Posted on 10/06/2005 10:00:23 AM PDT by WmShirerAdmirer
GAZA, Oct 6 (Reuters) - "Freedom for Palestine!" chants 9-year-old Ahmad Abu Sharia in a Gaza Strip refugee camp, as he listens to a small radio bringing news of Israeli air strikes.
"I want to become a commander in al-Aqsa," he says, referring to one of the main Palestinian militant groups, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.
Abu Sharia's dream of fighting Israel and perhaps achieving fame as a "martyr" is one shared by many of his friends and other youngsters in the Gaza Strip, a militant stronghold in an uprising against Israel since 2000.
But Israeli troops left the territory last month to end 38 years of military rule, under what the Jewish state billed a "disengagement" from conflict and militants branded a victory.
Palestinians trying to rebuild the Gaza Strip must now deal with the legacy of a culture of martyrdom and militancy that appears better suited to years of violence than to making the territory a model for statehood.
"Cutting poverty and unemployment, and creating a conducive atmosphere to reduce militant tendencies among children is the top priority," said Ghassan al-Khatib, Palestinian Planning Minister.
"We are looking to develop the right kinds of programmes that will absorb their energy, and channel it in the right direction," he told Reuters.
The government is focusing on improving school curricula and fostering an environment to help children focus on education, civic duties and eventually finding jobs, Khatib said.
Meanwhile, authorities have slapped whitewash on Gaza Strip walls to cover up the murals of "martyrs", mostly young men, brandishing assault rifles or showing off suicide bomb belts.
ROLE MODELS
"We don't have athletes, or movie stars, or other celebrities that the children can look up to," said Eyad Sarraj, a prominent Gaza psychiatrist and human rights activist.
"Anyone who fights Israel is a role model. Militants and martyrs are the only role models here."
In rundown cities and refugee camps, battered by Israeli raids and air strikes during the years of Intifada or uprising, many youngsters saw few better opportunities than joining one of the armed factions.
Those who died fighting could expect thousands to attend their funerals -- ceremonies of billowing flags and shots in the air where cries of revenge mingled with tears of mourning.
"I want to have three stripes on my shoulder," said 12-year-old Nidal Dahman, placing three fingers on his shoulder, indicating senior ranks in the al-Aqsa brigades.
But the future of Gaza's militants is more in question now that Israel has withdrawn troops from the strip it captured in the 1967 war, although it still holds the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Palestinians also seek for a state.
Militants reject suggestions they should be disarmed by the Palestinian Authority -- which is meant to begin the process under a U.S.-backed peace "road map" for a state alongside Israel.
Although President Mahmoud Abbas has shied from using force to rein in the plethora of factions, their opportunities for striking at Israel from Gaza are also much reduced now that the soldiers and settlers have gone.
Meanwhile, clashes in Gaza between police and militants have added to the mayhem and fuelled fears of a civil war.
STILL FIGHTING
Many militants say they will not give up their weapons before Israel leaves the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Islamic militant group Hamas and kindred Islamic Jihad have sworn to destroy the Jewish state.
Khatib said Palestinian children should still fight to win other territories. "They just need to do it through political activism rather than militancy," he said.
A recent poll showed roughly 60 percent of Palestinians want a halt to attacks on Israel from Gaza. A similar number want militants in the Gaza Strip to put down their weapons, though only a minority want those in the West Bank disarmed.
Before the Israeli pullout, a survey done by Sarraj's Gaza Community Mental Health Programme showed 37 percent of 12-year-olds in Gaza wanted not only to fight Israel, but to "become martyrs".
Any shift in feelings appears gradual among youths on the dusty streets of Gaza City.
"The change in their attitude depends on the pace of change in the environment. The pullout created a change in the surroundings, and that affected the children in a positive way. Further changes will influence them more," Sarraj said.
More than half the Palestinian population of 3.8 million is under 18.
"I want to join Hamas because they try to make me less afraid and I want to make others feel less afraid," said 12-year-old schoolgirl Abir Jarradah, wearing a blue uniform with a white headscarf. "But I also want to become a doctor."
Even some who live could expect thousands to attend their "funerals" too. Oh, they'll moan should the live "soldier" fall out of his casket during the procession... but then will cheer again, after he climbs back aboard to play the part.
Palis eating their young and now want to regurgitate them find the gastro acid tough to manage.
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