political engagement, but Yossi doesnt fear for his life; As an ISraeli citizents I am protected by Democratic rules and by blood costs them much more than that from a Palestinian. The Palestinians are under the Military law and have no rights what so ever. This is nothing else than apartheid, says Jossi
SE SOUNDSLIDE