People shouln't be too hard on the parents, who don't denounce suicide bombing in general, only for their own kids. The mother is extremely brave for having talked to Israeli TV at all, and if she had gone further could have been next on the list of "collaborators" to be shot.
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There are counselors available in Israel and if Arafat and the other terrorists would just get off these poor people and allow them to participate in Israeli society, they could get some help.
It's unfortunate but I think the family's appearance on Israeli TV, coupled with the boy's failure to complete his "mission", is already quite enough to get them on the "list".
Gaza boy failed to stop friend's suicide attack
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
SHEIKH RADWAN, Gaza Strip, April 22 (Reuters) - Fourteen-year-old Ahmed Tafish and his friend Haitham often talked about launching a suicide attack against Israeli soldiers guarding a Jewish settlement near their homes.
But when talk turned to action, Ahmed backed down. Haitham Abu Shuqa handed his schoolbag to his friend, walked towards the guardpost with two homemade pipe bombs and a dagger and was shot dead.
Haitham, whom Ahmed called "my soulmate," was killed four days ago by Israeli troops guarding the Jewish settlement of Dugit in the northern Gaza Strip.
Ahmed said the talk of attacking soldiers began when he and his school friends, including Haitham, became distraught over news reports of heavy Palestinian casualties during Israel's West Bank offensive launched on March 29.
"We could not tolerate seeing children our age being killed every day," he told Reuters on Monday. "We all felt we had to do something."
Still trembling, Ahmed said they walked along the Mediterranean shore last Thursday after skipping school. He tried to persuade Haitham to go home but said he insisted he would "die as a martyr."
"I told him not to be a fool. 'You will harm nobody with these pipes. You will die. Let us go back and we can come back when we get older'," Ahmed said at home in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood of Gaza City.
In his schoolbag Haitham had two homemade pipe bombs made from gunpowder extracted from fireworks. As they continued to walk towards the settlement, he said Haitham told him: "Listen Ahmed, we must die as martyrs."
"When I refused to continue with him he asked me to keep his school bag." The two separated and a few seconds later Ahmed heard the crack of gunfire which killed his friend.
"I am so sad. I am so disappointed," the tearful boy said.
Ahmed said he and his friend had no affiliation with any Palestinian group and had acted independently.
A number of young Palestinians have been killed by Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip after straying too close to heavily guarded settlements, which are on constant guard for attacks by militants.
But no one can remember anyone as young as Haitham actually trying to mount an attack.
Ahmed's mother blamed Israel for pushing young Palestinians to such extremes. "They are innocent children. They cannot see the consequences of what they do," she told Reuters.
The family was keeping a close watch on their son for fear he might try to do something to avenge Haitham's death.
04/22/02 16:47 ET
WOW.....But they left out the part where Chelsea was only a block away.