by HonestReporting.com
Palestinian children are back on the front lines, throwing rocks and bombs. Who's to blame?

The media is awash in moral equivalence, thanks to Amnesty International's new report: "Killing the Future: Children in the Line of Fire," which details how children on both sides have been victims of recent Mideast violence.

A summary of Amnesty's report is online at:
http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/recent/MDE151452002!OpenM

Comments on Amnesty International's report can be sent to AI's international secretariat in London:
amnestyis@amnesty.org, or to AI's Israeli branch: amnesty@netvision.net.il (http://www.amnesty.org.il/).

Many media reports blanketly compared Israeli children who were intentionally targeted (e.g. the Tel Aviv Dolphinarium disco), with children who were unintentional collateral damage (e.g. killed with Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh).

Typical of media coverage was this short article by CBC (Canadian television), which simply reports: "Amnesty says both the Israeli Defence Force and armed Palestinian groups show an utter disregard for the lives of children and other civilians."
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/09/30/mideast020930

Below we present a comprehensive overview of the issue of child casualties, including 5 key points of background information:

(1) Palestinian Children on the Front Lines
(2) Military and PR Tactic
(3) Palestinian Culture of Martyrdom
(4) Violation of Human Rights
(5) IDF Response to Amnesty Report

Readers may also wish to refer to
http://www.opsick.com, a website dedicated to stopping abuse of children in the Mideast conflict.

=1) PALESTINIAN CHILDREN ON THE FRONT LINES =

Justus Weiner has authored a comprehensive issue brief entailed, "The Recruitment of Children in Current Palestinian Strategy." Weiner is scholar in residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (http://www.jcpa.org), headed by Dore Gold and Lenny Ben-David. (To subscribe to the Jerusalem Issue Brief, please send a blank email message to:
brief4-subscribe@jcpa.org)

Weiner cites recent examples of how Palestinian children and teenagers have assumed an integral role in the murder of Israeli civilians:

- February 2002 - Nora Shalhoob, a 16-yeaar-old Palestinian girl, was killed while charging a group of Israeli soldiers at a military checkpoint with a knife in her hand.

- March 2002 - A 16-year-old Palestinian girl named Ayat Akhras walked into a Jerusalem supermarket and detonated a bomb concealed under her clothing, killing two Israelis and wounding 22 others.

- April 2002 - 17-year-old Andaleeb Taqattaqah was recruited by a terror squad and sent to her death in a suicide attack on a crowded Jerusalem market.

- April 2002 - Three teenagers - Anwar Haamduna, Yusef Zakut, and Abu Nada - from Gaza, attempted to crawl under the perimeter fence and attack the residents of the Jewish community of Netzarim, only to be shot dead by guards.

- May 2002 - For over a month, Palestiniaan children as young as 10 barricaded themselves in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, alongside Palestinian gunmen.

May 2002 - A 16-year-old Palestinian boy was arrested in a taxi near Jenin with a suicide bomb on his body.

- June 2002 - A 15-year-old Palestinian ggirl, arrested for throwing a firebomb at IDF soldiers, admitted during interrogation that she had previously been recruited as a suicide terrorist.

- July 2002 - Israeli security forces arrrested another 15-year-old Palestinian girl who admitted to having agreed to carry out a suicide attack in Israel.

Early in the current intifada, Weiner notes, children acted as decoys, burning tires and shooting slingshots to attract TV cameras while making it harder for the world to identify the gunmen lying in ambush. Knowing that Israeli soldiers are ordered not to shoot live ammunition at children, Palestinian snipers hide among groups of youngsters, on rooftops or in alleys, often using kids as shields when aiming at exposed IDF soldiers. On some occasions, these gunmen apparently have inadvertently shot Palestinian children from behind.

USA Today correspondent Jack Kelley reported:

"Children serve as infantry in the confrontations between Israeli and Palestinian soldiers. In scenes reminiscent of Iranian children sent to the Iraqi front equipped with plastic keys to heaven, Palestinian children are sent close to Israeli positions with rocks and Molotov cocktails, while the gunmen and snipers fire from positions hundreds of yards back." (Oct. 23, 2000)

The Jordanian newspaper "Alrai" (citing an interview with the Kuwaiti newspaper "Alzaman" on 20 June 2002), quotes Abu Mazen, Deputy Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, who spoke of how Palestinian children are being exploited into carrying out terror attacks:

"At least 40 children from the city of Raphah have lost their arms as a result of the explosions of pipe bombs. They received five Israeli shekels (about one U.S. dollar) for throwing them." (see original article at
http://honestreporting.com/graphics/abumazen.gif)

The Palestinian Authority has provided children with military training. The New York Times reports that 25,000 children were trained in the summer 2000 in PA camps in the use of firearms, the making of Molotov cocktails, the methods of kidnapping Israeli leaders, and conducting ambushes. (New York Times - Aug. 3, 2000)

The use of children reflects a long-time Palestinian strategy in the fight against Israel. In June 1982, the PLO issued a military call-up order for all boys aged 12 and older whose fathers served in Fatah units. The children were promised $80 a month and were attached to regular PLO battalions, each serving in his father's company.

