Child suicide bombers in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Palestinian militant groups have actively recruited children to attack Israeli targets, both military and civilian, especially during the al-Aqsa Intifada. The participation of children in Palestinian militant and terrorist actions has been widely condemned by international organisations and Palestinian groups[1][2] The use of children in such a way has provoked much discussion.

Contents

[edit] Overview

According to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers "2004 Global Report on the Use of Child Soldiers", there were at least nine documented suicide attacks involving Palestinian minors between October 2000 and March 2004[3] An Israeli military report details 229 cases of children involved in militant activity.[citation needed] In 2004, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reported that "there was no evidence of systematic recruitment of children by Palestinian armed groups," also noting that this remains a small fraction of the problem in other conflict zones such as Africa, where there are an estimated 20,000 children involved in active combat roles in the Sudan alone.[4] Human Rights Watch also reported that "there was no evidence that the Palestinian Authority (PA) recruited or used child soldiers."[5]

According to the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, in the al-Aqsa Intifada, Palestinian militant groups have used children as "messengers and couriers, and in some cases as fighters and suicide bombers in attacks on Israeli soldiers and civilians." Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) have all been implicated in involving children in this way, see Convention on the Rights of the Child. The issue was first brought to world attention after a widely televised incident in which a mentally handicapped Palestinian teenager, Hussam Abdo, was disarmed at an Israeli checkpoint.[6] The youngest Palestinian suicide bomber who blew himself up was Issa Bdeir, a 16-year-old high school student from the village of Al Doha. He blew himself up in a park in Rishon LeZion, killing a teenage boy and an elderly man.

Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International has strongly and repeatedly condemned violence against civilians:

Palestinian armed groups have repeatedly shown total disregard for the most fundamental human rights, notably the right to life, by deliberately targeting Israeli civilians and by using Palestinian children in armed attacks. Children are susceptible to recruitment by manipulation or may be driven to join armed groups for a variety of reasons, including a desire to avenge relatives or friends killed by the Israeli army.[7]

Despite the harsh condemnations and internal controversy, Palestinian militant groups such as Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and Islamic Jihad, have used children as militants and suicide bombers.

[edit] Indoctrinating children

Mia Bloom writes in her 2005 book Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror:

Since November 2000, Palestinian public opinion has increasingly supported suicide bombing, even though support for such operations fluctuated in the past, it has alarmingly shifted towards radical Islamic organizations.[8]

According to emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine Vamik Volkan,

Most suicide bombers in the Middle East are chosen as teenagers, “educated,” and then sent off to perform their duty when they are in their late teens or early to mid-twenties. The "education" is most effective when religious elements of the large-group identity are provided as solutions for the personal sense of helplessness, shame, and humiliation. Replacing borrowed elements sanctioned by God for one’s internal world makes that person omnipotent and supports the individual’s narcissism. I found that there was little difficulty in finding young men interested in becoming suicide bombers in Gaza and the West Bank. Repeated actual and expected events humiliate youngsters and interfere with their adaptive identifications with their parents because their parents are humiliated as well. [9]

Volkan gives the examples of beatings, torture, or the loss of a parent as typical humiliating events which might make a young person more susceptible to recruitment for suicide terrorism.

Once recruited, children and teenagers are encouraged to cut off contact with "real world" affairs and subjected to an intense program of memorization and repetition of the Qur'an. Which is easier with non-Palestinians such as Pakistanis and Afghanis because of their lack of understanding of the Arabic of the texts. Volkan writes:

The typical technique of creating Middle Eastern Muslim suicide bombers includes two basic steps: first, the "teachers" find young people whose personal identity is already disturbed and who are seeking an outer "element" to internalize so they can stabilize their internal world. Second, they develop a "teaching method" that "forces" the large-group identity, ethnic and/or religious, into the "cracks" of the person’s damaged or subjugated individual identity. Once people become candidates to be suicide bombers, the routine rules and regulations, so to speak, or individual psychology does not fully apply to their patterns of thought and action.[9]

Volkan compares such identity "cracks" with "another historical period when intentional interference with the personal identities of children occurred—when the "cracks" of German children’s personal identities were filled with Nazi ideology".[9]

Anne Speckhard, adjunct associate Professor of Psychiatry, Georgetown University Medical Center and Professor of Psychology, Vesalius College, Free University of Brussels, writes:

