By Khaled
Abu Toameh
October 29, 2014
The exploitation of children in the
fight against Israel has attracted little attention from the international
community and the media. Human rights groups and the UN have chosen to turn a
blind eye to this human rights abuse. Instead of condemning it, these groups
are busy denouncing Israel for targeting minors.
This strategy works out well for
Hamas and Fatah, who can always blame Israel for "deliberately
targeting" Palestinian children — an allegation the media in the West
often endorses without asking questions.
Even more worrying is that the
Palestinian groups often reward the families, who then become less motivated to
stop their children from risking their lives.
Adult activists who encourage and
send children to take part in violence should be held accountable, not only by
Israel but by their own people. If these adults want an intifada, they should
be the first to go out and confront Israeli policemen and soldiers.
Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian
groups are using children from east Jerusalem and the West Bank in what appears
to be a new intifada against Israel.
Nearly half of the Palestinians
arrested by Jerusalem Police over the past few months are minors. Some of them are as young as nine.
These children are being sent to
throw stones and firebombs, and launch fireworks at policemen and IDF soldiers,
as well as at Israeli civilians and vehicles, including buses and the light
rail in Jerusalem.
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Masked
Palestinian youths hurl rocks at a Jewish kindergarten near
the Mount of
Olives in Jerusalem, Sept. 2014.
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The exploitation of children in the
fight against Israel has attracted little attention from the international
community and media. Human rights groups and United Nations institutions have
chosen to turn a blind eye to these human rights abuses.
Instead of condemning those who
exploit the children and dispatch them to confront policemen and soldiers,
these groups and institutions are busy denouncing Israel for targeting minors.
Most of the children's attacks
occur after school, so they are not deprived of education. But sadly, some of
the Palestinian minors get killed or wounded in clashes with Israeli security
forces.
Orwa Hammad, a 14-year-old
Palestinian-American boy from the village of Silwad near Ramallah, was shot dead by IDF
soldiers last week. The IDF says he was spotted preparing to
hurl a firebomb at Israeli vehicles.
Earlier, 13-year-old Bahaa Bader was
shot dead by IDF soldiers in the village of Beit Likya, also in the Ramallah
area. An IDF spokesman said soldiers responded with live fire when residents
threw firebombs at them as they were exiting the village.
Last month, 16-year-old Mohammed
Sinokort from the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood of Jerusalem was killed during a
stone-throwing incident.
This is not the first time that
Palestinian groups use children in the struggle against Israel. During the
first intifada, which erupted in 1987, children and women were often at the
forefront in clashes with Israeli security personnel.
This strategy works out well for
Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Fatah. At the end of the day, they can
always blame Israel for "deliberately" targeting Palestinian children
and women -- an allegation that the mainstream media in the West often endorses
without asking questions.
Moreover, the Palestinian groups
know that the children who are being sent to confront Israeli soldiers and
policemen will not be held accountable.
Most of the minors detained by the
Jerusalem Police for their involvement in the violence are released to house
arrest. In cases where the children are aged nine to 13, they are referred to
social welfare authorities without being detained.
The majority of these children are
going out to throw stones and firebombs at Israelis because they are come from
poor families or are lacking in good education and other economic and social
privileges. But many of them come from middle-class families and do not live in
refugee camps.
These children are victims of a
campaign of indoctrination and incitement that is being waged by various
Palestinian groups such as Hamas and Fatah. It is a campaign that is being
waged through the media, mosques, educational institutions and the fiery
rhetoric of leaders and activists
.
What is even more worrying is that
the Palestinian groups often reward the families of the children by hiring
lawyers and paying fines imposed on them by Israeli courts. As a result, the
families are less motivated to stop their children from risking their lives.
There are also reports that Fatah
and Hamas activists in Jerusalem have been paying children small sums of money
to throw stones and firebombs at Israelis and block roads in several Arab
neighborhoods.
Hamas and Fatah had long discovered
that children are one of the most effective tools in the fight against Israel
-- especially because of the damage Israel sustains in the court of
international public opinion.
Thus far, it appears that the
Palestinian groups have been successful in their effort to depict Israel as a
country that deliberately targets Palestinian minors whose only crime is that
they "resisted occupation."
Dressing children in
military uniforms and allowing them to carry rifles and pistols
during rallies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is one way of encouraging them
to put their lives at risk. But of course Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian
factions do not see anything wrong with this practice.
The adult activists who send and
encourage children to take part in violence should be held accountable, not
only by Israeli authorities, but also by their own people and international
human rights organizations. If these adults want an intifada, they should be
the first to go out and confront Israeli policemen and soldiers.
The time has come for the
international community and media to pay attention to their disturbing conduct
and demand that Palestinian groups stop hiding behind children.
