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The
Recruitment of Children in Current Palestinian Strategy
1 October 2002
Justus Reid Weiner
From the outset of the current Palestinian intifada
two years ago, children and teenagers have assumed
an integral role. Regrettably, this role is not adequately
addressed in the recent Amnesty International report
entitled "Killing the Future Children in the Line
of Fire." Knowing that Israeli soldiers are ordered
not to shoot live ammunition at children, and face
disciplinary procedures or court martial for breaches,
Palestinian snipers hide among youngsters or use them
as human shields. Three recent developments are also
notable: Yasser Arafat's deputy, Abu Mazen, admitted
to a Kuwaiti newspaper in June that Palestinian children
have been paid 5 shekels (about $1) for every pipe
bomb they throw. Children have been increasingly mobilized
during 2002 for homicide attacks; their parents have
received cash payments from the Palestinian Authority,
Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The attempt at a cover-up:
The Palestinian Journalists' Association has warned
members that they would be punished if they photographed
armed children.
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Sacrificing Children
On March 30, 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. On April
23, three teenagers - Anwar Hamduna, Yusef Zakut,
and Abu Nada - from Gaza, attempted to crawl under
the perimeter fence and attack the residents of the
nearby Jewish community of Netzarim, only to be shot
dead by guards.
For over a month, Palestinian children as young as
ten barricaded themselves in Bethlehem's Church of
the Nativity, alongside Palestinian gunmen. In May,
a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was arrested in a taxi
near Jenin with a suicide bomb on his body. On June
13, 2002, a 15-year-old Palestinian girl, arrested
for throwing a firebomb at IDF soldiers, admitted
during interrogation that she had previously been
recruited as a suicide terrorist. On July 9, 2002,
Israeli security forces arrested another 15-year-old
Palestinian girl who admitted to having agreed to
carry out a suicide1 attack in Israel. These are some
of the latest developments in the intifada, an unprecedented
wave of ongoing attacks that has roiled the region
for two years. From the outset, Palestinian children
and teenagers have assumed an integral role. Although
some elements in Palestinian society oppose using
children, or at least their children, in "martyrdom"
operations, these voices remain isolated. Just as
in previous violent episodes, many Palestinians misuse
their children in various ways. Early in the current
intifada, children acted as decoys, burning tires
and shooting slingshots to attract the television
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. Recently, Abu Mazen, a senior
Arafat aide who is the Secretary General of the PLO
executive, criticized the tactics of terrorist organizations
in Gaza. Abu Mazen told a Kuwaiti newspaper interviewer,
"I am against little children going out to die. It
is a terrible thing. At least 40 children in Rafah
[in the Gaza Strip] lost their arm from the throwing
of Bangalore torpedoes [a form of pipe bomb]. They
received 5 shekels [approximately $1] in order to
throw them."2 Also, IDF soldiers who participated
in the Defensive Shield operation reported that children
were sometimes left behind to trigger booby-traps
that terrorists set for troops. But why are these
young people willing to throw away their lives? Who
led them to believe that assuming dangerous roles
in the violence will result in improving their personal,
family, and political situation? How did the celebration
of violence against Israelis become so deeply ingrained
in Palestinian culture? What cause, no matter how
deeply held, can motivate a society to sacrifice its
children, its future? A Family's Badge of Pride The
pressure to sacrifice oneself in the intifada often
originates at home. Stoked by Arafat's speeches lauding
the role of children in the struggle and the importance
of martyrdom, many Palestinian parents have come to
view the role of youth in the uprising as useful and,
indeed, honorable. Thus, after Ahmat Omar Abu Selmia,
a 15-year-old, was killed on his way to attack the
Israeli community of Dugit, his father celebrated
his "martyrdom" at a street festival attended by about
200 men. Martyrs - people who die for the sake of
jihad (holy war) and Islam - are held in such high
regard by the Palestinian people that at times parents
accept the death of their children as a badge of pride.
Parents of toddlers proudly recount their little children
saying they want to become martyrs, and a father of
a 13-year-old said, "I pray that God will choose him"
to be a martyr. One mother told a journalist from
the (London) Times, "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."
A photograph in the Jerusalem Post on February 26,
2002, showed Palestinian fathers teaching a group
of toddlers and young children to properly hold assault
rifles while trampling on American and Israeli flags.
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.3
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. A Society that Sanctifies Death Violent
death is sanctified throughout the Palestinian areas.