In the Palestinian territories, there currently exists a "cult of martyrdom". From a very young age children are socialized into a group consciousness that honors "martyrs", including human bombers who have given their lives for the fight against what is perceived by Palestinians to be the unjust occupation of their lands. Young children are told stories of "martyrs". Many young people wear necklaces venerating particular "martyrs", posters decorate the walls of towns and rock and music videos extol the virtues of bombers. Each act of suicide terrorism is also marked by a last testament and video, which are prepared ahead of time by the "martyr" who can later reach great popularity when the video is played on television. Despite the very deep and real grief of the family and friends left behind, the funerals of “martyrs” are generally accompanied with much fanfare by community and sponsoring organization. Often, the effect of this is confusing to outsiders as it can disrupt, delay and even circumvent the family’s ability to focus on its grief over the loss of a family member and it may even support the family in claiming to outsiders joy over the loss of its loved one. This "cult of martyrdom", which has a strong underpinning in longstanding cultural roots (the honoring of martyrs), appears to have developed principally over the last decade, as the first act of suicide terrorism occurred in Israel only twelve years ago."[10]

Umm Nidal, who sent three of her sons, including one 17 year old, on suicide attacks, said "I love my children, but as Muslims we pressure ourselves and sacrifice our emotions for the interest of the homeland. The greater interest takes precedence to the personal interest." She was later elected to the Palestinian legislature on the Hamas ticket.[11] According to Human Rights Watch,

Major Palestinian armed groups, including Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Islamic Jihad, and Hamas, have publicly disavowed the use of children in military operations, but those stated policies have not always been implemented. Some leaders, including representatives of Islamic Jihad and Hamas, have said that they consider children of 16 to be adults. International law defines a child as any person under the age of eighteen.[12]

[edit] TV

In April 2007 Hamas created a Mickey Mouse lookalike to propagate their brand of fundamentalist Islam to children. The character, named "Farfour" (butterfly) calls for Muslim world domination, encouraging children to say that they will "shoot", "annihilate the Jews", and "commit martyrdom."[dubious – discuss].[13] "Farfur and a female co-host instructed their young viewers on Hamas's militant brand of Muslim piety and urged children to support armed resistance against Israel".[14]

Criticism came from many quarters. Mark Regev, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman was outraged that "children are taught that killing Jews is a good thing," while Basem Abu Sumaya, head of the Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., responded "I don't think it's professional or even humane to use children in such harsh political programs."[15]

On May 9, 2007, at the request of the Palestinian Information Ministry, Hamas suspended the program. Information minister Mustafa Barghouti said it was wrong to direct political messages at children and that "any media outlet that breaks Palestinian broadcasting law will be penalized by the Information Ministry."[16] But according to the British The Daily Telegraph, a spokesman for the station, which is owned and run by Hamas later announced the programme would continue and to remove it would be a political surrender to Israel.[17]

According to AP and AFP report the mouse program has returned to Palestinian television.[18] On June 2007 the mouse had martyred himself "while defending his land" He was killed "by the killers of children"[19]

[edit] Palestinian textbooks

Main article: Palestinian textbooks
 The neutrality and factual accuracy of this section are disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (March 2008)

Detailed analyses of Palestinian textbooks, as well as investigation into their possible links to child violence, have been conducted by various research organizations: The U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem commissioned studies from the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI). In Europe the Georg Eckert Institute performed research. The Hebrew University's Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace has also published papers on this issue. A U.S. Senate subcommittee and the Political Committee of the European Parliament have both held hearings about Palestinian textbooks.[20]

Some of the original allegations appear to have been based upon on Egyptian or Jordanian textbooks and incorrect translations and a number of researchers have found no incitement to hatred in the Palestinian textbooks.[20] According to Fouad Moughrabi, writing in The Nation, reports of incitement in Palestinian textbooks are exaggerated and false.[21]

A special report commissioned by the U.S. Department of State and conducted by the Israel-Palestine Center for Research and Information defended the Palestinian curriculum, concluding:

The overall orientation of the [Palestinian] curriculum is peaceful despite the harsh and violent realities on the ground. It does not openly incite against Israel and the Jews. It does not openly incite hatred and violence. Religious and political tolerance is emphasized in a good number of textbooks and in multiple contexts.[22]

Ruth Firer of the Harry S. Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Sami Adwan, a professor of education at Bethlehem University in Bethlehem compared Palestinian and Israeli textbooks in 2002. Of the Palestinian textbooks they found that,

The books portray Jews throughout history in a positive manner and avoid negative stereotypes. However, according to the everyday experience of Palestinians, modern-day Israelis are presented as occupiers. The texts include examples of Israelis killing and imprisoning Palestinians, demolishing their homes, uprooting fruit trees, and confiscating their lands and building settlements on them. The texts also talk about the right of return for the 1948 Palestinian refugees when describing how those refugees live in camps.[23]

