Palestinian boys chased a limping ostrich through a Gaza refugee camp Thursday after an Israeli raid spelled disaster for a zoo that was a rare amusement spot for local children.
| No word on the fate of the baby ducks |
The Israeli army, which uprooted over 1,000 Rafah residents by demolishing homes in a hunt for Palestinian militants, denied flattening the zoo and suggested its creatures had escaped because they were not being cared for. Whatever happened, Palestinian boys made the best of the situation. Spotting the ostrich on the loose, they gave chase, grabbed the bewildered, mangy-looking African bird and trotted through the streets with it, laughing heartily.
| "Man, would ya look at those drumsticks!" |
| I'm sure it was all great fun. A couple or three years ago there were two separate incidents where grown men were kicked to death by horny ostriches protecting their wimminfolk. But I'm sure that was set up by Zionists... |
The zoo site was in a neighborhood sealed off by Israeli troops. Residents said it had been a tiny, spartan affair hosting two ostriches, an array of colorful parrots and other exotic baby ducks birds, some snakes, one monkey -- and a pony painted with black stripes to make it look like a zebra.
| We CAN'T make this stuff up! |
Some 250 families in the camp -- erected in 1949 for Palestinians uprooted by Israel's independence war -- found themselves homeless again and were housed by U.N. relief workers in dingy school classrooms and rows of tents.
| The U.N. = providing job security since 1949 |
The house demolitions were nothing new in the conflict between Israel and Palestinians who launched an uprising in occupied territories three and a half years ago. But the zoo was something special for Rafah's deprived youngsters. Its reported demise rubbed salt in the wounds of the community as the death toll from the raid rose to 40, several of them children in a protest march that came under tank fire.
| Please! My heart strings! I'm not a young man anymore. I can't take it! |
"Rafah's zoo was the only place of entertainment for kids here. It's a shame they destroyed it, but no surprise. Those who killed the children can also kill their fun," said Ahmed Hussein, a taxi driver who used to take future suicide boomers families to the zoo. An Israeli army spokesman denied that troops had destroyed the zoo. "It was a very small petting zoo close to a school and the animals just escaped somehow. We didn't hurt them." The fate of the second ostrich, the monkey and pony was unknown.
But children said they saw some of the parrots flying over the neighborhood, in addition to the wandering ostrich. "The demolished houses made me angry when I heard about it on the news, but the zoo was the only place where I could go with my friends to play and watch these strange animals," said Mohammed, a 12-year-old running after the ostrich. |