===== (2) MILITARY AND P.R. TACTIC =====

A Palestinian Authority tactic is to encourage children to seek heroic Shahada (martyrdom) -- and then use the numbers of dead children in their PR war against Israel. Sam Kiley describes in The London Times:

"Since birth, Palestinian children have been pumped full of religious fundamentalism which promises paradise for those who die for the cause of free Palestine... Approving or not, the Palestinian authorities have done nothing to stop children playing with their lives. Let's face it, dead kids make great telly." ("A Deadly Game" - Oct. 19, 2000)

The average Western mind has trouble comprehending a society that might intentionally seek death, in order to advance a political cause. Reporters assume that if Palestinian children are being killed, it can only be Israel's fault.

Yet as Arafat adviser Bassam Abu Sharif told Time magazine: "If he knows he will achieve a political point that will get him closer to independence and if that will cost him 10,000 killed, he wouldn't mind."

Indeed, fault for most of these casualties lies strictly with the PA. Salah Shehadeh operated from a heavily populated neighborhood, precisely because he knew the civilians would serve as a human shield against any Israeli attempt to assassinate him. Writing in the NY Post, John Podhoretz explains:

"The Fourth Geneva Convention goes into great and elaborate detail about how to assign fault when military activities take place in civilian areas... Hamas is at war with Israel. But instead of separating themselves from the general population in military camps and wearing uniforms, as required by international law, Hamas members and other Palestinian terrorists try to use civilians -- the "protected persons" mentioned in [The Fourth Geneva Convention] 3:1:28 -- as living camouflage. To prevent such a thing from happening, international law explicitly gives Israel the right to conduct military operations against military targets under these circumstances."
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/53201.htm

Speaking about another region of the world, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said:

"Let there be no doubt, the responsibility for every casualty of this war, lies with the Taliban. They use civilians as human shields, and place their arsenal among their homes. We did not look to commence this conflict -- the war was thrown at us, and we are defending ourselves."

===== (3) PALESTINIAN CULTURE OF MARTYRDOM =====

In recent searches of Palestinian homes, the IDF has discovered disturbing "family photos": One shows a Palestinian baby with a semiautomatic pistol and machine gun, and another shows a baby wearing a pretend explosives belt with red wires strapped to his waist.
http://www.honestreporting.com/graphics/babies.jpg

The Palestinian media is a primary vehicle used to promote the martyrdom of children. In Sept. 2002, the PA renewed broadcasting of one of the most odious PA video clips, the "Farewell Letter." In the clip, a child writes a farewell letter to his parents, glorifying his desire to die, and then places himself in front of Israeli soldiers during a violent riot where he is shot and dies, achieving his goal. The words are sung: " For my country, I shall sacrifice myself... How sweet is Shahada [martyrdom]... Be joyous over my blood and do not cry for me." (source: IMRA.org)

Another Palestinian Authority TV program clip, aimed at young viewers, features a boy killed in Gaza arriving in heaven where there are beaches, waterfalls, and a Ferris wheel. He is saying, "I am not waving goodbye, I am waving to tell you to follow in my footsteps." On the accompanying soundtrack, a song plays, "How pleasant is the smell of martyrs, how pleasant the smell of land, the land enriched by the blood, the blood pouring out of a fresh body."

Religious leaders also encourage the martyrdom of children. Sheik 'Ikrimi Sabri, the Palestinian Authority-appointed mufti of Jerusalem, declared: "I feel the martyr is lucky because the angels usher him to his wedding in heaven... The younger the martyr, the greater and the more I respect him." ("Al-Ahram Al-Arabi" - Oct. 28, 2000)

Parents are also portrayed in Palestinian society as supporting their children's death. "Al-Ayyam" newspaper quotes a mother who encouraged her sons to sacrifice themselves for Palestinian beliefs:

"The danger of injury to the boy Tzabar Ashkaram, 18, paralysis and permanent disability, just added to his mother's determination to encourage her sons to participate in the intifada riots... the fact of his injury by a live bullet did not cause her to mourn. She said she had previously lost her older son, Iyyad." (Nov. 1, 2000)

Another Palestinian mother was quoted in the London Times: "I am happy that [my 13-year-old son] has been martyred. I will sacrifice all my [12] sons and daughters to Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem."

BBC broadcast a video of a proud Palestinian mother embracing her son and sends him proudly on his way to kill Jews. "God willing you will succeed," she says. "May every bullet hit its target, and may God give you martyrdom. This is the best day of my life."
http://honestreporting.com/a/r/247.asp

(All this makes one wonder about the sanctimonious pronouncements of Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi who, when asked about the Palestinian Authority dispatching children into battle with Israeli soldiers, angrily turned on her interviewer:

"They're telling us we are -- we have no feelings for our children? We're not human beings? We're not parents? We're not mothers or fathers? This is just incredible. I sometimes I say I don't want to sink to the level of responding, or proving I'm human. I mean, even animals have feelings for their children." ("60 Minutes," October 24, 2000)

Encouraging children to martyrdom extends into Palestinian classrooms and textbooks as well. Palestinian Brig. Gen. Mahmoud M. Abu Marzoug reminded a group of 10th grade girls in Gaza City that "as a martyr, you will be alive in Heaven." After the address, a group of these girls lined up to assure a Washington Post reporter that they would be happy to carry out suicide bombings or other actions ending in their deaths. (Washington Post - April 24, 2002)

Ramahan Sahadi Abed Rabbah, 13, when asked why he participated in clashes with soldiers, was quoted in "Al-Hayat" as saying, "My purpose is not to be wounded but something more sublime -- martyrdom." (Nov. 8, 2000)

The problem has infested all parts of Palestinian society. Suicide bombing is considered a source of neighborhood pride, as streets are named after the perpetrators of these atrocities. Signs on the walls of kindergartens proclaim their students as "the shaheeds [martyrs] of tomorrow." Some children draw pictures and fantasize about the day when they achieve their goal.