A 2004 study of 13 Israeli textbooks and 9 Palestinian textbooks found that "neither side's books tell the story of the conflict from the other's viewpoint, both ignore the other side's suffering and each counts only its only victims."[24]

Nathan Brown has claimed that reports of Palestinian textbooks inciting violence can all be traced back to "the work of a single organization, the ‘Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace'".[25]

According to the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, however, Palestinian textbooks glorify violent forms of Jihad and martyrdom.[26]

In February 2007, the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW)[unreliable source?] released a report entitled "From Nationalist Battle to Religious Conflict: New 12th Grade Palestinian Textbooks Present a World Without Israel."[27] containing analysis of eight textbooks published by the PA at the end of 2006. The US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton joined with PMW[28] for the release of the report. Clinton reported examples of the "glorification of death and violence" in the texbooks.[29] and said:

I believe that education is one of the keys to lasting peace in the Middle East... Ever since we first raised this issue some years ago there still has not been an adequate repudiation of incitement by the Palestinian Authority. It is even more disturbing that the problem appears to have gotten worse. These textbooks don't give Palestinian children an education, they give them an indoctrination.[30][31]

[edit] History

[edit] Incidents from September 2000 through 2003

According to the Israel Defense Forces:

  • Since the beginning of violence in the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000, 29 suicide attacks have been carried out by youth under the age of 18.
  • Since May 2001, 22 shootings attacks and attacks using explosive devices were carried out by youth under the age of 18.
  • Since the beginning of 2001, more than 40 youths under the age of 18 were involved in attempted suicide bombings that were thwarted (of them, three during 2004).

On 29 March 2002, Ayat al-Akhras, a teenager from the Deheishe Refugee Camp near Bethlehem, detonated explosives strapped around her waist in a supermarket in Jerusalem, killing herself, a 17 year-old Israeli girl named Rachel Levy, and a 55 year-old security guard named Haim Smadar.

[edit] Incidents in 2004

On March 24, 2004, one week after capturing a bomb in the bag of 12-year-old Abdullah Quran, Hussam Abdo, a 16-year-old Palestinian (who initially claimed he was 14), was captured in a checkpoint near Nablus wearing an explosive belt. The young boy was paid by the Tanzim militia to detonate himself at the checkpoint. IDF soldiers manning the checkpoint were suspicious of him and told him to stay away from people. Later, an EOD team arrived and by using a police-sapper robot, removed the explosive belt from him.[32][33] Hussam explained that he was offered 100 NIS and sex with virgins if he would perform the task. He said his friends mocked him in class.[34]

On May 29, 2004, The New York Times reported Israeli allegations that the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades were using children to recruit classmates as suicide bombers.

One child, Nasser Awartani, 15, of Nablus allegedly recruited four of his classmates, one of whom was claimed by the Shabak report on Awartani to be Hussam Abdo.

On June 16, 2004, two girls - aged 14 and 15 were arrested by the IDF for plotting a suicide bombing. According to an IDF statement, the two children were recruited by activists from Tanzim (Fatah's armed wing), guided by Hezbollah.[35]

On July 3, the Israeli Security Forces thwarted a suicide bombing which was to have been carried out by 16-year-old Muataz Takhsin Karini. Karini and two of his operators were arrested, while a 12 kg explosive belt was detonated safely by an Israeli EOD crew.[36] On June 5, IDF forces detonated two explosive belts concealed in schoolbags. On July 14, the Shin Bet arrested in Kfar Maskha a suicide bomber. The bomber was identified as 17-year-old Ahmed Bushkar from Nablus.[37]

On August 7, 2004, a 15-year-old Palestinian was killed while trying to launch an anti-tank missile into the Rafiah Yam settlement in the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces returned fire and hit the missile, and he was apparently was killed by the explosion. Later that day, in an attempt to sabotage the Israeli Gaza Strip Barrier, one Palestinian was killed and a 16-year-old teen was arrested. An IED explosive charge was found nearby.[38]

On September 23, 2004, a day before Yom Kippur, the Shin Bet and the Israel Police captured a 15-year-old suicide bomber and a 7 kg explosive belt in the village of Dir-Hana in the Western Galilee. The 15-year-old was part of joint terrorist cell of Tanzim and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Yamon village near Jenin. The four were Palestinians who worked illegally in Israel. The 15-year-old teenager was paid 1000 shekels in order to blow himself up in Afula.[39][40]

According to a Shabak report published on September 26, 2004, about 292 Palestinian children have been involved in terrorism.[41]

As of the fourth quarter of 2004, Nablus continued to be a center for the recruitment of child suicide bombers:

