The War Crimes of the Palestinians

Debmey

By Ted Lapkin
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 27, 2004


The phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" is one of those hackneyed aphorisms whose potency has been diluted through rampant overuse.  Yet on occasion, even this most overworked of truisms can directly hit the mark.

Since the current bout of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians erupted over three years ago, many thousands of words have been written to recount the twists and turns of that war.  Yet, it was an Associated Press photograph taken during a recent firefight in Gaza that distilled the essence of a central, but oft overlooked, dynamic of this conflict.

The salient figure in this photo is identified by the snapshot's caption as a "masked Hamas militant."  This man can be clearly identified as an armed combatant by his camouflage uniform and combat webbing, as well as by the AK-47 assault rifle that he has strapped across his back.

The Hamas fighter is seen in the photograph setting up a rocket launcher.  But, the picture also shows a group of Palestinian boys, some of whom are clearly in their early teens, milling around this artillery piece as the Hamas gunman prepares it for firing.

In case one might wonder what these youngsters are doing at the business end of such a deadly weapon, the caption of the photograph clarifies matters:  "A masked Hamas militant sets up a makeshift mortar launcher against Israeli forces, unseen, as Palestinian youths try to cover him from the sight of the forces during an incursion in a Gaza city's neighbourhood, Wednesday Feb. 11, 2004."

With its singularly stark image, this picture communicates one of the uglier realities of a war in which Palestinians regularly use their own children as combatants.  Yet, debate about this callous tactic of deliberate child-sacrifice is often suppressed by Palestinian spokespeople who address vehement accusations of bigotry against anyone who dares broach the issue.

Palestinian leader Hanan Ashrawi provided a typical example of such rhetorical jiu jitsu when this question was raised during her recent visit to Australia. "That is a racist accusation," declared Ashrawi.  "To say that we do not love our children - what a horrible thing to accuse us of!"   Horrible, indeed.

But, a more forthright portrayal of the situation was forthcoming from Huda Al-Hussein, a correspondent for the London-based Arabic daily Al Sharq Al Awsat.  In November 2000, Al Hussein wrote a scathing piece about the hardhearted manipulation of Palestinian youth by leaders who "consciously issue orders with the purpose of ending their childhood, even if it means their last breath."

In fact, there is ample evidence to conclude that the official resources of the Palestinian Authority are directly used to encourage children to court death on the battlefield.  The Palestinian Ministry of Education, for example, issues school books for grades five and six that extol the virtues of "Shahada," the Arabic term for martyrdom.  In June 2002, Palestinian Authority TV aired an promotional interview 11-year-old  Yussra, who declared, "every Palestinian child aged, say 12, says 'Oh Lord I would like to become a Shahid.'"

Aware that they are unable to defeat Israel militarily, the Palestinians have formulated a plan that is designed to vanquish the Jewish State diplomatically.   And, Palestinian leaders realize that a public relations offensive is the key to any such political victory.  

The gambit of using children as pawns in front line combat is predicated on a calculus in which cynicism is surpassed only by media savvy.  The Palestinians have developed a communications strategy that is predicated on the simple premise that the size of a headline will be inversely proportional to the age of the casualty involved.  So, because a dead 13 year old child will attract much more journalistic attention than a dead 33 year old gunman, it is deemed legitimate to sacrifice youngsters on the altar of Israel's demonisation.

This macabre Palestinian publicity scheme is both singularly immoral, and doubly illegal.  Article 51 of the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Convention prohibits combatants from using civilians to: " shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations."  

Moreover, the International Criminal Court considers "conscripting or enlisting children under the age of 15 years, or using them to participate actively in hostilities in both international and non-international armed conflicts" to be a war crime.

Thus, even if the attacks that deliberately slaughter Israeli civilians are excluded from the equation, Palestinian terrorist organizations, and the Palestinian Authority that tolerates them, are war criminals twice over.

It is long past time to unbind the corset of political correctness that suffocates so much of our public discourse, and to state some self-evident truths.  The dominant culture of Palestinian society promotes honour killing as the highest expression of family values, and suicide bombing as the highest expression of national values.

The exploitation of pubescent youths as front line cannon fodder exemplifies a Palestinian cult of death that not only debases the value of human life, but also serves as a primary impediment to peace in the Middle East.

Ted Lapkin is Senior Policy Analyst for the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council

OnEdge

this remionds me of the AFP picture that won a Picture Of The Year Award from Life or Time magazine..not sure..

I'm sure you've seen it in the newspapers...it's the one that shows an Iraqi prisoner comforting his son before he was sent to a prison camp...

now that is a picture.

Debmey

What has that got to do with Palestinian war crimes?

"It is even more obscenely unrealistic to tell the Palestinians that they are responsible for the security of Israel. The Palestinians, of course, have no state, no army, no air force and no nothing, while Israel is ranked by many as being among the top 10 of military powers in the world."


http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20040225/index.php

Not only top 10, the last time I checked, it was ranked number 4 in the world! UK's military might did dropped behind Israel several times...

Debmey

You gottta give it to the Israelis. They have a small defence budget but their tanks and planes out manoeveur American all the time. They could have been even stronger had many of their projects not been stalled by the US for fear of competition.

Yeah and U dare not send your christian evangelists to Israel, would U? Lest U get out-manuvoured and bombed to smitherines!