"When I become a martyr, give out Kannafa [sweet cake]," one 14-year-old boy was reported to have told his friends in the days prior to his death in the riots. A 12-year-old boy who died in the fighting was reported to have so yearned for martyrdom that he wrote his own death announcements on the walls of his home.

Under these cultural influences, many children readily admit that they want to become suicide bombers. In June 2002, a documentary on PA television presented a survey conducted by Dr. Fatsil Abu Hin, a lecturer in psychology in the Gaza Strip. He interviewed 996 children between the ages of nine to 17. Ninety percent expressed their desire to participate in intifada activities, and 73% expressed a desire to become martyrs.

"Muslim Fun," a CD-ROM produced in the UK, includes a game called "The Resistance" in which "you are a farmer in south Lebanon who has joined the Islamic Resistance to defend your land and family from the invading Zionists." The Islamic Fun Web site recommends the game for children ages five and up and says: "Your child will learn about Islam by playing lots of exciting games, full of colourful animations and cute sounds effects."
http://www.inminds.co.uk/islamic-fun.html

Palestinian children at the Balata camp have thrown away their Pokemon cards in favor of necklace-pendants with pictures of Palestinian suicide bombers. The children spend their meager allowances to collect and trade them, hunting for prized martyr pictures like a vintage baseball card.

One Palestinian parent told the Toronto Star (June 17, 2002): "I opened my son's closet and found it full of martyrs posters and necklaces. I said to him... `Ultimately, you'll be rewarded with your picture hanging from a necklace, and we will have lost a son.'"

"These children are convinced that martyrdom is a holy thing, something worthy of the ultimate respect," said Munir Jabal, head of a Balata teachers association. "They worship these pictures. I think it will lead them in the future to go out and do the same thing."

Weiner reports that a another reason Palestinian parents allow and even encourage their children to get involved is the financial incentive offered to families of "martyrs." Thus, the Palestinian Authority furnishes a cash payment -- $2,000 per child killed and $300 per child wounded. Saudi Arabia announced that it had pledged $250 million as its first contribution to a billion-dollar fund aimed at supporting the families of Palestinian martyrs.

In addition, the Arab Liberation Front, a Palestinian group loyal to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, pays generous bounties to the injured and the families of the dead according to the following sliding scale: $500 for a wound; $1,000 for disability; $10,000 to the family of each martyr; and $25,000 to the family of every martyr suicide bomber -- lavish sums, given the chronic unemployment and poverty of the majority of the Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

===== (4) VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS =====

Yet not everyone agrees with the PA's techniques of child abuse.

Fox News quotes Atta Sarasara, a father of a 16-year-old suicide bomber, who Fox says "is angry with not just the Israelis, but also with the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades for preying on impressionable teenagers and giving his son a bomb. 'They used a child. He was very kind, handsome, smart. They used him,' Sarasara said."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,60395,00.html

Sweden's Queen Silvia raised the issue at a meeting of the World Childhood Foundation at the United Nations. She strongly criticized Palestinian parents and leaders for "exploiting them [the children] and risking their lives in a political fight... As a mother, I'm very worried about this. I'd like to tell them to quit. This is very dangerous. The children should not take part." (Jerusalem Post - Nov. 27, 2000)

Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, Condoleezza Rice said:

"What does that picture of a baby dressed as a suicide bomber say about the hopes of Palestinians for life with the Israeli people as good neighbors? You know, we've all, in our lives, had experiences with hatred. I certainly have in Birmingham, Alabama. And it all starts with recognizing that the other person is human and deserves a future. If you're going to send your babies and your teenagers to kill other teenagers, something has broken down in this concept of humanity."

The editorial board of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram wrote:

"According to the AP, polls repeatedly have recorded majority Palestinian backing for suicide bombings, with a recent survey indicating more than 60 percent approval. In such an atmosphere, amid accounts of parents piously sanctioning the idea of their offspring becoming instruments of civilian death, perhaps the idea of an infant swaddled in guerrilla's clothes should not be so shocking after all."
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/editorial/3626469.htm

For a comparative perspective on the Israeli attitude toward Palestinian children, the media can look at an event this week in Israel: A 7-year-old Palestinian girl from Jerusalem is recovering well after receiving a kidney from Jonathan Jesner, the Jewish student from Scotland who was killed in a recent Palestinian suicide bombing.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1032275847493

(Ironically, earlier this year, the Islamic Association for Palestine reported that Yasser Arafat "has accused the Israeli apartheid regime of murdering Palestinian children and youths and extricating their vital organs for organ transplants.")

Some Palestinian parents are speaking out as well. Abu Saber, the father of one suicide bomber, wrote a letter to the London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat:

"I ask, on my behalf and on behalf of every father and mother informed that their son has blown himself up: 'By what right do these leaders send the young people, even young boys in the flower of their youth, to their deaths?' Who gave them religious or any other legitimacy to tempt our children and urge them to their deaths?... The sums of money [paid] to the martyrs' families cause pain more than they heal; they make the families feel that they are being rewarded for the lives of their children... Do the children's lives have a price? Has death become the only way to restore the rights and liberate the land?