The streets are plastered with posters glorifying
the exploits of individual suicide bombers. Children
trade martyr cards, purchased at their local shops,
instead of pokemon or baseball cards, and necklaces
with pictures of martyrs are also very popular.4 One
favorite wall slogan reads: "Beware of death by natural
causes."5 Suicide bombing is considered a source of
neighborhood pride, as streets are named after the
perpetrators of these atrocities. There is even a
band named "The Martyrs," whose lyrics espouse the
virtues of "sacrificing yourself for Allah." Under
these cultural influences, many children readily admit
that they want to become suicide bombers. Some draw
pictures and fantasize about the day when they achieve
their goal. The young are taught that, as suicide
bombers, they will ascend to a paradise of luxury
staffed by 72 virgins waiting to gratify the martyrs
as they arrive. An American psychiatrist with 22 years
of experience studying and treating suicidal patients
stresses that suicide bombers - both children and
adults - are "tools used by terrorist leaders" with
"a whole culture encouraging [them] to die."6 The
Palestinian Authority - the Palestinian entity established,
empowered, funded, and armed to carry out the Oslo
peace process - uses diverse vehicles to incite the
youth to participate in anti-Israeli street violence
and even outright terrorism. Incitement in Palestinian
society is both authoritative and omnipresent. Palestinian
columnist Ashraf Al-Arjami agrees that the patriotism
of Palestinian youth is being exploited, and the schools
and mosques under Palestinian control are influencing
the children. The campaign to incite children emanates
straight from the top of the Palestinian Authority.
Documents signed with the emblem of the Palestinian
Authority and Yasser Arafat's office feature inciting
words referring to Israelis as "land plunderers" and
"creators of international terror." Arafat himself
refers to the children as "the generals of the stones,"
playing to their pride and young egos. In a Palestinian
Authority-run summer camp, a New York Times reporter
observed campers staging the kidnapping of Israeli
leaders, stripping and assembling Kalashnikov assault
rifles, and learning techniques for ambushes.7 One
Palestinian Authority television 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." In an October
2001 interview in a Palestinian Authority-controlled
newspaper, Youssef Jamah, the Palestinian Minister
of Holy Sites, stated on Egyptian television, "The
suicide bombings are a legitimate means through which
the Palestinians fight the enemy....The attacks are
the command of Allah." Although some Islamic authorities
oppose suicide bombing, Sheik 'Ikrimi Sabri, the Palestinian
Authority-appointed mufti of Jerusalem, said, "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." Not surprisingly, senior Palestinian
Authority officials attend the funerals of the "martyrs."
Educating the "Martyrs of Tomorrow" Even in the Palestinian
Authority's public schools, incitement to violence
plays a major role. Needless to say, interest in reconciliation
with Israel is notably absent. The Palestinian Authority's
Deputy Minister of Education, Naim Abu Humus, called
on school administrators to dedicate the first class
to praying for the souls of those killed during the
intifada, saying, "Today we glorify Al-Aqsa and Palestine,
and remember the Palestinian martyrs." Signs on the
walls of kindergartens proclaim their students as
"the shaheeds [martyrs] of tomorrow," and elementary
school teachers and principals commend their young
students for wanting to "tear their [Zionists'] bodies
into little pieces and cause them more pain than they
will ever know." Posters in university classrooms
proudly remind the world that the Palestinian cause
is armed with "human bombs." Sheik Hassan Yosef, a
leading Hamas member, summarized this process of incitement
by saying, "we like to grow them from kindergarten
through college." 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.8 These factors
cumulatively explain why young Palestinians are so
excited at the prospect of "martyrdom." "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. An injured 13-year-old boy
was reported as having said, "My goal is not to be
injured, but rather something higher - martyrdom."
A 13-year-old girl from Egypt tried to sneak into
Gaza in order to "join the Palestinian children in
anything, even throwing stones." A week earlier, a
12-year-old boy was stopped at the Israeli border
after attempting the same thing. But why does the
Palestinian Authority encourage Palestinian children
to become involved in this violence? Clearly, sympathy
for the Palestinian cause has been generated as Western
media reports have often highlighted instances in
which Palestinian children have been killed or injured
by Israeli troops or policemen. These knee-jerk reports
have generated criticism of Israeli policies, but
few in the Western world have thought through the
chaos they see on the television news to consider
whose interests are served by the casualties. Shoved
into the Front Lines There seems to be no end to the
list of Palestinian children killed after being shoved
into the front lines of the conflict by the Palestinian
leadership. In February 2002, Nora Shalhoob, a 16-year-old
Palestinian girl, was killed while charging a group
of Israeli soldiers at a military checkpoint with
a knife in her hand. Andaleeb Taqataqah was only 17
when she was recruited by a terror squad and sent
to her death in a suicide attack on a crowded Jerusalem
market on April 12, 2002. As a result of the increasing
frequency of such attacks, two points have become
clear. The first is that Palestinian children and
teenagers are lining up to throw their lives away,
and the second is that there is an across-the-board
effort by Palestinian leaders, parents, clerics, and
educators to turn youthful energy into deadly violence.
