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Sunday, August 8, 2004
Palestinian NGO: children died attacking Israel but "no children among Palestinian resistance"

Palestinian NGO: children died attacking Israel but "no children among
Palestinian resistance"

Global Child Advocacy Movement (GCAM): No Children Among Palestinian
Resistance
07/08/2004

By Samer Khuwayera
www.palestine-pmc.com/details.asp?cat=3&id=413
[Officia PA website]

NABLUS - A study by the Global Child Advocacy Movement (GCAM) - Palestine
Branch - has refuted Israeli allegations of Palestinian plans to enlist
children among the ranks of Palestinian resistance factions, pointing out
that children's participation in military action is rare and due to
"mistakes that have been corrected."

Entitled "Making Use of Children in Occupied Territories . An Analytical
View of Child Conscription", the study; a copy of which was obtained by
IslamOnline.net, has shown that "the Israeli media launched campaigns
against Palestinian resistance, claiming that children are used as human
shields or conscribed to perform armed operations, to justify killing
children(by the Israeli occupation army)."

According to the study, 695 children have been killed at the hands of the
occupation troops between September 2000 and June 2004. During that period,
the number of children detained by Israel reached 2,800.

The study has also pointed out that 60% of those detained children do not
belong to any resistance faction or organization.

The study was presented during a press conference Monday August 2, by the
GCAM at the Palestinian Media Center in El-Beira city, the West Bank.

The conference was attended by GCAM director general George Abul Zalaf, GCAM
legal researcher Jihad Shumly and representative of the International
Coalition for Prevention of Child Conscription Atrique Rustie.

On the motive behind compiling such a study, Abul Zalaf said, "The first
motive that has pushed us to prepare the study is the Palestinian child and
his interests."

Abul Zalaf pointed out to a number of incidents during which the occupation
troops killed children before local and world media, including the killing
of Mohammed Al-Durra in October 2000.

Factions Deny

According to the study, Palestinian resistance factions unanimously adopted
an attitude that "denies conscription of children and emphasizes that the
age under which no one is allowed to participate in resistance operations is
18."

The study reiterated that the declaration of responsibility by resistance
factions of some individual operations performed by children was "to raise
the morale of the families of child martyrs, respect martyrs and the
objective he was victimized for."

Israel Killed 22 Children

On his part, Shumly, who compiled the study, said, "The study has documented
a number of Palestinian children who fell martyrs while performing
resistance operations between November 2001 and September 2003."

"22 children have been killed while targeting Israeli military complexes; as
three were killed during attempted bombings, seven died while attacking
Israeli settlements and nine fell victims while attempting to plan for
attacks. Two girls were victimized in other resistance operations," he
reiterated.

The study documented several cases, wherein children were forced to deal
with the Israeli Intelligence Agency and exposed to physical torture,
psychological pressures and sexual abuses.

In the same context, representative of the International Coalition for
Prevention of Child Conscription Atrique Rustie said, "It is emphatic to
focus on the fact that the use of all means of oppression and suppression by
the Israeli Intelligence Agency against children in order to enlist them as
agents is a severe violation in breach of the international law."

He pointed out that there are reports on "Israeli children under-15 being
enlisted by the Jewish settlers in order to guard settlements or even use
weapons against Palestinian civilians."

Israel has recently accused Palestinian resistance factions of conscribing
children to perform military operations inside Israel or using them as human
shields during the Israeli incursions against Palestinian towns.

GCAM

The Global Child Advocacy Movement (GCAM), Palestine Branch, has been set up
in 1992 in (occupied) Jerusalem , as an independent non-governmental and
neutral organization that seeks to provide Palestinian children with
protection and support.

Occupied Jerusalem 's office includes activists in the field of human rights
from Palestine , Britain and other countries.

The Movement enjoys an advisory status in the UN Economic and Social
Council, the UNICEF and the European Council.

The plan of action of the Movement is based on several basic principles,
including but not limited to, deep understanding and analysis of the
problems the Palestinian children suffer from and specifying the priorities
of Palestinian children.

*Source: IslamOnline.net, Friday, August 06 2004.

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