"And if this be the case, why doesn't a single one of all the sheikhs who compete amongst themselves in issuing fiery religious rulings, send his son? Why doesn't a single one of the leaders who cannot restrain himself in expressing his joy and ecstasy on the satellite channels every time a young Palestinian man or woman sets out to blow himself or herself up send his son?"
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1034014715076

===== (5) IDF RESPONSE TO AMNESTY REPORT =====

Following are excerpts from the IDF response to Amnesty International's recent report. See the full response at:
http://www.idf.il/english/announcements/2002/october/1.stm#1

The Palestinian terrorists are solely and unequivocally responsible for the injuries caused to Palestinian children. Since the beginning of the conflict two years ago, the Palestinian terrorist factions have cynically exploited children in terrorist activity, in violation of international law. Children are groomed and dispatched to carry out suicide attacks in the centers of the Israeli civilian population; positioned at the front lines of demonstrations to hide snipers behind them; and used to plant explosives and deliver weapons. Moreover, the terrorist factions have transformed Palestinian civilian population centers into terrorist activity headquarters.... Whoever uses children to perpetrate terror attacks, anyone who uses houses were children reside to coordinate and perpetrate attacks is responsible for injuring these children.

Authors of the Amnesty report compare IDF operations in which Palestinian children were killed to Palestinian terror attacks in which Israeli children were killed. This comparison is unjustified and baseless. Palestinian terror attacks, especially suicide bombings, are designated to cause the death of Israeli civilians, including children: this is ruthless, unprecedented, inhuman terror. On the other hand, IDF activity is conducted in accordance with the laws of war and is not aimed at injuring civilians. Injuries are occasionally sustained only because the Palestinian terrorists act from within centers of Palestinian civilian population. Hence, any comparison between the two is groundless, and indicates a fundamental lack of balance among authors of the report.

The authors falsely claim the IDF does not investigate incidents in which Palestinian children are injured, and grants impunity to soldiers involved. The truth is, however, that IDF commanders separately investigate each incident in which Palestinian civilians are injured. When suspicion of criminal misbehavior of the soldiers' side arises, the Military Police launches an inquiry. Since September 2000, the beginning of "Ebb and Flow", over 220 inquiries of the Military Police were launched, some of which regarding incidents in which Palestinian minors were injured.

For example, the Military Police launched inquiries over the deaths of Palestinian children near Khan Yunis on 22 November 2001, the youth Yasser Kassabi from Kalandia on 8 December 2001, the death of Muhamad Hassan Altalalaka near Beith Hanoun on 1 March 2002, the death of children in Jenin on 21 June 2002 and over other incidents. The claims that incidents are not investigated and soldiers enjoy impunity are falsified. The IDF owes its professionalism and power partly due to its willingness to engage in investigations and inquiries even in the midst of intense fighting.

Published: Sunday, October 06, 2002

Palestinian Child Abuse Slideshow

Several readers requested that I put together a page with all my photos of Palestinian children brainwashed and indoctrinated into a life of hatred and murder. But when I began looking through my collection of Islamic terrorist photographs, I was shocked (and a bit depressed) to discover that there were more than 50 of these pictures. So instead of putting them all on one page, I?ve created (using the PHP slideshow application I wrote) this Palestinian Child Abuse Slideshow, which is now a permanent feature at the top of our right sidebar.

This ongoing atrocity, perhaps more than any other single factor, is what has caused me to lose all sympathy for the Palestinian ?cause??the way they gleefully, willingly, boastfully turn their own children into mindless hatebots.

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Children and Terror
The Palestinian education system gives the schools a platform for propaganda and encouraging terror and mass suicide attacks against Israel



The Bag
Palestinian terror organizations exploit innocent children as a front for terror

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Compare what they ('palestinians') say they want, and what they do. What a sad statement.

World Photos - AP
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030716/168/4p2ez.html

Wed Jul 16, 7:33 AM ET

A Palestinian boy participating in a summer camp organized by the Islamic group Hamas, holds a mock rocket launcher as others show signs during a rally to demand the release of prisoners from Israeli jails in central Gaza City Wednesday July 16, 2003. The headbands read in Arabic ' No God but God and Mohammed is the Prophet of Allah'. The boy at right holds a sign showing pictures of jailed Hamas militants in custody in Israeli jails. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Copyright ? 2003 The Associated Press.

World Photos - Reuters
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030717/170/4pnd9.html

Thu Jul 17, 2:47 PM ET

Palestinian boys crawl on the ground holding mock weapons during a summer activity and training camp in the Balata refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus July 17, 2003. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is considering releasing Islamic militant prisoners to advance a U.S.-backed 'road map' to peace with the Palestinians, Israeli diplomatic sources said on Thursday. REUTERS/Abed Omar Qusini

Copyright ? 2003 Reuters Limited.

World Photos - AP
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030717/168/4pn83.html

Thu Jul 17, 2:33 PM ET

A Palestinian handles a rifle as children...



The Tiny they are the "better"?


A Sick "cool" attempting in trivializing mass murder?

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Evil Teaching

?Palestinian? Children Play With Terror

January 19, 2004

Gary Fitleberg

Arab "Palestinian" children are taught to play with terror. The children are taught from infancy through adulthood all the basic lessons and techniques of terrorism. From the cradle the children learn hatred, incitement, terrorism and violence.

