Palestinian Children Yearning Martyrdom,
Encouraged by Parents
November 30, 2000

Wajdi, 14: 'When I become a shahid, give out cake'

Executive Summary

"When I become a shahid [someone who dies for Allah], give out kannafa [sweet cake]."

These are the words that 14-year-old Wajdi Al-Hattab often said to his friends in the days prior to his death in the riots, as reported in the official Palestinian Authority daily paper.

The paper went on to report his 9th grade friends' reaction to his death: "they swore they would carry on, down the road of shahada [death for Allah]."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 9 November 2000]

Another boy who died in the fighting, 12-year-old Karam, so yearned for his own shahada, that he wrote his own "death announcements" on the walls of his own home.
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 30, 2000]

The scene has been replayed over and over during the past two months: Palestinian children going up against Israeli soldiers, even in situations involving gunfire and life-threatening situations. Many children are wounded or even killed as a result.

What motivates children to place themselves in such dangerous situations, so that at times it seems that they are seeking death?

From the PA media and education the apparent answer is that the children are pushed by their parents, teachers, friends and the education they receive in the Palestinian Authority schools glorifying death as shahids - as a supreme virtue.

As the number of those killed rises, the Palestinian media extols and exalts not only those killed, but also their willingness to die as shahids for Allah, emphasizing that dying a shahid's death was the realization of their hopes. Young children who are injured are said to seek a higher goal - heroic death for Allah.

By examining closely what the children and their parents are saying it is likely that there are young children who are going directly to areas of conflict with the clear goal of endangering their lives, in order to please their parents, friends, and teachers.

The following are a number of stories among many that were prominently reported in the Palestinian media. In particular, note the positive attitude of parents toward their children's death, and the statements of injured children that they seek a higher goal, death and Shahada.

"The Shahid Wajdi Al-Hattab (9th grade) responded to the call of Allah and achieved the Shahada that he yearned for, so that it would clear the way for the liberation of Al-Aqsa and Palestine from the defilement of the occupation. He would always say to his friends: 'When I become a shahid, give out kannafa [sweet cake]. He always spoke about his uncle who became a shahid in southern Lebanon, and yearned to become a shahid like him - and [now] he attained what he yearned for. He reached the highest levels with Allah... [Wajdi's gym teacher relates:] Wajdi asked me to give out kannafa if he becomes a shahid… His classmates swore that they would continue in the path of Shahada until the liberation of Jerusalem..."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 9, 2000]

"The danger of injury of the boy Saber Al-Ashkar (aged 18), paralysis and permanent disability, just added to his mother's determination to encourage her sons to participate in the Intifada riots ... and the fact of his injury by a live bullet did not cause her to mourn... She said that she had [previously] lost her older son Iyad, and described him as the first flower that appeared in her life. She is not interested in anything but encouraging her sons to self-sacrifice and Shahada for the land of Palestine…"
[Al-Ayyam, November 1, 2000]

A PA TV broadcast conducted conversations with 2nd grade school children. An interviewer spoke with a child who had thrown stones in the riots.

Interviewer: "You threw stones at the army and injured your leg. Will you throw again?"

Child: "Yes."

Interviewer: "You aren't afraid to die?"

Child: [embarrassed, hesitant]

Interviewer: [indicates "No" to the child by shaking her head in the negative]

Child: "No"
[PA TV, October 19, 2000. See this interview here.]

"The Boy Shahid Karam Al-Kard [12] announced of his own death on the walls of his home

"Prior to his being injured ... Karam announced his own death on the walls of his home and attributed to himself Shahada and its honor, in his handwriting on the walls. The notice read: 'The Al-Kard family announces the death of its courageous Shahid Karam Fat'he Al-Kard..."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 30, 2000]

"The Shahid Wajdi [aged 14, said] to his father: 'I will bring you a Shahada that you will be proud of for the rest of your life'. His mother says: 'My son is not my son only, he belongs to his noble Palestinian people... One of his friends said that the last words of the Shahid, that he repeated over and over, spoke of the significance of Shahada and on becoming a shahid."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 8, 2000]

"[He] sacrificed his son (aged 18) in order to redeem the homeland and Jerusalem. He stated that becoming a shahid is a tremendous source of pride and a medal on his chest... He added that his son always spoke about Shahada and his desire to become a shahid."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 9, 2000]

