Palestinians turn Israeli teargas canisters into flower pots

Every morning, Sobheya Abu Rahma, a Palestinian mother at the town of Bil'in in the West Bank city of Ramallah, waters her roses planted in teargas canisters. Israeli army has used such teargas to disperse Palestinian protesters, but now some Palestinians are using the canisters to grow roses. "We turned the bombs of death into something environmental that is useful for life," said one of the Palestinian activists. Abu Rahma's son was hit by an Israeli teargas canister in the head and died soon during a protest against Israeli separation wall five years ago. Carrying a rubber-made pot with a fresh white rose in it, Abu Rahma said with sadness that the teargas is turned from a tool that kills people into a pot that holds flowers full of life and hope. "My son used to love flowers. Therefore, we planted flowers into the very things that killed him to commemorate him," said the mother. Not far away from her, a Palestinian decoration artist, Sami, was busy cutting the heads of empty teargas canisters and turning them into pots. Initially, it was Sami's idea to turn empty canisters into pots for growing roses. "My idea was immediately welcomed by the residents and activists, because it was symbolic for hope and peace. It is the Palestinians' right to live a normal life, away from violence and away from confiscating their lands and losing their children," said Sami. Recently, the Popular Peaceful Resistance Committees against Israel inaugurated a small garden in Bil'in town. The garden is overloaded with hundreds of empty rubber-made teargas canisters planted with flowers. Activists in the committee told Xinhua that the aim of growing roses in teargas canisters is to "send a message of peace to Israel and to the world." Right after Israel decided to build the Separation Wall on the West Bank lands in 2003, residents of Bil'in and other villages in the occupied territory started organizing weekly protests and demonstrations against the construction of wall and the confiscation of lands. Mohamed al-Khatib, the United Nations Developing Program (UNDP) representative in the West Bank, said "The residents of the village insist on gaining back all their lands, which were confiscated for the construction of the Israeli wall." Hani Smierat, director of Ta'awon Association for resolving conflicts, told Xinhua that "the idea shows that the Palestinians are more eager for peace than violence." Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah said Wednesday that the government supports all peaceful initiatives to confront the Israeli measures, mainly the construction of settlements. "The peaceful resistance is a powerful strategy to resist the Israeli occupation and protect the land from settlement. Through this kind of struggle, we can earn the largest international support for the Palestinian cause despite the Israeli attempts to thwarts the efforts to achieve peace," said Hamdallah.