Their education begins at home by parents who are willing to accept ?blood money? as ?compensation? for their loss from state-supporters of terrorism. Hatred of Jews is then promulgated daily in camps, day schools, madrassas and mosques. It is also supplemented by the Palestinian Authority (formerly called the Palestine Liberation Organization) state-controlled media.

A few examples from school textbooks sum up the sentiments?

?Drive out the Jews? ? Our Arabic Language for Fifth Grade

?Jews are evil? ? Islamic Education for Seventh Grade

?Jews are the Enemies of the Prophets? ? Islamic Education for Fourth Grade

The PA/PLO school textbooks contain absolutely no attempt to encourage reconciliation with Israel, which is dishonestly and falsely presented as inhumane and greedy.

At camp are no counselors wearing shorts sharing a friendly game of basketball with campers. The counselors wear army uniforms. The children undergo weapons training.

The implicit aspiration in the Arab ?Palestinian? education system is to instill a deep-seeded evil hatred, incitement, terrorism and violence against the Children of Israel and to replace the entire State of Israel with an Arab State of Palestine.

Posters of ?homicide bombers? or so-called ?Shahids? (Martyrs) are everywhere.

They are worshipped like pagan idols; glorified, immortalized as heroes and saints.

The Arab ?Palestinians? are willing to sacrifice their children in ?suicide? (actually ?homicide?) missions to cause murder and mayhem towards a chosen people.

In the latest example of Arab ?Palestinian? teaching tools for children are the glorification of terrorists through trading cards - depicting terrorists as heroes ? which have become widespread collectibles in the Gaza, Judea & Samaria (wrongly called ?West Bank?), The Jerusalem Post reported.

Majdi Taher, the maker of the cards, said that 6 million cards have been sold over the past two years. This is clear documentary evidence that Arafat, the PA/PLO, and the numerous affiliated terrorist subsidiary organizations, including but not limited to Fatah, PFLP, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad have not been playing with a full deck when it comes to the peace process.

Meanwhile, a new report from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) finds that the Arab ?Palestinian? sermons broadcast live from mosques under control of the Palestinian Authority and shown on official television contain common themes including "calls for the destruction of the United States, the perceived American Crusader war against Islam, honoring so-called shahids (pawns in political propaganda) and glorifying the rewards of the shahids, honored ?martyrdom? in the name of Allah, educating children to martyrdom and anti-Semitism, including calls for the killing of Jews." In addition to the weekly-televised sermons, new Arab ?Palestinian? textbooks also continue to instill hatred for Israel, rejecting its right to exist and calling it "evil," The Jerusalem Post reported last week. According to the first phase of the U.S.-backed Roadmap "all official Palestinian institutions [must] end incitement against Israel."

One simply cannot blame children who do not know any better or different. But one can hold parents and their teachers fully accountable. One cannot preach and teach terrorism and expect peaceful results.

Throwing rocks at tanks makes it look like a struggle in which the Arabs are David vs. an Israeli ?Goliath? but in reality it is exactly the opposite, with 22 Arab nations utilizing the 'children' as cannon-fodder to annihilate the very tiny little Jewish nation state of Israel, which is a sore reminder and wound of democracy and freedom in a region of repressive ruthless rulers and tyranny. They have been very successful thus far in the war of images and words despite the fact that there is nothing factual, honest, or truthful in the message.

These same children are sent by parents to throw pipe bombs, smuggle ?suicide bombers?, weapons and vests. Would you willingly send your child to death with false promises that by doing so they will enter paradise? This defies dishonesty and morality.

Teach the children reading, writing and arithmetic. Not how to fire automatic weapons, building ?bombs? and murdering people on buses, in cars, in homes, in restaurants, in shopping malls, and in universities.

When you stop dishonestly using school textbooks to teach the annihilation of human beings who actually want to live in peace, only then can an honest real peace ever be achieved.

http://truthnews.com/world/2004010049.htm

Textbook Incitement

The Anti Peace orientaion of Palestinain Textbooks

Incitement And Its Application

Palestinian Textbooks Table of Contents

July 10, 2003, Incitement and Propaganda in the PA

The Truth About the Palestinian Schoolbooks

Itamar Marcus, Director of Palestinian Media Watch- Monday 7th Jul 2003

One of the most meaningful gauges of the integrity of a peace process and its likelihood for success is the degree to which the ?peace partners? educate towards peace. It is for this reason that the entire Palestinian Authority (PA) education apparatus, both formal and informal, has been such a dismal disappointment. Instead of seizing the opportunity to educate the future generations to live with Israel in peace, the PA has done everything in its power to teach hatred to young minds.

Making matters worse, the Palestinian Authority has been spreading two clever lies about the schoolbooks that have succeeded in deflecting international pressure for change. This week, at a meeting in Jordan, Nebil Shaath answered Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom?s complaint about the schoolbooks saying that the PA has ?spent five years? rewriting the books, implying that they are now proper. Then he added, that Israel used the same old Jordanian books for educating the local Arab population ?for 30 years?, and therefore has no valid complaint to the PA. Many European governments, and many Israelis, have come to the PA?s defense, citing these and other arguments.