The Shahid Muhammad Abu Tahoun wrote down his final words on his notebook: 'The shahids will attain Paradise, and I will be with them, Allah willing...'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 9, 2000]

"The father [of Mohammed Hiza' Halas, 23] [has] great pride that his progeny has become a shahid... With regard to his mother, she says that her offspring wished to become a shahid and she anticipated it."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 2, 2000]

"Our blood is a sign of our fighting for our precious Palestine"
[A teacher, next to pupils on PA TV, November 2, 2000]

"What pushes our children and youth to the arenas of death...? [Ramadan Saadi Abd Rabbo, an injured 13-year-old, said] 'my goal is not to be injured, but rather something higher - Shahada.'"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 8, 2000]

"The wounded 11-year-old, Amr Qarut, wants to win the honor of a shahid's death ... and he insists on continuing the [violent] struggle."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 6, 2000]

"The wounded Sa'ed Awad Allah [11], from the Jaballiya [refugee] camp said: 'We are all potential shahids for Jerusalem and the Homeland"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 6, 2000]

"We must battle until we achieve peace on our own and until our blood will not be spilt for naught, we must battle and die in order to attain all that we want."
[8-year-old girl Halah Badir, Al-Ayyam, November 2, 2000]

"[22-year-old Hazem Mussa Abu Def's] brother ... feels honor and pride from his brother's becoming a shahid ... and added that he intends to continue on the path started by his brother."
[Al-Ayyam, November 2, 2000]

"I will take my soul in my hand and toss it into the abyss of death. And then either life that will gladden friends or death that will anger the enemy. The honorable soul has two objectives; achieving death and honor."
['Song of the Shahid, recited by schoolgirls, PA TV, October 27, 2000. The poem also appears in 5th, 6th and 12th grade PA schoolbooks]

This current promotion of Shahda is part of a long-term phenomenon in Palestinian society. PA television in 1998 described two mothers' joy at their children's Shahada in the Intifada, as follows:

Narrator: "...the heroine was shot ... and her pure blood flowing and her pure spirit joyously going to her creator..."

Girl's Mother: "I asked: who is she that died? She told me - 'it's your daughter.' I said: 'Thank Allah, thank Allah. We have a right to liberate our homeland and we will liberate it. It is our honor to fall… She would say 'it doesn't matter, I will die for the redemption of the homeland,' meaning - I want to die for the redemption of the homeland… Intisar fell and it is an honor for us and an honor for our children…"

Relative of the family: "...Every time she heard a bang [she said] 'someone was shot, I hope that next time it will be me, I want to die as a shahida [a female who dies for Allah].
[PA TV, October 7, 1998]

Mother of Muhammad [who was killed in the riots]: "...I hope that all my children will be shahids..."
[PA TV, September 9, 1998]

Read the front-page Jerusalem Post article written in response to this report here.

PA Encouragement of Child
Martyrdom (Shahada) Continues
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, June 21, 2005

Introduction

Promotion of Shahada, or death for Allah, has been the backbone of the Palestinian Authority's messages to its children since the start of the terror war in September 2000. Although the number of these messages has been reduced in recent months, the promotion and glorification of child Shahada continues nonetheless, as seen this week on PA TV.

This week's Shahada promotion was seen during the broadcast of The Palestinian Diaspora, a series presented as a factual dramatization of history that has been shown daily on PA TV in a prime time slot for the past month. Throughout the series, Israel's creation and ongoing existence has been presented as injustices that must be fought.

Click here to see clip

This episode was set in 1956, as Arab's mourn Israel's existence. A 12-year-old refugee reads his uncle a story he wrote. The scene has two explicit messages.

1. A child should be willing and anxious to fight and die in order to destroy Israel.
2. Arab 'refugees' can never resettle, but must 'return' to Israel.

The following is an excerpt from the scene

Boy: "His mother cried and said, 'My son! Swear to me! Don't leave me alone...! I'm afraid you

will be killed.'

"Her son said to her, 'Don't cry, my mother! Let me go and fight for the sake of the homeland. The enemy stole our beautiful land… We all must fight in order to redeem the lost paradise… We lived in joy and happiness, until the foreign enemy [Israel] came and expelled us from our land, and we became refugees in tents. But we will return, by Allah's will!'