Contrary to the above-mentioned Amnesty International's
report, that apparently seeks to equate the killings
of Palestinian and Israeli children, numerous dissimilarities
cry out for attention. To mention just a few: Israeli
parents are not paid rewards by their government or
foreign governments when their children are wounded
or killed. IDF soldiers do not use Israeli children
as human shields when they initiate a firefight with
Palestinian gunmen. There is no doctrine in Jewish
law akin to that guaranteeing Muslim shaheeds that,
after death, bountiful rewards await them in paradise.
Israeli schools and synagogues never brainwash children
to undertake life-threatening violence against Palestinian
civilians. The government of Israel does not have
thousands of armed terrorists on its payroll. Israeli
parents have never been quoted in the media urging
their children to sacrifice their lives for a political
or religious cause. Nor do they send their children
to the front to riot before the television cameras.
Israeli summer camps do not indoctrinate children
to kill or instruct them on how to ambush or use firearms.
Israeli television children's programming never features
teachers smiling and clapping hands as their pupils
sing of their intent to become martyrs. Israeli children
do not collect or exchange martyr cards, or listen
to music by a group called "The Martyrs." Senior Israeli
political and religious figures do not laud, or pander
to, children who engage in violence. And most importantly,
Israeli soldiers do not intentionally target Palestinian
children (or others not involved in the violence),
on buses, in restaurants, discos, etc. Recently, six
children armed with M-16 and Kalashnikov rifles took
part in a pro-Iraqi rally in the Gaza Strip. Exposed
to such shocking images, including those of Palestinian
toddlers wearing mock suicide bomber's vests, Western
public opinion began to shift. Revulsion increasingly
replaced curiosity. But rather than fulfill its professional
obligation to publicize newsworthy and controversial
issues, in August 2002 the Palestinian Journalists'
Association warned its members that it would punish
any journalist or photographer who took photographs
of armed or masked Palestinian children. This intimidating
message, which was faxed to journalists and news agencies,
stated that Palestinian journalists employed by foreign
news agencies are even responsible for making sure
their colleagues act according to the warning. The
association further added that it would not defend
any journalists that do not implement the new policy,
should the Palestinian Authority decide to punish
them.9 Blatant child abuse of this kind, and efforts
to cover it up, would not be tolerated anywhere else
in the civilized world. Where are the children's welfare
advocates to condemn the practices that poison the
minds and imperil the bodies of young Palestinians?
Notes * The author is an adjunct lecturer at Hebrew
University and Tel Aviv University and a Scholar in
Residence at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
The author expresses his indebtedness to Daniel Alpert,
David Hessing, and Tal Bialostocki for their contributions
to this Issue Brief. For an earlier report on this
topic, see the author's "The Use of Palestinian Children
in the Al-Aqsa Intifada," http://www.jcpa.org/jl/vp441.htm
(November 1, 2000). A legal analysis of this topic
may be found in the author's forthcoming article,
"The Use of Palestinian Children in the Al-Aqsa Intifada:
a Legal and Political Analysis," in the Temple International
& Comparative Law Journal. 1. The popular term "suicide
bombing" fails to accurately characterize the intentions
behind the act - to kill as many people as possible
rather than to carry out a solitary wish to die. Hence,
some have called the act "homicide bombing." Symptomatic
of the ideological divide, Palestinians refer to the
attacks as "martyrdom operations" or "military operations."
2. Interview with Mahmud Abas (a.k.a. Abu Mazen),
Alzamin (Kuwaiti newspaper in Arabic), June 20, 2002.
3. Article 38 of the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child (1989) condemns the recruitment
and involvement of children under 15-years-old in
hostilities and armed conflicts. This provision clearly
enunciates, "[s]tate parties shall take all feasible
measures to ensure that persons who have not attained
the age of 15 years do not take a direct part in hostilities."
Current treaty law not only forbids children to participate
in combat, but it also proscribes a wide range of
other indirect activities. Article 3 of the UN Convention
states that administrative authorities or legislative
bodies of a state shall place "the best interest of
a child" as their primary consideration and, with
that principle in mind, a number of states have raised
the minimum age to 18. Article 36 asserts that state
parties shall protect the child against all other
forms of exploitation prejudicial to any aspects of
the child's welfare, which logically includes even
their voluntary recruitment to participate in a conflict.
Ironically, this standard appears to conform to Islamic
law, which prohibits children under 15 from participating
in a jihad. But neither international law nor Islamic
law has curtailed the exploitation of children in
the intifada. 4. Sandro Contenta, Toronto Star, June
17, 2002. 5. Amos Harel, Ha'aretz, July 15, 2002.
6. Diane Carman, Denver Post, April 25, 2002. 7. John
F. Burns, New York Times, August 3, 2000. 8. Richard
Leiby, Washington Post, April 24, 2002. 9. The International
Journalists' Association replied, requesting the Palestinian
Journalists' Association to cancel the ban, identifying
the problem as the very existence of these armed children,
and not the journalists who are only trying to do
their job. * * *
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