Coming of Age Ritual

At the tender of of 25 I finally completed that quintessential Palestinian coming of age ritual; making my own slingshot.

In the late eighties when the first Intifada gave Israel so much grief Palestinian youth quickly realized that one of the best slingshot materials is medical latex tubing. Those round yellow tubes stretch really well, last for a long time and are tear resistant. Perfect for harassing those assholes in uniform. To this day medical latex tubing is considered illegal by the Israelis, even in "Palestinian Ruled" areas. Big guys with guns are still sacred of kids with marbles and metal pieces. I was too young for the first Intifada, and not in Palestine for the second Intifada, so I never got around to making my own slingshot, even for plinking at bottles.

This week I got my hands on some latex rubber tubing, some stretchy non-latex binding, and of course the 'bone'. The bone actually comes from Palestine, is made from hardwood, and follows the basic slingshot template that I've been familiar with since 1987. Between the tubing and the binding material this is one kick ass slingshot. After binding the latex to the wood and binding the latex to each other where the leather sling is, I bound the binding with electricians tape to make it air tight and seal off the inner part of the tubing.

So yeah, I am 25 going on 13. I can almost smell the burning tires and the sting of wafting tear gas. Long live Palestine!