The truth about the PA schoolbooks is first, that both new and old are far from proper - both include anti-Semitism, de-legitimize Israel?s existence and incite to hatred and violence. In the new 6th grade book ?Reading the Koran?, anti-Semitism is presented openly, as children read about Allah?s warning to the Jews that because of their evil Allah will kill them: ?...Oh you who are Jews ...long for death if you are truthful... for the death from which you flee, that will surely overtake you ...?In other sections they learn of Jews being expelled from their homes by Allah, and in another Jews are said to be like donkeys: ?Those [Jews] who were charged with the Torah, but did not observe it, are like a donkey carrying books...? [Reading the Koran, grade 6. p.20, 23, 78]. This religious based anti-Semitism is the most dangerous, as children are taught that hating Jews is God?s choice. And while Islam is not being critiqued, it is very grave that although Islam has positive traditions regarding Jews, the PA educators chose to incorporate only hateful religious traditions.

The new PA schoolbooks that Shaath was so positive about, also teach that Israel has no right to exist, de-legitimizing Israel as a foreign occupier, compared to colonial Britain: ?Colonialism: Palestine faced the British occupation after the First World War in 1917, and the Israeli occupation in 1948 ??[National Education, sixth grade, p. 16].
Since all of Israel is said to be an ?occupation?, all of Israel?s cities, regions and natural resources are presented as being part of ?Palestine?. For example:
?Among the famous rocks of southern Palestine are the rocks of Beersheba and the Negev? and ?Palestine?s Water Sources - ... The most important is the Sea of Galilee.? [Our Beautiful Language, grade 6, Part A, p. 64, National Education, sixth grade, pp. 9-10]

The Negev, Beersheba and the Sea of Galilee are in Israel and do not border the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria. Yet PA children are taught these are ?Palestine?. Continuing this ideology a book is citing dedicated to ?...Palestinians, so that they would remember their stolen homeland and work for its salvation...?[Our Beautiful Language, sixth grade, Part A, p. 112] and it is referring, not to the disputed territories, but Israel pre 1967.

Educating not to recognize Israel?s existence is cemented through tens of maps in the schoolbooks in which ?Palestine? encompass all of Israel. Israel does not exist on any map, within any borders. The PA defense of their schoolbook map, that since there are no final borders the map is not portraying modern ?Palestine? but ?Mandatory Palestine?, is an insult to our intelligence. Are we expected to believe that when Palestinian children see the map called ?Palestine? in all their schoolbooks they imagine Britain a half a century ago? And when Beersheba is called Palestine, the children are picturing Biblical history?

Another new book teaches what must be done for ?occupied Palestine? and the ?stolen homeland?: ?Islam encourages this [love of homeland] and established the defense of it as an obligatory commandment for every Muslim if even a centimeter of his land is stolen. "I, a Palestinian Muslim, love my country Palestine...? [Islamic Education, sixth grade, Part A, p. 68]

The complete and total message Palestinian children are taught is that Jews, according to Allah, are like donkeys; Israel is a colonial occupier who stole their land; the cities, lakes and deserts of Israel are ?occupied Palestine?; and they, the children, have an obligation to liberate it ?even if a centimeter is stolen?.

All the above messages are found in new schoolbooks written and published by the PA since 2000. The first claim that new PA books are ?proper? is flagrantly untrue. However, the majority of the books still in use by the PA schools are books they republish under the symbol of their own Ministry of Education, that were written by Jordan. These books include the following hate promotion:
?One must beware of the Jews, for they are treacherous and disloyal.?
[Islamic Education for Ninth Grade p. 79, these and below from CMIP report]
?I learn from this lesson: I believe that the Jews are the enemies of the Prophets and the believers.?[Islamic Education, Part Two, for Fourth Grade p. 67]
?Remember: ?The final and inevitable result will be the victory of the Muslims over the Jews.? [Our Arabic Language for Fifth Grade p. 67]
?The clearest examples of racist belief and racial discrimination in the world are Nazism and Zionism. ? [The New History of the Arabs and the World, p. 123]

The second great PA lie expressed by Shaath this week, that Israel used these same old books, is particularly resourceful, as the best lies include a grain of truth. Indeed, Israel did use Jordanian books to educate the local Arab population. However, Israel reprinted the books without the hate education. In fact, Jordan registered a complaint to the UN charging that Israel?s changing the schoolbooks was a violation of international law, but the UN checked what Israel had done and approved it. The PA has put back into the old Jordanian education all the hate education that Israel had removed.

Moreover, as early as three years ago foreign governments offered money to the PA to reprint these old books without the hateful material. The PA turned down the money and refused to reprint them using a variety of arguments, the first of which was: ?Don?t get involved in our education - it is our Palestinian heritage.? These hateful Jordanian books are republished today unedited by the PA by choice and the PA must stop passing responsibility onto others for the hate content.

Finally it should be stressed that all the books cited here were written during the most optimistic periods of the peace process, before the violence began in September 2000. They are not a reflection of the war, but were a great contributing factor to the war. The ongoing attempts to defend PA schoolbooks are tragic, as the PA is using these arguments to justify their indefensible hate education, and to refuse to improve their books. The PA is planting the seeds of the next war in their youth, and the defenders of PA hate education, including Israelis, are nurturing those seeds of war.
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Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Media Watch, [www.pmw.org.il] was Israel?s representative to the Tri Lateral [Israeli-Palestinian- American] Anti- Incitement Committee.

