Stop the Killing of Children!

Children are indeed the most precious treasure. One day, a child is to be a leader, doctor, engineer; he/she is to play a role in the shaping of the world at large. Unfortunately, large portions of the children in this part of the world are still living under fears of terror, killing, assassination, not to mention the hard conditions surrounding them. The children of the occupied Palestinian territories, in particular, have suffered a lot. It is indeed utterly terrible when a child is denied the simplest of basic human rights and freedom to a secure better life. A child every where has to enjoy care and due private and public attention. It is a crime against every human once a child of any color or nationality gets killed.

According to a report by the United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF, on October 2, " thousands of Palestinian children denied access to schools," A month into the Palestinian school year "Right now the Israeli military is preventing tens of thousands of Palestinian children and teachers from attending school," said Pierre Poupard, the UNICEF Special Representative in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. "A generation of Palestinian children is being denied their right to an education.". UNICEF noted that while most of the 1 million Palestinian children of school age have either returned to school or are receiving alternative schooling, almost 170,000 youngsters and more than 6,650 teachers have been unable to reach their regular classrooms, and at least 580 schools have been closed due to Israeli military curfews, closures and HOME confinement.

Israel had an obligation to ensure education was accessible to every Palestinian child, in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF said. At an absolute minimum, mobility restrictions on Palestinian civilians should be lifted throughout the occupied territories during school hours. The mobility restrictions in these areas have necessitated the creation of a substitute schooling system, with many Palestinian school children now being HOME-schooled by their parents, or gathering in makeshift classrooms such as mosques, basements, and alleyways.

"This year, with the economy on the verge of collapse, many Palestinian parents are unable to afford to send their children to school. UNICEF appeals to the donor community for further support," Mr Poupard said. Some 317,000 Palestinian school children are now in desperate need of assistance due to financial hardship. More than 250 Palestinian have been killed in Israel and the Occupied Territories in the past 23 months. Amnesty International calls for a new mindset among Israelis and Palestinians to prevent the killing of more children. Amnesty International details the way in which Palestinian and Israeli children have been targeted in an unprecedented manner since the beginning of the current intifada. "Children are increasingly bearing the brunt of this conflict. groups responsible for killing children has no doubt helped create a situation where the right to life of children and civilians on the other side has little or no value. "Enough of unacceptable reasons and excuses. Both the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority must act swiftly and firmly to investigate the killing of each and every child and ensure that all those  responsible for such crimes are brought to justice," the organization stated.

The international community should heed the call by Amnesty International and scores of other NGOs for international monitors to be sent to the region. The Israeli government should stop refusing the presence of international  monitors. Amnesty International believes that had observers been present in the region since October 2000, their presence may have saved the lives of many innocent children  "While many Palestinians died during armed confrontations, many of these Israeli army killings appeared to be unlawful and over 70 of the victims were children," The Amnesty said in a later report on November 3. Amnesty cited cases of several civilians killed when the army used explosives to blast open doors of buildings without adequate warning -- "disproportionate use of force or gross negligence in protecting those not involved in fighting."

Eighty Palestinian children were killed by Israeli occupation forces in the first three months of the intifada alone. Sami Fathi Abu Jazzar died on the eve of his 12th birthday after being shot in the head by a live bullet fired by Israeli soldiers into a crowd of mostly primary school children. The shooting took place in the aftermath of a stone throwing demonstration. Six other children were injured by live fire in the same incident. Amnesty International delegates were present in the crowd at the time and concluded that the lives of the Israeli occupation soldiers were not in danger. In the past year Palestinian children have been killed when the Israeli forces randomly opened fire, shelled or bombarded residential neighborhoods at times when there was no exchange of fire and in circumstances in which the lives of the Israeli troops soldiers were not at risk. Others were killed during Israeli state assassinations, when the Israeli forces destroyed Palestinian houses without warning, and by flechette shells and booby traps used by Israeli forces in densely populated areas. The large numbers of children killed and injured and the circumstances in which they were killed indicates that little or no care was taken the to avoid causing harm to children. Dina Matar, two-months-old and Ayman Matar, 18-months-old, were among nine children killed on 22 July 2002 when the Israeli troops dropped a one ton bomb from an F-16 fighter jet on a densely populated area of Gaza city. The bomb killed 17 people.

Occupation of others’ land breeds resistance. Resistance is the legitimate right to defend one’s land against the occupiers. The killing of children, be they Palestinians, Israelis or whatsoever is never the way out of the region chronic diseases. The only outlet for all, largely and mainly, depends on the other side, which rejects to withdraw its troops of killing and occupation. Once a family loses one of its children, it is indeed an apocalypse, not only at the personal level but universally; hence the world in so doing might be losing a genius world heritage. It is high time for killing and blood. Let us feed our children bread and never poisonous hatred and vengeance.

Policy  HOME    Golan   News