On September 27, 2004, a 15-year-old suspected suicide bomber was arrested in Nablus.[42] On October 28, Ayub Maaruf, a 16-year-old Fatah suicide bomber, was arrested near Nablus along with his operator.[43]

On November 1, 16-year-old Aamer Alfar blew himself in Tel Aviv's Carmel Market, killing 3 Israelis in a suicide bombing that was claimed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Alfar's mother and father condemned what they saw as the exploitation of their son:

"God will curse those who recruited Amar. I had heard the stories about recruiting children in Nablus but I didn't think they were true... Yes, it is difficult here for everyone because of the occupation, and life in Nablus is intolerable, but children should not be exploited in this way."[citation needed]

On November 4, a 15-year-old suicide bomber was arrested in Nablus.

[edit] Incidents in 2005

On February 3, Mahmoud Tabouq, a 15- or 16-year-old Palestinian, was arrested at the Huwara checkpoint near Nablus carrying a bag containing an explosive belt, an improvised gun, and 20 bullets. The belt was detonated safely by a Magav bomb squad.[44][45]

On April 12, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy identified as Hassan Hashash was caught at Huwara checkpoint hiding five pipe bombs under his coat. He tried to ignite them with a match when the soldiers apprehended him. Later he was disarmed, and sappers detonated the bombs safely. Family members of Hashash suggested that he deliberately carried bombs into an IDF checkpoint in order to be arrested and study for the "Bagrut" final exams in the Israeli jail.[46] A week later, another Palestinian youth (aged 17) was caught carrying explosives in Beit Furik checkpoint.

On April 27, two Palestinian teenagers, both aged 15 (though other sources cite their ages as 12 and 13), were arrested at a checkpoint near Jenin after 11 explosive charges were found on them. One teenager was recruited by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the other by the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. The two told interrogators that they had been acting as couriers for terrorists, but security forces suspect they planned to get close to the soldiers and then detonate the charges.[47]

On May 22, Iad Ladi, a 14- or 15-year-old Palestinian suicide bomber was arrested at a Huwara checkpoint near Nablus. This was the 14th time during April and May that a Palestinian child was arrested as a bomber or a courier. Two days later, another 15-year-old Palestinian teen carrying two pipe bombs, was caught at the same checkpoint. On June 15, The Israeli press reported that the Shabak arrested a Palestinian terrorist cell in Nablus during the previous month. The cell included eight members, four of whom were child suicide bombers. The cell was on the verge of committing another suicide bombing attack using the four children. According to the Shin Bet, the cell was directed and funded by the Fatah's Tanzim branch and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.[48]

On July 6, a Palestinian teenager was caught carrying explosives near Baqa al-Sharkiya, two days after another Palestinian 16-year-old was caught with explosives at the Hawara checkpoint.[49]

On October 11, a 14-year-old Palestinian boy was arrested by IDF forces. He told the soldiers he was forced to agree to commit a suicide bombing when two terrorists from Fatah's Tanzim faction threatened to murder him by spreading a leaflet accusing him of collaboration unless he agreed. They took pictures of him with a gun and the Qur'an and forced him to write his own will.[50]

