Soldiers catch Palestinian boy, 12, wearing explosive belt

[rodbarnett]

Israel Defense Forces paratroopers caught a Palestinian boy, aged 12, wearing an explosive belt at the Hawara roadblock south of Nablus in the West Bank on Wednesday afternoon.

<snip>

The IDF commander at the roadblock told Army Radio on Wednesday that the youth had run toward the soldiers and intended to blow himself up next to the troops.

Soldiers at the roadblock told Army Radio that the boy was given NIS 100 to carry out a suicide attack.

"This is another horrific example of how the Palestinians use their own children to spread terror against Israelis," David Baker, an official in the prime minister's office, said in response.

"These children are turned into human time-bombs for the purpose of spreading as much terror against Israelis as possible," Baker said.

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/408359.html

[northzax]

1. before this is exiled

is there a qualative difference between using a human as a bomb and shooting rockets into crowds of worshipers leaving a mosque to kill one man?

oh that's right, helicopters and rockeits are civilized so its all ok then.

[Toronto Ron]

2. That's not the point

(which, of course, you know). It's that a 12-year-old was wearing a bomb belt. The story also mentions that a 10-year-old was caught carting a bomb last week.

[tinnypriv]

3. He's 14 (nt)

[GabysPoppy]

6. I'm awaiting the relevancy of your point.

[Scurrilous]

11. Now he's 16....

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/408659.html

<snip>

"Security sources said Thursday that Abdu was sixteen-and-a-half years old, not 14 as previously thought. On Wednesday he told soldiers that he was 14 and that he attended ninth grade. Troops thought he was a child, due to his short stature, and initial military reports said he was 12."

[GabysPoppy]

12. At what age will this become acceptable to you?

Or are you making a different point?

From your source:

In a statement, the Israeli branch of Physicians for Human Rights condemned the Palestinian militants for sending the teenager on a bombing mission.

The statement said, "Adults should cease to exploit children by making them take part in such acts." The Israeli branch of the physicians group often issues protests about Israel's practices in the territories.

snip

Someone please tell me the relevancy of these remarks concerning this poor kid's age. Maybe at the same time someone should question the curriculum at Palestinian schools that produces this situation. Could it be the hatred of Israelis or Jews? It seems that is a topic many people choose to run from rather than criticize. It's unfair to just criticize Palestinian schools because this is not an isolated case.

Read from this article:
Egypt - 25 years on and still teaching hate

http://www.jnewswire.com/news_archive/04/03/040324_egypt.asp

A new survey of 119 current Egyptian schoolbooks by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (CMIP) shows Cairo has done anything but.

snip

some selected comments include:

"A grade 6 social studies exercise listing the nations that border Egypt conspicuously omits the name of Israel, saying of Egypt's eastern border simply that it runs from the Gaza town of "Rafah located on the <...Mediterranean...> to east of the town of Taba" on the Red Sea."

"A grade 5 religious studies book has a Muslim father asking his son what he has learned from a particular passage of the Koran. The son replies that the lessons have been "precious" indeed, and that one of them is that the "Jews are a people of betrayal and treachery."

"Even if the malicious one thinks that we are disunited, we will still move forward on the road of glory, under the Arab flag the day on which we shall be called to jihad," reads a grade 6 reading comprehension book."

This from a country that Israel has a peace(?)treaty with. The sad truth is that we are generations away from a true peace. And the generation count will only begin when children are not taught how to hate. Because the current generation of children have been poisoned with the vilest of intentions that have already matured into incidents like this one.

[tinnypriv]

13. Well

None, but sixteen and a half is slighty different from 12. Or would you prefer facts not to be accurate?

The kid could be 84 for all I care.

[GabysPoppy]

14. You sure chose the most important fact of the story

:shrug:

Must be that complex world

[bluesoul]

15. Obviously more complex

then you could ever imagine GP...

[GabysPoppy]

16. Please explain it to me

I can hardly wait.

[THUNDER HANDS]

4. of course this begs the question

How bad are things in the Palestinian territories that little kids see nothing more in life more valuable than killing Israelis?

Methinks there's more than enough blame on both sides to go around.

[northzax]

5. so? two kids under the age of 15

were killed in the Israeli assasination last weekend, it's a war, get it? people die in wars, it's somehow ok for Israel to kill 12 year olds, but not for 12 year olds to kill themselves? They are 'collateral damage' targets anyway. You figure you're gonna die, since that's what Israel is teaching them, you might as well take some people with you, right? Better to die on your own terms than in the explosion of a rocket as you leave your place of worship.

and why does it matter that it's a child? isn't the idea that anyone, including adults, are so desperate that they prefer death to life, what's really scary?

And notice that the IDF seems to manage to capture all there 'child' bombers? interesting.

I condemn, and have always, all violence directed a civilians, and this child is certainly a victim, but of whom, exactly?

[cantwealljustgetalong]

18. "the IDF seems to manage to capture all there (sic) 'child' bombers"?...

...since the beginning of the intifada, there have been 29 Palestinians under the age of 18 who carried out suicide attacks, and 22 others under 18 who carried out "sacrificial attacks" - in which they opened fire and were killed - in the territories. Forty others under 18 were arrested on suspicion of intending to carry out attacks.

[Gimel]

7. Substitute

synagogue for mosque and you have the description of the attacks in Istanbol.

The missiles in this assassination were targeting Yassin's car. You apparently read the wrong news report. Those killed besides Yassin were his body guards.

[Carl21014]

8. This is why they need tanks!

America should arm the Palestinians with every modern weapon Israel has. That way they can kill Israelis in a more morally satifying way.

We could eliminate terrorism in the Palestinian conflict if only they could bomb Tel Aviv with Apache Helicopters and thousand pound bombs.

[Gimel]

9. Haaretz has changed the age to 14

He may have given the 12 year age on instruction.

This interesting note at the end of the article:

According to defense establishment figures, since the beginning of the intifada, there have been 29 Palestinians under the age of 18 who carried out suicide attacks, and 22 others under 18 who carried out "sacrificial attacks" - in which they opened fire and were killed - in the territories. Forty others under 18 were arrested on suspicion of intending to carry out attacks.

[Rhiannon12866]

10. I have seen a lot of footage about this on the news

Of course these children didn't really understand what they were getting into. How could they? That was just the point. With the escalation of the violence in this region after Monday's assassination, things have just really spiraled out of control, but it can hardly be unexpected. I am not saying that he was a nice man, but my first thought was what violence this would unleash and ask what step this is on the "road map" to peace?

[cantwealljustgetalong]

17. "escalation of the violence...after Monday's assassination?'...

...since the beginning of the intifada, there have been 29 Palestinians under the age of 18 who carried out suicide attacks, and 22 others under 18 who carried out "sacrificial attacks" - in which they opened fire and were killed - in the territories. Forty others under 18 were arrested on suspicion of intending to carry out attacks.

[Lithos]

19. Dupe

Please continue here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x62706