The 40-year-old Palestinian citizen Ahmad Abu Ataya has his own way of confronting the teargas grenades thrown by the Israeli army at the Gazans protesting along the border with the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories.
Abu Ataya whose grandparents were expelled by the Israeli forces from Beersheba city in the Negev following every demonstration rushes to collect the various types of teargas canisters with the help of his children.
Abu Ataya told the PIC reporter that he turns these grenades into artworks plant pots and Masabeh strings of beads often used by Muslims to keep track of counting in tasbih which is a type of dhikr and then sell them to the protesters in the Return camps east of Gaza. “We harvest life from death” he said.
“One day I’ll return to Beersheba with these grenades which will keep reminding us of those injured and killed in the Great Return March” he added.
Despite being injured by Israeli gunfire on the first day of the Great Return March on 30th March Abu Ataya makes sure to be present in the protests with his children and nephews who also have been targeted by the Israeli gunfire more than once.
The Israeli occupation army uses drones to drop large numbers of teargas canisters among the peaceful protesters.
Israel Hayom newspaper had earlier reported that the Israeli army started to use these drones for the first time against the Great Return March to disperse the protesters without “endangering the lives of the Israeli soldiers”.
The excessive use of poisonous gas and teargas causes severe injuries among the protesters other than the side effects such as fainting nausea and headaches.