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Human Shields



kids hide the gunmen. See red circle



Even their own Media Documents the use of Kids as Shields

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'Palestinians' Exploitation of Children

 By M. Fox

 

January 21, 2003

The phenomenon of the exploitation of children by Palestinian terrorist organizations for the purposes of executing terrorist attacks and suicide bombings has increased once again, following the capture of two children last week in the midst of committing an attack. The children, age eight and fourteen, were armed with a knife and were apprehended in the community of Netzarim, as they attempted to stab passersby.

In recent months, hundreds of Israeli civilians have been killed and many more wounded, as a result of Palestinian terrorist attacks. The following is a review of the issue of Palestinian terrorist organizations exploiting children to execute terrorist attacks.

Please note that all activities referred to in this review are prohibited by international law, they pose a threat to the well-being and safety of Palestinian children and they must be severely and unequivocally condemned. Pressure must be brought to bear on the Palestinians to stop this activity immediately.

1. Guiding principle: Terrorist organizations exploit the innocent appearance of children who do not arouse suspicion and can easily blend in among the crowds. Furthermore, the terrorist organizations view children and youth as the most convenient recruits for suicide bombing missions, since they are easily influenced. Israeli security forces apprehended a considerable number of children and youth before they could carry out terrorist attacks
   
   
2. Indoctrination: The terrorist organizations uproot the children from their homes and families. Resorting to brainwashing and religious indoctrination, they incite the children to carry out terrorist attacks. The children are persuaded that if they do so, they will be granted paradise in the hereafter.

3. Salah Shehadeh, one of the Hamas leaders in Gaza, who was killed recently, stated in an interview on the internet site Islam Online (May 26, 2002), that children should be trained properly prior to the execution of terrorist attacks, and that they should be enlisted in a special branch of the military arm of the organization, so that they are imbued with the values of the armed Jihad, and are taught to distinguish between good and evil. Remarks of this kind are an important factor in the persuasion of parents to send their children to carry out terrorist attacks.

4. Motivation and scope: On June 27, 2002, the official Palestinian Television broadcast a film entitled Child Martyrs and Lovers of their Homeland. Dr. Fatal Abu Hin, a lecturer in psychology, was interviewed during the film, and spoke about the growing phenomenon of the involvement of children in violent incidents. Abu Hin noted that the word Shahada (martyrdom) carries a number of meanings for the Palestinian child, specifically, and for Islamic society, in general. He maintained that the Palestinian child understands that through Shahada, he can win honor and respect, and that this phenomenon drives children to take an active part in violent events.

   Abu Hin presented a survey carried out by the Islamic University in Gaza, in April 2001, which focused on a group of one thousand youngsters from Gaza, in the 9-16 age bracket. The survey findings indicated that of those questioned, 45% had taken an active role in the violence. In addition, 73% of the youngsters stated that they wanted to become martyrs. These findings clearly indicate that children and youth in the West Bank and Gaza have been radicalized, and that they are easy prey for the terrorist organizations that exploit them to perpetrate terrorist atrocities.

5. Educating for martyrdom: As well as the encouragement of children through the media, the Palestinian educational institutions and summer camps are also involved in inciting, brainwashing and indoctrinating Palestinian children and youth. Children are indoctrinated with extreme Islamic ideas, calling for support and encouragement of the Jihad against Israel. At the beginning of July, the Islamic Movement in Gaza launched its summer camps, named The Al Aqsa Intifada Martyrs Summer Camp. In addition, the Hamas summer camps are popular with children, where they are given uniforms, shoes and exercise books. At the camps, the children are taught about the history of Islam, and pictures of martyrs are hung in every place. In this way, the seeds of hatred towards Israel are planted in the children.
6. Official and parental complicity:The Palestinian Authority Ministry for Youth and Sport also oversees summer camps that are designed to recruit children to carry out attacks against Israel. At the camps, the children are subject to incitement, and are trained to use weapons for future attacks against Israel.

   In many cases, Palestinian children dress up as a shaheed (martyr) with their parents' consent. Indeed, these children are often encouraged to do so by their parents. More and more cases are coming to light of children participating in processions, wearing replicas of explosive belts and inscriptions declaring that they are martyrs. This brings to mind the photograph of the baby recently discovered in Hebron. The photograph showed a baby wearing a replica explosive belt and a headband declaring that the baby was a martyr for "Allah". These children are then easily recruited by terrorist organizations for the purpose of carrying out attacks.

7. Childhood as terrorist camouflage: It is not only the children who are exploited by the terrorists. To disguise their activities, terrorists use children?s accessories and toys. In addition, the terrorists try to camouflage their activities by operating close to schools and kindergartens.

   It has emerged that the various terrorist organizations have used children's schoolbags and toys to conceal explosives. At first glance, these innocent looking items did not appear suspicious, yet they contained explosives, and were intended for use against Israeli civilians and other targets. Thus, during an IDF operation in the town of Kalkilya on April 26, 2002, three explosives laboratories were found. Most notably, a child's schoolbag containing explosive charges ready for use was also found.

8. Hiding behind children: Senior terrorist operatives revealed that they tend to locate the explosives laboratories close to schools and kindergartens, in order to conceal their terrorist activity. In this way, the terrorist organizations directly endanger the lives of Palestinian children. By locating the bomb laboratory close to the school, the pupils nearby were exposed to many dangers, including exploding charges during tests, work accidents in the course of the production of explosives and exposure to hazardous materials. The operatives exploited the innocent appearance of the pupils arriving at school, in order to conceal their activities.

