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Palestinians question martyrdom cult after boys' suicide prank
Daily Telegraph-London ^ | 27/04/2002 | By Alan Philps in Bethlehem

Posted on 04/26/2002 10:57:23 PM PDT by ABrit

Palestinians question martyrdom cult after boys' suicide prank
By Alan Philps in Bethlehem
(Filed: 27/04/2002)

A WAVE of soul-searching is gripping Palestinian society after three schoolboys aged 13 and 14 answered the call to martyrdom and were shot dead by the Israeli army.

A cult of martyrdom, encouraged by militant groups and the media, has gripped the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Every Palestinian town is plastered with bright posters announcing the deaths of those killed by the Israeli army or in suicide operations.

The three boys were classmates in the Saladin school in the Gaza City. On Tuesday evening, they set off to attack Netzarim, an army camp and Jewish settlement established to divide Gaza City from the rest of the Gaza Strip.

The children took three knives and some home-made explosives in their school bags. As soon as they entered the free-fire zone around Netzarim, where the army shoots at anything that moves and no questions are asked, they were killed.

Bassem Zakkout, the father of 14-year-old Youssef Zakkout, refused to adopt the expected delight that a son had achieved martyrdom in the fight against Israeli occupation.

"I loved him and took care of him for 14 years, and now he is gone," he said. "I am against all this, especially at his age. We should not destroy this generation. They are the leaders of the future."

Mr Zakkout blamed his son's action on the "massacres" shown on Palestinian and Arab satellite television stations.

"On television our children see people killed by the Israelis in their homes, and they think, better not to die at home," he said.

A poster was issued of the three boys - Youssef, Ismail Abu-Nada, 14, and Anwar Hamdona, 13 - but the Palestinian factions which usually rush to claim martyrs were too ashamed to put their names to the boys' suicidal prank.

Hamas issued a statement calling on young fighters to wait until they were properly trained. "The blood of our cubs should be preserved for a coming day when they become strong men. Their role in jihad is for later."

The statement called on teachers to relay this messages in their classes and for preachers in mosques to put an end to the sacrifice. Dr Fadl Abu-Heen, director of the Community Training and Crisis Management Centre in Gaza City, found that 70 per cent of schoolchildren aged eight to 15 said they wanted to be martyrs.

"Society gives high esteem to martyrs, and children want to share in that," he said. "They see that the martyrs' pictures are pasted on walls, their families are honoured and their wakes are like weddings.

"This is a dangerous mistake for our children and for the future of our society."

Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli organisation that monitors the Palestinian press and television, has produced a dossier showing that school books and newspaper articles all glorify the role of martyrs.

The Palestinian deputy education minister, Naim Abu-Hummos, said: "What's happening is crazy." Teachers would be told to address the issue, he said.



TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: bomber; gaza; hamas; palastinian; suicide
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Maybe they're starting to realise, enough is enough.
1 posted on 04/26/2002 10:57:24 PM PDT by ABrit
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To: ABrit
I've always thought it quite a conicidence that one never seems to hear of 35-year-old Palestenian suicide bombers.
2 posted on 04/26/2002 11:12:46 PM PDT by The Duke
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To: ABrit
A pity that 'teachers' have to be told to address the issue. With teachers like that, who needs Israeli enemies?

Translation of the article boils down to: "Oops, the suicide bombing thing backfired and is making us look bad overseas... stop it until our poll numbers go back up"

3 posted on 04/26/2002 11:23:27 PM PDT by piasa
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To: ABrit
Islamist death-cult....
4 posted on 04/27/2002 12:12:44 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: ABrit
A WAVE of soul-searching is gripping Palestinian society after three schoolboys aged 13 and 14 answered the call to martyrdom and were shot dead by the Israeli army.

Increasing the opportunity costs of turning children into human bombs is a good thing.