"His mother told him, 'Farewell, my son. Allah be with you.' He kissed her and left to fight, and fought until he became a Shahid [martyr for Allah]."

Uncle: "...Let me ask you, if they come and tell you, we will give you a very big house, a car,

land and money, just resettle! Would you agree?"

Boy: "No!"

Uncle: "...the homeland is greater than individual possessions."
[PA TV, June 16, 2005]

It's important to note that the segment opens with the boy's friend writing "I shall return" over a map he drew of 'Palestine' - which removed Israel's existence.

Pressuring mothers to celebrate sons' martyrdom
key to PA's success promoting suicide terrorism
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, March 15, 2005

Introduction

Creating a supportive social environment for terrorists has been a critical factor in the Palestinian Authority's successful promotion of suicide terrorism. To this end, PA policy has been to honor terrorists as shahids (people who die for Allah), and to teach Palestinian mothers to celebrate when their children die as terrorist shahids. Categorizing these dead terrorists as shahids grants them the highest honor a Muslim can achieve, and is therefore cause for a mother to celebrate, according to this PA teaching.

This pressure on Palestinian mothers to celebrate their dead sons as shahids continues under the regime of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and even increased this past week with repeated PA TV promotion connected to International Women's Day.

Preaching before an audience that included Abbas, Sheikh Yusuf Juma' Salamah said in Friday's sermon on PA TV that the ideal Palestinian woman is like Al-Khansah, the heroine of Islamic tradition who celebrated her four sons' death in battle by thanking God for the honor. Salamah, the PA Minister of Waqf, quoted Al-Khansah: "Praise Allah, who granted me honor with their deaths."
PA TV, March 11, 2005]

It is important to note that this was the first Friday sermon broadcast since the PA announced last week that it would control and vet all Friday sermons delivered in West Bank and Gaza Strip mosques.

This portrayal of the ideal Palestinian woman as one who willingly sacrifices her sons as shahids, therefore, continues to represent official PA ideology - especially since this sermon was delivered in the presence of Abbas.

Two days later, PA TV broadcast a theatrical skit that included veneration of the same Al-Khansah. A father taught his son her declaration: "Praise Allah, who granted me honor with their deaths."
[PA TV, March 13, 2005]

Both the sermon and the play portray Al-Khansah's celebration of the deaths of her four sons as superior to the way she mourned the deaths of her two brothers, who died before she adopted Islam.

During an interview with four university students for International Women's Day last week, PA TV broadcast a telephone call from the Dean of Media at Al-Aqsa University. He expressed admiration for the "unique Palestinian woman ... she is the one who shouts for joy on the Day of the Shahid."
[PA TV, March 10, 2005]

Who was Al-Khansah?

Promoting the Al-Khansah ideal for Palestinians is a very powerful message for Muslims. Al-Khansah was a poet in the early Islamic period. Before she converted to Islam, her brothers died, and she grieved. However, Islamic historian Ibn Athir writes that after she converted to Islam, she delivered a fiery speech encouraging her four sons to march into battle for Allah. When all four were killed in battle, the poem she wrote was one of joy, rejoicing that Allah had honored her with the deaths of her sons.

Al-Khansah is considered the archetypal mother of shahids, a woman glorified by Palestinians for encouraging her sons to kill and die for Allah, and rejoicing when they achieved their Shahada, or death for Allah.

From a very young age, Palestinian girls are taught to adopt Al-Khansah as a role model, with her message of celebrating death in combat - which, in contemporary Palestinian society, includes death while committing acts of suicide terror.

A music video for children, broadcast hundreds of times over three years on PA TV, included the farewell letter of a fictional child shahid, including the words, "Mother don't cry for me, be joyous over my blood."

In addition, the Palestinian Authority has named at least five girls schools "the Al-Khansah School for Girls," in Bethlehem, Jenin, Nablus, Khan Yunis and Rafah. [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, January 9, 2005]

The following are the transcripts of these and other portrayals of the ideal Palestinian mother as one who celebrates her son's death.

PLAY VIDEO

"Al-Khansah, this noble woman...

"The day she lost her brother Sakher [before she adopted Islam] she began crying, shouting and feeling pain. She recited poetry: 'The sunrise reminds me of Sakher, and I remember him with every sunset, and had there not been around me all the mourners for their brothers, I would have killed myself.'

