Palestinian leaders have begun to bristle at charges they are intentionally exploiting their children by sending them out as foot soldiers and "martyrs" at the forefront of the recent violent confrontations with Israel, a serious violation of international law, but it would seem they stand guilty by their own confession.
And with a US-led commission of inquiry eager to arrive soon to begin probing the causes of the recent violence, perhaps the most damning evidence that the Palestinian uprising was not some spontaneous reaction to an Israeli "provocation," but rather a well-planned operation is the years spent in preparing the "children of the stones" for battle.
Since the recent Palestinian uprising began, media reports have placed much emphasis on the number of Palestinian children killed or injured by Israeli security forces. While the actual number of such child casualties has varied widely in these reports, they have generated much criticism of Israeli policies, while generally ignoring the deliberateness and immorality of the Palestinian practice of placing their youths at the forefront of violent skirmishes with the IDF.
Some journalists covering the conflict, however, have begun to more honestly assess these tactics, as they finally begin to wrestle with the troubling scenes repeatedly played out before them in their proper historic and religious context. The more objective picture now emerging involves one of Palestinian youths long indoctrinated with hatred for Israelis and dreams of glory through holy martyrdom.
In one such account, a British journalist wrote in the LONDON TIMES: "But can Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat control the children?... 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."
The Palestinians used children at the forefront of rioting in the first intifada a decade ago, but the difference this time is the layered battle scenario whereby the kids act as bait up front to expose targets for gunmen lurking in the rear. The latest generation of Palestinian youths have been trained to throw stones and firebombs and burn tires in a bid to draw in Israeli troops, since virtually all non-lethal riot control methods available to the IDF are only effective at ranges of about 50 meters or less. As Israeli soldiers approach to disperse the young demonstrators, they are exposed to sniper fire from Palestinian gunmen hiding in ambush behind the children. In most instances, the children serve as human shields for these armed Palestinian militiamen. And the IDF has noted that on a number of occasions, it is Palestinian gunmen who actually are shooting children from behind.
A range of reporters are now questioning Palestinians about why they force their children into playing such dangerous "games." The answers most often reveal parents ready to accept the death of their children as a badge of pride. For example, one mother told a journalist from the LONDON TIMES recently, "I am happy that he [her 13-year-old son] has been martyred. I will sacrifice all my sons and daughters (12 in all) to Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem." Another 50-year-old woman in Nablus was recently quoted by an AP reporter, "[i]f I had 20 children I would send them all down (to fight), I wouldn't spare any of them. We're not scared of death."
Despite these self indictments, Palestinian notable Hanan Ashrawi recently described as "racist" the mounting charges that her people do not care for their children. In an attempt to perhaps head off a looming public relations debacle, PA Minister of Information Yasser Abd Rabbo called in early November for barring participation of children under the age of 16 in demonstrations against Israel. Yet others have rushed to defend this course of action.
In an interview published on October 28 in the Egyptian weekly AL-AHRAM AL-ARABI, the PA-appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheik Ekrima Sabri, candidly noted his admiration for the child martyrs:
Question: "What do you feel when you pray [for the souls of the martyrs]?" Sabri: "I feel the martyr is lucky because the angels usher him to his wedding in heaven. I feel the earth moves under the occupiers' feet."
Question: "Is it different when the martyr is a child?" Sabri: "Yes, it is. 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. One wrote his name on a note before he died. He wrote: 'the martyr so and so.' In every martyr's pocket we find a note with his name on it. He sentences himself to martyrdom even before he becomes a martyr."
Question: "Is this why the mothers cry with joy when they hear about their sons' death?" Sabri: "They willingly sacrifice their offspring for the sake of freedom. It is a great display of the power of belief. The mother is participating in the great reward of the Jihad to liberate Al-Aqsa. I talked to a young man. [who] said: 'I want to marry the black-eyed [beautiful] women of heaven.' The next day he became a martyr. I am sure his mother was filled with joy about his heavenly marriage. Such a son must have such a mother."
In an opinion column on October 27 in the PA's official daily newspaper AL HAYYAT AL JEDIDA, editor-in-chief Hafez Bargutti condemned as "one of the most severe transgressions" Palestinian parents who deter youth from throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. "These destructive, abominable [individuals] harm us more than the bullets of the occupation, because they constitute a fifth column. Our nation must learn a lesson and take them to reckoning later on."