5 posted on 04/27/2002 12:16:17 AM PDT by The Great Satan
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To: piasa
Hoisted on their own very bloody petardes ! Serves them right. If enough of their own children kill themselves, Israel won't have to worry about its future; the majority of the next generation of terrorists will be dead and won't reproduce. Maybe the Palis just figured that out.
6 posted on 04/27/2002 12:26:26 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: piasa
Translation of the article boils down to: "Oops, the suicide bombing thing backfired and is making us look bad overseas... stop it until our poll numbers go back up"

Bingo

7 posted on 04/27/2002 12:43:37 AM PDT by SKempis
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To: The Duke
You wrote: "one never seems to hear of 35-year-old Palestenian suicide bombers". As you say! There have been only a few older men. The Irish have a saying: "It is the old who love life, not the young." And in the Irish nationalist ballad "The Patriot Game" the young man states: "and now I am dying, and I think of the old men, who bargained and sold."
8 posted on 04/27/2002 12:51:25 AM PDT by BlackVeil
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To: nopardons
Let them send the entire rising generation to rush IDF military positions.

Islemmings.

9 posted on 04/27/2002 12:54:29 AM PDT by Travis McGee
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To: Travis McGee
I wish they would do exactly that !

That's a great word, you concocted; I love it . Islemmings... giggle, giggle, giggle ... that IS just what they are !

10 posted on 04/27/2002 12:57:44 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: BlackVeil
Weren't kamikaze young also? 18-19 yrs old?
11 posted on 04/27/2002 1:00:24 AM PDT by Gladwin
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To: nopardons
Do you know that when lemmings drown in great numbers, they are NOT "committing suicide", but rather they are attempting to travel from an area of starvation to an area of hoped for grasses, across a river which is too wide for them to swim.

It's just as stupid and hopeless and ultimately suicidal for the lemmings as islam's current go-for-broke global jihad is going to be for the islemmings.

12 posted on 04/27/2002 1:09:39 AM PDT by Travis McGee
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To: Travis McGee
Thank you for the explination. I only knew that lemmings played " follow the leader to death ", but not why. May the Islemmings do so too ! : - )
13 posted on 04/27/2002 1:15:53 AM PDT by nopardons
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To: ABrit
"Maybe they're starting to realise, enough is enough"

I seriously doubt it...they've been training and using kids like this for ages....and all of this sudden, these kids' paren't are "shocked"? Right, yeah, and Richard Simmons loves the ladies. The Palistinian PR machine turns, turns, turns....

14 posted on 04/27/2002 1:48:22 AM PDT by Frances_Marion
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To: ABrit
What's the difference between a 14 year old homicide bomber and an 18 year old one, which they apparently consider old enough to die? Every single bomber, no matter what age, should be as much an embarassment to the Palestinian Authority as the kids were. Has it never occurred to them to gather an army instead - or would it then be obvious that there are too few of them to get a decent mob together, much less an organized army?
15 posted on 04/27/2002 2:00:24 AM PDT by Moonmad27
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To: ABrit
Maybe they're starting to realise, enough is enough.

Not a chance...

Dr Fadl Abu-Heen, director of the Community Training and Crisis Management Centre in Gaza City, found that 70 per cent of schoolchildren aged eight to 15 said they wanted to be martyrs.
"Society gives high esteem to martyrs, and children want to share in that," he said. "They see that the martyrs' pictures are pasted on walls, their families are honoured and their wakes are like weddings.

This is not some teenage fad that swept through the schools unnoticed by busy parents. Islamic parents control every aspect of their children's lives.

This is pure PR, right down to calling the attempt to commit suicide while blowing up Israeli soldiers a "prank"...

16 posted on 04/27/2002 2:18:43 AM PDT by Lion's Cub
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To: ABrit
"Suicide prank!?" Is this an example of morbid British humor, or is the headline writer just an incredible moron? Inquiring minds want to know ...
17 posted on 04/27/2002 2:20:08 AM PDT by Polonius
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To: Polonius
Revolting: "Wait until you're properly trained"...Then do it??!!!!
18 posted on 04/27/2002 2:35:35 AM PDT by lainde
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To: Polonius
Suicide prank!?" Is this an example of morbid British humor, or is the headline writer just an incredible moron? Inquiring minds want to know ...

... well, I can't speak to the inteligence of the writer, but it is just another example of the bias against Israel in the European press. He mentions in passing, the fact that the boys are carrying knives and home made explosives, but then calls their action "a prank." He also makes note of a "free fire zone," where the children are immediately killed.

Mark

19 posted on 04/27/2002 3:01:16 AM PDT by MarkL
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To: Polonius;MarkL
The headline was taken direct from the web site, I agree it is a strange way of putting it.
20 posted on 04/27/2002 6:22:58 AM PDT by ABrit
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