(Palestinian) Toddlers' lessons in terror

NOT yet old enough to go to school, they are given lessons in how to hold automatic rifles and taught who their enemies are. In the homes of Islamic militants in Afghanistan and Palestinian territory, the children are taught in the ways of terror.

They start with stones to throw against the believed enemy, then they are shown how to fire an AK-47 and other weapons of terror.

Israelis and Palestinians remain continually on the verge of war, and the US is still on alert for further acts of terrorism after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

This photograph was taken yesterday at a rally organised by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement in a Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

Children are told to stand and stomp on crudely-drawn Israeli and US flags and are shown how to hold properly AK-47s.

Around their heads are headbands reading "Friends of martyrs" and "Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade," referring to the Fatah-linked militant group whose West Bank leader was killed last month.

The seeds for another generation of martyrs forPalestinian extremists and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network militants are being sown in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and on the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The alarming images reflect the children's early introduction to the violence and turmoil that has engulfed their region for generations.

On the same day the pictures were taken, two Palestinian children – aged 10 and 13 – were wounded by shrapnel when a tank fired a shell at the refugee camp in Rafah.

A 15-year-old Palestinian girl, Moura Shalhoub, who reportedly ran towards an Israeli army checkpoint in the West Bank with a knife was killed yesterday.

Ignoring shouts from soldiers to network militants are being sown in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and on the borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The alarming images reflect the children's early introduction to the violence and turmoil that has engulfed their region for generations.

On the same day the pictures were taken, a 15-year-old Palestinian girl, Noura Shalhoub, picked up a knife and wanted to die for her people.

She ran towards an Israeli army checkpoint in the West Bank, brandishing her blade. The soldiers' shouts and warning shots failed to stop her and she was cut down in a volley of bullets.

Her father Jamal, a veterinarian, said she had left a suicide note behind signed "The living martyr, Noura Shalhoub".

In it, she wrote: "Through my operation, I have decided to send a message to the occupation that there is no safety on our soil for Jews."

Shalhoub also left a second note for her classmates, asking them to "bring up your children on the love of Jihad [holy struggle]" and to "pray that God will accept me as a martyr".

"She is the martyr of the Palestinian people. She has martyred herself for the sake of Palestine."

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, linked to Fatah, said last night it had adopted Shalhoub as one of their own after learning she kept a photograph of slain militant Raed al-Karmi by her bed.

Mr Arafat yesterday pledged to resume security talks with Israel after a day of deadly violence in the West Bank, as a Saudi peace initiative gained support within Israel and abroad.

"That was a request from our friend the European Union and our friend Javier Solana and I couldn't say no to that," Mr Arafat said after meeting the EU foreign policy chief in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The Palestinians suspended security talks with Israel on Sunday after the Government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced it would keep Mr Arafat confined to Ramallah, where he has been under virtual house arrest since early December.

The security talks are aimed at stemming violence that has claimed nearly 1280 lives in 17 months – including 978 Palestinians and 278 Israelis – since the start of the Palestinian intifada.

A peace initiative put forward by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz is gaining support, both within Israel and abroad.

The Crown Prince's initiative calls for the Arab world to normalise ties with the 54-year-old Jewish state in return for a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab lands.

Yesterday, Israeli President Moshe Katsav offered to either travel to Riyadh or welcome the Crown Prince to Jerusalem to discuss the plan, which Foreign Minister Shimon Peres dubbed "new, interesting and fascinating".

His bandana read: "Friends of the Martyrs"

STOP INCITING CHILDREN TO KILL

Enticing Children to Seek Death: On Palestinian Authority TV Video clips

Indicative of the official support the Palestinian

Authority is giving to the utilization of children in the struggle against Israel are the words of the PA-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheik 'Ikrimi Sabri, in an October 28 interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi:

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....
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....
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.

Martyrs, people who die for the sake of the holy jihad 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 the little children saying they want to become martyrs, and a father of a 13-year-old says "I pray that God will choose them" to be martyrs.(Chris Hedges, "The Glamour of Martyrdom," New York Times, Oct. 29, 2000).
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."
In the Jabalya refugee camp a father said he was proud his young son died with a rock in his hand. (Lamia Lahoud, "Palestinians Disappointed in Results of Cairo Parley," Jerusalem Post, Oct. 25, 2000).
Another mother boasted that she bore her son precisely for the purpose of participating in such Jihad, while the child's father proudly claimed to have provided his son with the training. (Gerald Steinberg, "Child Sacrifice is Palestinian Paganism," Jerusalem Post, Oct. 27, 2000).
Taman Sabeh, a 50-year-old woman in Nablus, was 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."

From: THE USE OF PALESTINIAN CHILDREN IN THE AL-AQSA INTIFADA

The Islamic Legitimacy of The "Martyrdom Operations"
Is Peace With Israel Possible?: The Islamic Verdict
Iran Calls For Islam's Total Support for Intifada
CHILDREN OF THE JIHAD: Palestinian Kids Raised For War Taught to hate, kill Jews through 'Sesame Street'-type TV show

Officialy the Saudi government is not sponsoring the intifada. But their citizens are: SAUDI ARABIA AND THE ARAB COUNTRIES INSIST ON HOLDING THE ARAB SUMMIT (ARAB FUNDING INTIFADA)

The Saudi peace proposal is just another facade to give the world the idea that the islamic nations want peace with Israel. Saudi Arabia is very concerned about the blood smeared image of islam, they want to prove it wants peace. But the Palestines don't want peace, they want all of Israel and the extinction of all Jews, just like mohammed commanded. Remember that mohammed, prophet of the religion of peace, allowed lying to affect peace-treaties and broke them whenever it suited him.

Is Peace With Israel Possible?: The Islamic Verdict

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