In the November 8 issue of AL QUDS AL ARABI, the Palestinian social service official responsible for the family planning programme in Gaza, Etimad Muhana, disclosed that family planning has quickly become anathema there, as Palestinians expect their children to get killed in the intifada against Israel. Muhana said that Palestinian women "accept the fact that a number of their children will die in the fighting, and therefore hope to give birth to many more children". She added, "All Palestinians encourage the throwing of stones, since this is the only means of driving out the Israelis."
Dr. Eyad Sarraj, the only psychiatrist in Gaza during the first Palestinian uprising in 1987-93, says Palestinian mothers who have lost sons often react in a familiar pattern. "Instead of expressing grief, they initially express great pride in the actions of their children," he said. "In order to protect themselves from shock and grief, they identify completely with the national cause."
Palestinian men, Sarraj says, are increasingly attracted to the idea of martyrdom, which in Islam promises a direct trip to heaven. "The power of the martyr is an overwhelming symbol now," said Sarraj. "Many youths have seen their fathers humiliated by the Israelis, and they see the Palestinian Authority as helpless. Only the martyr has an image of strength and power, someone who conquers death."
Young boys heading off to the clashes sometimes write their names on the back of a photo of themselves and stuff it in their pockets in order to be easily identified if they are shot. The photo is chosen with care - it's the one they would want on their posthumous poster.
Israel's Foreign Ministry planned to deliver a comprehensive report on this Palestinian exploitation of their children in contravention of international law to UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson during her recent fact-finding mission to Israel, but she proved uninterested. It would appear, however, that it is a matter that will sooner or later demand attention in world forums, and hopefully the fact-finding committee led by former US Senator George Mitchell.
In a potent article entitled "the Use of Palestinian Children In the Al-Aqsa Intifada," Justus Reid Weiner, an international human rights lawyer with the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, delves into the background and legal implications of this phenomena. He notes that the utilization of children in armed conflicts has been increasingly condemned by the international community, and enumerates a number of international conventions that outlaw the practices currently being employed by the PA. Among them are the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 28 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and the recently adopted UN Security Council Resolution 1261. Further, Weiner notes that even Islamic law prohibits children under 15 from participating in a jihad.
Weiner concludes: "the Palestinian leadership, in a classic case of bad faith, accuses Israel of committing human rights violations for the fatalities while evading its own responsibility for the orchestrated appearance of children at the front lines of the conflict. This constitutes a cynical exploitation of human rights concerns. While the Palestinian Authority is not formally bound by international human rights conventions, it nonetheless is required by the Oslo agreements, which PA Chairman Yasser Arafat signed, to honor 'internationally accepted norms of human rights and the rule of law.'" [For Weiner's full report, visit http://207.150.196.85/jl/vp441.htm]
Queen Silvia of Sweden was one of the first public figures to openly suggest the PA was answerable for the fate of these Palestinian children. Quoting her comments in October at a meeting of the World Childhood Foundation at the UN, the London-based newspaper AL-SHARQ AL-AWSAT reported the Swedish royal as saying: "While UN Organizations save child-soldiers, especially in Africa, from the control of militia leaders who hurl them into the furnace of gang-fighting, some Palestinian leaders... consciously issue orders with the purpose of ending their childhood, even if it means their last breath.... If these children have nothing to lose, and they think the training is... a game, are we supposed to continue pushing them with hypocrisy and stupid enthusiasm to actually lose their lives.... What kind of independence is built on the blood of children while the leaders are safe and so are their children and grandchildren?"
Indeed, the Western conscience is repulsed by the use of boy soldiers by rebel forces in the civil war in Sierra Leone, much like the Iranian use of kids as human mine sweepers in the Iran-Iraq war. The international forces presently policing the latest African bloodbath have escaped any condemnation for killing those child combatants they encounter. But when it comes to Palestinian children, Israel is the party declared guilty of "war crimes" and "child massacres," while Arafat, his Authority and people, have been given a free pass, so far.
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SOURCES: THE JERUSALEM POST, HA'ARETZ, REUTERS, CNN, ASSOCIATED PRESS, ARUTZ 7, NEW YORK TIMES, LONDON TIMES, JERUSALEM CENTER FOR PUBLIC AFFAIRS, IMRA, MEMRI
This bulletin was compiled and written by David Parsons.
News and comment on Middle East affairs, compiled by journalists at the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, publishers of the monthly Middle East Digest.