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Vicious Use of Kids


Using Kids in Terror Bombs


Duping Kids

The Palestinians hit a new low

As if the endless anti-semitic enticement and encouragement directed a Palestinian children wasn't enough, they're now using kids as unwitting suicide bombers. (An astronaut will walk on Planet Sedna before the UN gets around to condemning this.)

Troops at a West Bank checkpoint arrested a 12-year-old boy today as he unknowingly tried to smuggle a bomb out of the West Bank city of Nablus, the army said.
[...]
Palestinians said the boy, from the poverty-ridden Balata refugee camp on the southern edge of the city, worked as a porter at the nearby Huwwara checkpoint, helping to carry the belongings of Palestinians forbidden to drive through.

The security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the boy was hired to carry baggage by militants linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement and did not know the contents of the backpack they gave him.

The officials said that the militants planned to explode the device as the boy passed through the checkpoint, but failed because of a technical fault. The explosion would have killed the boy and nearby soldiers.

The Israeli army is hardly an unbiased source, so it's possible this story is just propaganda. But it's certainly believable.

Boy used as bomb dupe [17mar04]

Islamic Jihad promises heaven to teen recruit, Good news, right? The 15-year old chose life instead of death in the service of mass murder. But then the father proceeds to blame Israel...
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/001356.php

Video: Child Bomber at Check Point,Palestinian boy used to carry bomb through Israeli checkpoint ... The youngest suicide bomber to date was a 16-year-old from Nablus.
http://inhonor.net/videos/uped/fl_video.php?f_num=65500

Fateh used 11-year-old boy as human bomb11-year-old boy used as human bomb. By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH, Jerusalem Post Date: Mar. 15, 2004. Norge støtter Fateh; Terrorism; Abu Mazen
http://www.antisemittisme.no/engl/ter/2004-03-15-11-yr-old-as-human-bomb.php

Teach Kids Peace – Exploiting Youth for Terror
http://www.teachkidspeace.org/doc1017.php

Coverage of Unwitting Palestinian Boy-Bomber
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=3&x_outlet=16&x_article=648

Palestinian Weapons Production and Smuggling: What's New
In addition to their cynical tactic of using Palestinian civilians as human shields by firing rockets from densely populated areas...
http://www.weaponsurvey.com/newsarchive/november06.htm

Terrorist organizations operate from within civilian population, while cynically exploiting uninvolved civilians and using them as human shields, ...
http://www.weaponsurvey.com/newsarchive/september06.htm

Boy used as bomb dupe...
ISRAELI troops yesterday arrested a boy, 12, who didn't know he had a bomb in his schoolbag.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/001190.php

Bomb hidden under toddler
The wife of a wanted Palestinian fugitive tried to hide a hand grenade under her baby; Five fugitives were arrested in a house where 10 Kg of explosives were found...
An extensive search of the house revealed that the wife of one of the suspects had hidden a hand-grenade under the toddler she was holding in her arms
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3157970,00.html

IDF: Explosives carried by Palestinian youth were to be used in Tel Aviv Israel - Sep 9, 2007 The boy was ordered to transfer the explosives to terror operatives beyond the checkpoint so that they could piece together a suicide bomb belt
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1188392572355&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Fateh used 11-year-old boy as human bomb11-year-old boy used as human bomb. By MARGOT DUDKEVITCH, Jerusalem Post ... IDF soldier Moran Bukant, who discovered the bomb in the Palestinian youth's ...
http://www.antisemittisme.no/engl/ter/2004-03-15-11-yr-old-as-human-bomb.php

Palestinians `sent boy, 11, on bomb mission' | Independent ...Palestinians `sent boy, 11, on bomb mission from Independent...
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_/ai_n12773858

Video: Child Bomber at Check PointPalestinian boy used to carry bomb through Israeli checkpoint ... the chaotic city of Nablus, captured an 11-year-old boy with a bomb hidden in his bag. ...
http://inhonor.net/videos/uped/fl_video.php?f_num=65500

Palestinian Terrorism A bomb squad came in and blew up the bags. The boy said he was interrogated for .... In many cases, Palestinian terrorists have used ambulances to transport ...
http://www.israelnewsagency.com/palestinianterrorismchildren120314.html

Watch - "A Palestinian boy wearing an explosive belt..."After school, he used to help out in the shop, play with the computer, .... (See also: "Soldiers nab Palestinian boy with bomb" (Arnon Regular and Yuval ...
http://watch.windsofchange.net/themes_84.htm

CNN.com - Palestinian teen stopped with bomb vest - Mar 25, 2004 Palestinian teen stopped with vest bomb. premium content PLAY VIDEO ... Explosives experts used a remote-controlled robot to pass the boy scissors so he ...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/03/24/young.detainees/index.html

Palestinian terrorists reach new low: 11 year-old boy used as human bomb. The Jerusalem Post (www.jpost.com) reports that the mass murderers from the ...
http://www.factsofisrael.com/blog/archives/000744.html

CAMERA: Coverage of Unwitting Palestinian Boy-Bomber A bomb that would have killed both the boy and Israeli soldiers. ... to specifically condemn the Palestinians for allowing children to be used as weapons. ...
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=3&x_outlet=16&x_article=648

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No Comment!


Please Declare Palestinian Raising of Children for Homicide Bombings a Human Rights Violation and Crime against Humanity!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/476917216?ts=1082523002

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