1.   A few were so thrilled that they would buy a pencil, and then deliberately break the pencil, so they could put another quarter in the machine.

2.   Brincat once bragged that spending was so tightly controlled that even he was not allowed to buy pencils without getting two other people to sign a voucher.

3.   But it turns out that few folks want to buy such pencils.

4.   Do they think it has something to do with buying new pencils for school?

5.   The recipients have called him their father and it reminds him of Ali, his serious son who went out one day to buy pencils and never came back.

6.   It handles virtually every service-related need of the city, from installing carpet to buying pencils.

7.   Nine-year-old Ali Jawarishe was on his way to buy pencils for school when he ran into other youngsters throwing stones at Israeli soldiers.

8.   She said he had left their shack in the Aida refugee camp on the outskirts of Bethlehem on Tuesday afternoon to buy pencils so he could do his homework.