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13 year old Kamal Nawahda of Yamoun,
near Jenin, was killed by a gunshot in the head on Thursday,
by the Israeli Army. At the time of his murder, he was
inside his classroom. Unfortunately, even school is not a
safe place for children to be in the Occupied West Bank.
The Israeli Army had chosen to invade Yamoun and the fact
that they were next to a school did not hinder them from
shooting randomly and intensely, thus killing one of the
schoolchildren.
The Israeli Army was engaged in their
reproachable yet common combat with children, whose only
defense is throwing stones at armored vehicles. Often when
tanks and other military vehicles strut into villages,
children who have grown up under occupation and direct
suffering from this Intifada, express their resentment and
resistance through whipping rocks at the vehicles. They
know it won’t amount to much damage, but it is a release for
their deep frustration. Rarely are soldiers, hidden deep in
their vehicles, endangered by these children. While PHRMG
does not condone rock-throwing, it is by all means not
punishable by death. Yet this is how the Israeli Army
answers a kid who throws rocks—by shooting live ammunition
at them. Young Kamal happened to be victim of a stray
bullet, even though he was tending his matters in school.
Also on the same day, in Beit Hanoun
near the Gaza Strip, 7 children under age 15 were wounded,
one critically, as they walked to school. Soldiers
continued shooting at the children so that ambulances were
prevented from aiding the kids who had been shot. These
children were not infiltrating an Israeli city on their way
to a suicide mission. They were in their own Palestinian
village, going to their own Palestinian school to take their
final exams when invading Israeli soldiers attacked them
with gunfire. Such incidents are often too common to cause
alarm in this region, but PHRMG refuses to accept this as
acceptable conduct.
PHRMG questions what kind of democracy
shoots at kids with live ammunition for throwing stones. We
believe this disqualifies Israel from the notion that it is
a democracy. These are not terrorists. These are kids who
have had a vile occupation stuffed down their throats since
birth and are frustrated at the unrelenting humiliation and
suffering they and their families endure. More grotesque
than this, there are several eye-witness reports of Israeli
soldiers taunting Palestinian kids to come and shoot rocks
at them so they can respond with their deadly fire.
Since the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada
on September 29, 2000, 426 Palestinian children under the
age of 18 have been killed in this conflict, as well as 92
Israeli children.
PHRMG requests that those interested in
the protection of children contact the Israeli
representatives in your respective country to demand that
the Israeli army stop terrorizing children. Speak out
against this gross violence against children and let these
children not be just another detail in a complicated
conflict. It is inexcusable to shoot live ammunition at
children, and it must be brought to the forefront of the
world’s attention.
London
Public Affairs
info@israel-embassy.org.uk
Tel 0171-957 9500
Fax 0171-957 9555
Rome
Tel. centralino 0636198500
Fax 0636198555
israel.roma@agora.stm.it
Japan
igto@israel.co.jp
Netherlands
Telefon 070-3760500 (centrale)
Fax 070-3760555
EMAIL
ambassade@israel.nl
New Zealand
Embassy of Israel, Wellington
Tel 04 472 2368
Fax 04 499 0632
E-Mail
israel-ask@israel.org.nz
Stockholm
08-661 33 09 Fax 08-662 53 01
israel.embassy@swipnet.se
Washington DC
Tel (202) 364-5500
Fax (202) 364-5423
E-mail
ask@israelemb.org |