"This was during the Jahiliyah [the pre-Islamic period]. When Allah filled her heart with love for Islam, and it became full of faith, things changed. She sent her four sons, her offspring, to battle, to Qadisiyah [in modern-day Iraq] as a service to this religion.

"When she was notified that they had become shahids, she said, 'Praise Allah, who granted me honor with their deaths. I pray that he will take me to them at the place where His mercy dwells.'

"This is the great woman. This is the noble woman. Have you seen how Islam changed her behavior, her virtues, and her poetry?..."
[PA TV, March 11, 2005]

PLAY VIDEO

A young child asks his father: "My father, my father, who is this

woman?"

Father: "This is the poet Tumarid, who is known by name Al-Khansah.

She was one of the prettiest women of her time..."

Female host: "When [before she adopted Islam] her brother Mu'awiya

died, and after that her brother on her father's side, Sakher, she became extremely mournful because ofthem."

Al-Khansah: "I was extremely saddened for Sakher, until my eyes became blind. In the

Qadisiyah battle, four sons of mine became shahids."

Father: "When she was told of her four sons' deaths, she pleaded to the Creator, to him be

the glory and power, and said, 'Praise Allah, who granted me honor with their deaths.'
[PA TV, March 13, 2005]

"The Palestinian woman - our hearts are all full of respect and admiration for her, as she is a unique woman for several reasons; she is the Shahid's mother, and she is [the one] who shouts for joy on the Day of the Shahid and she is [the one] who shouts for joy, while her son is a prisoner, and she is [the one] who shouts for joy, when her son is arrested..."
[PA TV, March 10, 2005]

Additional examples from the PMW archives

PLAY VIDEO

Host: "They [Israelis] accuse the Palestinian mother of hating her sons

and of encouraging them to die."

Mother: "No. We do not encourage our sons to die. We encourage them

to shahada [death for Allah] for the homeland, for Allah. We don't say to the mothers of the shahids, 'We come to comfort you,' rather, 'We come to bless you on your son's wedding, on your son's shahada. Congratulations to you on the shahada.' For us, the mourning is a wedding. We give out drinks, we give out sweets. Praise to Allah, our mourning is a wedding."
[PA TV, November 17, 2004]

In the literature section in the official Palestinian daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, a poem written as an imaginary letter from a suicide bomber to his mother, glorifies and idealizes every action of his murder and suicidal death.

A Letter from a Shahid to His Mother / By Abdul Badi Iraq

"My Dear Mother,
...I wrapped my body with determination, with hopes and with bombs.
I asked [reaching] towards Allah and the fighting homeland.
The [explosive] belt makes me fly, strengthens me to make haste.
I calm it [the explosive belt], we should stay steadfast, we have not yet reached.
I freed/launched myself; I freed/launched myself, [detonated myself] like lava burning old legends and vanity,
I freed/launched my body, all my pains and oppression, towards the packs of beasts...
I freed/launched, O mother, freed the chains and the shackles.

And you found me rising and rising like a candle that was lit with precious olive oil.
And you saw me sending a loving kiss above the mosques and the churches, the houses and the roads.
Flocks of pigeons flew above the porches
And Al-Aqsa smiled and gave me a sign that we will not sleep.

Dawn is close, O mother, and it shall rise from the guns, from the shining spears
It will be lit from a bloody wound...
The wedding is the wedding of the land.
Sound a cry of joy, O mother, I am the groom..."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, February 27, 2003]

PLAY VIDEO

Below are excerpts from an interview with a Palestinian mother on PA TV:

"[My second son Naji] became a shahid on March 23, 2002, at the age of 20. Before I made my pilgrimage [to Mecca], he put his hands on my head and said, 'Be calm, mother, be calm, this is my wish. Pray for me, that I will be a shahid.' When I did the circuit [an Islamic pilgrimage ceremony], in Mecca and Medina, I swear to Allah, that I prayed for him... And said, 'Praise Allah, my children asked for Shahada, and it is better than the way we will die. Their death is for Allah, death for our country, death for our Jerusalem...'"