[edit] Incidents in 2007

On August 27, 2007, A 15-year-old Palestinian boy carrying 2 explosive device on his body, was arrested in the northern Gaza Strip after he attempted to carry out an attack against soldiers operating in the area against Palestinians launching Qassam rockets on Israeli civilians across the border inside Israel [6]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/11/02/isrlpa9591.htm
  2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3979887.stm
  3. ^ Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers p. 292
  4. ^ Global Report on the Use of Child Soldiers. Retrieved on 2006-06-03.
  5. ^ Child Soldier Use. Human Rights Watch. Retrieved on 2006-06-03.
  6. ^ Kiley, Sam. In a war without heroes, this boy was no martyr. The Observer. Retrieved on 2006-06-03. Video footage can be found at [1]
  7. ^ | http://asiapacific.amnesty.org/library
  8. ^ Mia Bloom (2005): Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror NY: Columbia University Press. p.19
  9. ^ a b c Vamik D. Volkan: Suicide Bombers Virginia University
  10. ^ Speckhard, Anne. “Understanding Suicide Terrorism: Countering Human Bombs and Their Senders” in Topics in Terrorism: Toward a Transatlantic Consensus on the Nature of the Threat (Volume I) Eds. Jason S. Purcell & Joshua D. Weintraub Atlantic Council Publication 2005.
  11. ^ "Suicide Bombers' Mother Elected to Palestinian Parliament. 'Mother of the Struggle' Says She Would Sacrifice Remaining Sons for Jihad", ABC News Internet Ventures, 2006-01-26. Retrieved on 2007-07-12. 
  12. ^ Human Rights Watch (2004-10-03). "Occupied Territories: Stop Use of Children in Suicide Bombings". Press release.
  13. ^ "Clip 1442: A Mickey Mouse Character on Hamas TV Teaches Children about Islamic Rule of the World", Middle East Media Research Institute
  14. ^ Hamas television to replace 'martyred' Mickey Mouse look-alike By Reuters. Haaretz 03/07/2007
  15. ^ "Hamas "Mickey Mouse" calls for Muslim world domination", Associated Press, May 8, 2007
  16. ^ "PA pulls Hamas TV children`s program with mock Mickey Mouse advocating violence", Haaretz, May 9, 2007
  17. ^ | http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news
  18. ^ http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4798119.html
  19. ^ http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3419244,00.html
  20. ^ a b Roger Avenstrup. "Palestinian textbooks: Where is all that 'incitement'?", International Herald Tribune, December 18, 2004. 
  21. ^ "Battle of the Books in Palestine", The Nation, October 1, 2001. 
  22. ^ Setting the record straight. UNRWA. Retrieved on 2006-06-05.
  23. ^ Ruth Firer, Sami Adwan (March 28, 2002). Comparing Palestinian and Israeli Textbooks. Palestinian Curriculum Development Center.
  24. ^ "Israelis' textbooks fare little better than Palestinians'", Haaretz, 09/12/2004. 
  25. ^ "Reports on Palestinian kids’ hatred grossly exaggerated", The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California, February 6, 2004. 
  26. ^ CMIP Homepage by Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (CMIP)
  27. ^ '"From Nationalist Battle to Religious Conflict: New 12th Grade Palestinian Textbooks Present a World Without Israel"
  28. ^ Senator Clinton To Join With Palestinian Media Watch To Release New Report On Continuing Anti-Israel Bias In Palestinian Textbooks. February 7, 2007.
  29. ^ Krieger, Hilary Leila. "Hillary Clinton skeptical Abbas will make sufficient peace partner." Jerusalem Post. 8 February 2007. 3 March 2007.
  30. ^ New PA schoolbooks give children "an indoctrination," not an education, Hillary Clinton says at release of new PMW report
  31. ^ Senator Clinton Condemns Palestinian Textbook Bias by Nathan Burchfiel (CNSNews) February 9, 2007
  32. ^ http://www1.idf.il/SIP_STORAGE/DOVER/files///1//28131.jpg
  33. ^ Israelis say boy, 11, used as bomber | The Guardian | Guardian Unlimited
  34. ^ http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/1,7340,L-2893762,00.html
  35. ^ [2]
  36. ^ נעצרו 3 פלשתינאים שתיכננו פיגוע בירושלים - חדשות -הארץ
  37. ^ צה"ל הרג בכיר בחמאס שהתבצר בחברון - וואלה! חדשות
  38. ^ http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-2959268,00.html
  39. ^ [3]
  40. ^ [4]
  41. ^ [5],(DOC, Hebrew)
  42. ^ נעצר פלסטיני בן 15 החשוד בכוונה לבצע פיגוע התאבדות - וואלה! חדשות
  43. ^ חדשות NRG - המחבל המיועד: נער בן 16
  44. ^ "Six Israelis hurt in shooting attacks in Gaza, W. Bank", Haaretz, 2005-02-04. 
  45. ^ Palestinian Child Wearing an Apparent Explosive Belt Arrested at the Hawara Checkpoint. Israel Defense Forces (2005-02-03). Video is available on a page
  46. ^ "Boy carrying 5 bombs detained", Ynet Nes, 2005-04-12. 
  47. ^ (Hebrew) "הנערים תכננו להתפוצץ במחסום", NRG Maariv, 2005-04-27. 
  48. ^ "Teen bombers detained", Ynet News, 2005-06-15. 
  49. ^ "Palestinian teen ferried two bombs", Ynet News, 2005-06-07. 
  50. ^ "Boy pressed to carry out attack", Ynet News, 2005-12-10. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Landau, Elaine (2007): Suicide Bombers: Foot Soldiers of the Terrorist Movement. Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN 076133470X
  • Greenberger, Robert (2007): Suicide Bombers. The Rosen Publishing Group
  • Bloom, Mia (2005): Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror. NY: Columbia University Press.
  • Carpenter, Charli R. (2006): Innocent Women And Children: Gender, Norms and the Protection of Civilians. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0754647455
  • Charny, Israel W. (2006): Fighting Suicide Bombing: A Worldwide Campaign for Life. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0275993361

[edit] External links