State of Palestine: 'The Return' playground opens in Gaza near border protests’ site

W/S Al-Awda Park, Eastern Gaza
W/S Al-Awda Park sign
W/S Meeting of Palestine Right to Return Coalition representatives
C/U Sign reading in Arabic: "Right to Return Coalition"
W/S Attendees
M/S Attendees
W/S Meeting
M/S Attendees approaching playground
M/S Attendees approaching playground
W/S Attendees at gates of playground
M/S Officials unveiling plaque at gates of the playground
M/S Officials unveiling plaque at gates of the playground
M/S Officials entering playground
W/S People entering playground
W/S Children spinning and playing on swings
W/S Children playing on swings
W/S Children and swings
M/S Women on swings
SOT, Salah Al Bardawil, Hamas representative (Arabic): "This garden is not on the border, it is a garden on our land. The other side of the dividing wire is also our land. This garden in the end is not a missile base; it is a garden for children and families in order to sit here. It is a garden of return because we are here on the way back, a gate back to Palestine. Who said that we will forget our land and who said that we are satisfied with the siege of Gaza? We do not accept the siege and we will not accept the occupation."
W/S Woman and child on swings
W/S Children playing
W/S People walking inside playground
SOT, Tallin Abou El Atta, Playground attendee (Arabic): "I came here today to play in the Garden of Return and to recover our land and Jerusalem. I want to play like my friends in the garden because it is our right to play there because it is our land."
W/S People conversing
M/S Children spinning and swinging
SOT, Tallin Abou El Atta, playground attendee (Arabic): "I am not afraid of the Israelites, and I am only afraid of God, I am not afraid of the fire of Israel, their bullets, or their weapons."
W/S Children on swings and spinning
M/S Children on swings
SOT, Mohammed Alsarsak, Playground attendee (Arabic): "We are not afraid of Israeli airplanes and Israeli bullets. They are firing bullets in the air. We came here as Palestinians with a strong heart. We are not afraid."
W/S Playground
W/S Playground entrance
W/S Israeli border
C/U Plaque
W/S Israeli border
SCRIPT
Scores attended the opening of the Al-Awda amusement park at the border with Israel in eastern Gaza on Sunday, in the vicinity of a site which has seen reoccurring clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces since the start of the Great March of Return protests.
Al-Awda, which means 'The Return' in Arabic, was reportedly built on a ground which had rubble and remnants of destroyed houses, Palestinian media say. It is a project of the Palestine Right to Return Coalition.
"This garden is not on the border, it is a garden on our land. The other side of the dividing wire is also our land. This garden in the end is not a missile base; it is a garden for children and families in order to sit here," said Hamas representative Salah Al Bardawil.
The park includes various playground equipment for children, such as swings, spinner wheels, spring riders, and other. It also includes lawns, gardens, a promenade, fountains and picnic areas, reports say.
"I am not afraid of the Israelites, and I am only afraid of God, I am not afraid of the fire of Israel, their bullets, or their weapons," said Tallin Abou El Atta, a child.
"We are not afraid of Israeli airplanes and Israeli bullets. They are firing bullets in the air. We came here as Palestinians with a strong heart. We are not afraid," said Mohammed Alsarsak, another child.