Debmey

There are many Christian evangelists right now in Israel. Yu will see many evangelical churches with Jews and Arabs worshipping side by side as one.
Have yu ever been to Israel?

sonny~~

Originally posted by Debmey at 2004-2-28 04:06 PM:
What has that got to do with Palestinian war crimes?

wanna go one reason at a time why PALESTINIANS indulge in socalled war crimes?  is it coz hapless pious terrorist cum rapist jews/israli/zionists have been rapin 'em ruthless or coz superdonkey bush have been rapin 'em ruthless?  ;)

Seraphim

Did u all lknow that there's road signboards in Arabic and Jewish in Israel..You can see that they even put signboards in the citywith their so called "hated" enemy language(Arab)...I guess the Israelis are evil,they dont care about discriminated Arabs<sarcastically>
Also,I had  friends in Israel and they just dont want any more bombing or war...Same goes to the normal moderate Palestinians...The problem is...the Palestinians just wont  do anything towards those brainwashed merciless extremists and that's where the problem lies...

Anyway if Israel reall wanna so called screw or destroy the Palestinians,They could have done it many many time in multiple ways ..They just wont do it..I guess the Israelis are dumb yar..

If the Palestinians have such military capabilities as the israelis(doubt it though,they are too disorganized...:stp,they would have push the Israelis Jews to the sea...:stp:

[ Last edited by Seraphim on 6-3-2004 at 06:57 PM ]

Israelis couldn't push Palestinians too far because of international pressure, not to mention human rights condemnation of Israeli atrocities. If it weren't for these pressures, Israelis would have wiped out the whole population. Why would Israelis built the Dimona Nuke Reactor for? And what happened to Vanunu - the Israeli engineer whistle blower who uncovered the reactor? He's bound to be released this April after being prisoned for 14 years. He will be free but Sharon and Israeli authorities want to gag him from leaving the country.

Debmey

and salman has no reply to these palestinian war crimes.

..and debmey has no comments on Israeli Dimona nuke reactor.

Seraphim

Yar that's why i say...if everyone keep on pointing fingers on whose at fault..it will never end...For me i sincerely think that Palestinians and Israels both are at fault...both are equally guilty...there's no victims or agressors here...But most people will just pick one side....and make the matter worse:stp:

Debmey

This thread is abt the crimes of Palestinians, salman has no answer to it and can only stray away from it thinking it will somehow hide muslim sins.

If salman wants to talk abt sins of Israel, he can start another thread. Hahahahahahahaha.................

sonny~~

Originally posted by salman at 2004-3-6 03:37 PM:
Israelis couldn't push Palestinians too far because of international pressure, not to mention human rights condemnation of Israeli atrocities. If it weren't for these pressures, Israelis would have wiped out the whole population. Why would Israelis built the Dimona Nuke Reactor for? And what happened to Vanunu - the Israeli engineer whistle blower who uncovered the reactor? He's bound to be released this April after being prisoned for 14 years. He will be free but Sharon and Israeli authorities want to gag him from leaving the country.

thats right.  if its not bcoz of the world's pressure more so superdonkey bush's "pressure", hapless pious terrorist cum rapist jews/israeli/zionists (not all) would have crushed not only PALESTINE, arab lands but also the whole world.  they dont build nuke reactor for display.  right?  n theyre buildin the reactor with superdonkey bush's billions donation.  thats hypocrisy of the worst kind.  superdonkey bush wanna crush terrorism worldwide but he donates billions to hapless pious terrorist cum rapist jews/israeli/zionists to rape PALESTINE.  shame  :bg:

peace

sonny~~

Originally posted by Seraphim at 2004-3-6 06:57 PM:
Yar that's why i say...if everyone keep on pointing fingers on whose at fault..it will never end...For me i sincerely think that Palestinians and Israels both are at fault...both are equally guilty ...

if donkey un has not divided PALESTINE so that israel can exist, the israeli PALESTINIAN conflict would not have erupted.  n if superdonkey bush has not donated billions worth of arms to hapless pious terrorist cum rapist jews/israelis/zionists to rape PALESTINE n genocide PALESTINIANS, the conflict would not have worsened.  think  :bg:

peace

sonny~~

Originally posted by Debmey at 2004-3-6 08:11 PM:
This thread is abt the crimes of Palestinians, salman has no answer to it and can only stray away from it thinking it will somehow hide muslim sins.

If salman wants to talk abt sins of Israel,  ...

n u remain donkey mute over me postin.  as expected  :bg:

peace

Originally posted by sonny~~ at 2004-3-6 10:43 AM:


wanna go one reason at a time why PALESTINIANS indulge in socalled war crimes?  is it coz hapless pious terrorist cum rapist jews/israli/zionists have been rapin 'em ruthless or coz superdonkey bush have been rapin 'em ruthless?  

Debmey

yes sonny, yu think yu can do better than salman? hahahahahahahahaha..........

sonny~~

yup SALMAN is more intelligent, more brainy, more knowledgeable etc than me much less u.  thats the HARDfact

n its HARDfact too that SALMAN n SONNY n FUZZ n TOMMY n KENNY n KID even SEPH etc r able to reduce u into brayin donkey or donkey mute or slink off with ur tail between ur legs.  hehe  

peace