| "We
can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. We cannot forgive them
for forcing us to kill their children"
GOLDA MEIR, 1972
|
As confirmed
by the New York Times on Aug 3, 2000 in a front page article,
Arafat himself has designated resources for the training of at least
25,000 children for use in Jihadist guerilla warfare. The Palestinian
Authority has greatly developed use of prejudiced and martyrdom
oriented textbooks in addition to state media resources being used
to air educational shows encouraging martyrdom and developing military
training summer camps.
The military style summer camps have been organized to educate the
children in terrorist warfare, combat, Palestinian Nationalism rhetoric
and the contributions of children in pervious Arab warfare. |
“…there
will be a Jihad and our country shall be freed. This is our story
with the thieving conquerors. You must know, my boy, that Palestine
is your grave responsibility…”
Our Arabic Language,
PA Textbook
“The
honorable soul has two objectives: Achieving death and honor.”
Abd al-Rahim Mahmud’s
Song of the Martyr, Sixth Grade reader
|
|
In 1988 Daoud Kuttab
in the Journal of Palestinian Studies explained the traditional
use of Children in terrorist warfare:
"When
the danger alarm is sounded the young people of the neighborhood
divide into three teams. The first is composed of lookouts...the
second team is basically defensive in nature; its main task
is to cover the offensive team...the most courageous. After
advancing to the Israeli position and throwing stones, the defensive
team goes into action to cover the retreating youths. When the
offensive team starts to retreat, it is the job of the defensive
team to throw a barrage of stones at the soldiers."
This was the model
for the first Intifada. However as Jack Kelly of USA Today
explained in October 2000, strategies have changed as the Palestinian
terror fronts have more access to arms:
“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.”
It is also reminiscent
of the cowardice of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who
notoriously funded Palestinian terrorism; using civilian women
and children as human shields. |
|
|
The PA
has used their media resources to produce shows such as "The
Children's Club," a show similar in format to the American
PBS series Sesame Street, to be martyrs for the Palestinian cause:
"I come
here to say that we will throw them to the quiet sea. Occupiers,
your day is near, then we will settle our account. We will settle
our claims with stones and bullets." - 8 year-old
Palestinian boy
"We
are ready with our guns; revolution until victory; revolution
until victory" - young
Palestinian boys chanting
Why the use of children?
PA-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheik 'Ikrimi Sabri, in an October
28 interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi:
"It's
hard to express it in words. There is no doubt that a child
[martyr] suggests that the new generation will carry on the
mission with determination. The younger the martyr -- the greater
and the more I respect him..."
|
The use of children in terrorist
warfare has two self serving purposes: 1) trying to incite international
public support for the Palestinian cause by using their deaths as an
example of Israel being merciless and irresponsible, 2) and for psychologically
terrorizing the Israeli people by holding them responsible for Palestinian
children’s deaths.
Sam Kiley sums in up in his
London Times article titled A Deadly Game, published Oct. 19, 2000,
“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.”
Back
to Home Page
|