Presenter: "Of course, we are always very proud of all of our shahids."
[PA TV, December 5, 2002]

PA renews efforts to have children die in confrontations
October 1, 2002

Introduction

Palestinian Media Watch has documented in the past the Palestinian Authority's tactic of encouraging children to seek heroic Shahada - death for Allah - and then using the numbers of dead children in their PR war against Israel.

A PMW bulletin last week noted the PA's recent attempts to brings crowds of violent demonstrators into the streets, in an attempt to change the image of the terrorist war to that of a popular uprising.

Now the PA has combined the two tactics, once again encouraging children to die as part of the "popular uprising," as they have renewed the broadcasting of one of the most odious PA video clips, the "Farewell letter" clip. In the clip a child writes a farewell letter to his parents, glorifying his desire to die, and then places himself in front of Israeli soldiers during a violent riot where he is shot and dies, achieving his goal. As he falls his words are sung: "How sweet is Shahada when I embrace you my land."

The renewal of this clip now is an indication that the PA, after having their image destroyed worldwide due to their backing of suicide bombers, wants to portray themselves and their children as victims, by having large numbers of dead children to report to the press.

[As a post script it should be noted that the PA seems to be accomplishing its goal already, as in today's papers the PA announced the death, as "Shahids [people die for Allah]" of two children, aged 10 and 13, which they described as cold blooded intentional murder, as they always do in their PR conscious press releases.]

The following is the text of the farewell letter sung during the clip

"Do not be sad, my dear,
And do not cry over my parting,
my dear father

For my country, Shahada
Do not be sad, my dear
And do not cry over my parting,
my dear father,
For my country, I shall sacrifice myself!"

Scenes of children rioting against soldiers, the boy running with his friends, throwing stones... The letter continues:

"With determination and desire
I long to approach..."

The boy is shot in his chest and falls to the ground. The letter continues:

"How sweet is Shahada
When I embrace you, my land!"

Here the boy's mother is seen crying. The letter continues:

"My beloved, my mother, My most dear,
Be joyous over my blood and do not cry for me."

The message of this song to Palestinian children is clear; It should be a child's wish and goal to die in confrontations with Israel

Palestinian Hate-Filled Music Video
April 20, 2003

Palestinian Media Watch has reported extensively on Palestinian education to hatred. One of the potent means used by the Palestinians to indoctrinate children to hate Israelis is the repeated broadcasting on Palestinian Authority Television of hate-filled music videos depicting Israelis as murderers, especially of children and the elderly.

One of the new Palestinian music videos, which has been broadcast regularly since January 2003 includes the following scenes, acted out by Palestinian actors:

1. It opens with a laughing girl on a swing, which turns into a burning swing and burning child's rocking horse. The implication is that Israelis attack children at play, leaving behind burning swings and burning rocking horses.

2. A father reads his young son a section from the Koran calling on Muslims to fight the enemies.

3. The father hands his young son a rock to throw at Israelis.

4. A bomb is hidden [by Israel] inside a soccer ball and blows up when a child kicks it.

5. Actors depict Israeli soldiers murdering an elderly man by shooting him in the head.

6. A mother and her infant are blown up by Israeli soldiers.

PA: Give Kids Guns - Don't Show the Press
September 1, 2002

The Palestinian Authority's sending different messages to the world and to their own people was seen again last week after the Palestinian journalists union "banned journalists from photographing Palestinian children carrying weapons ... saying that the pictures harm the Palestinian cause." [The Jerusalem Post, August 26, 2002] However, at the same time that they are preventing the world from seeing their children

[PA TV, August 23, 2002]

with guns, Palestinian Authority TV interviewed a child in his home - and for the purpose of the interview placed a Kalashnikov automatic rifle with the bullet clip over his shoulder.

Clearly, while they don't want the world to see them manipulating their children to violence, the message of child violence is precisely what they want to give Palestinian children watching PA TV.

Director of Palestinian Children's Aid Association:
"We teach our children to reach Shahada"
May 6, 2003

Introduction

Palestinian Media Watch reports documenting the comprehensive Palestinian Authority (PA) encouragement of their children to aspire to heroic death for Allah, or Shahada, have brought repeated denials by PA leaders in English. However, in their own Arabic language media they continue to see encouraging children to Shahada as a national achievement.

In a candid interview this week on PA TV, the Director of the Palestinian "Children's Aid Association," an agency whose function is to help children, stated that, as an education policy with other values, Palestinians teach their children to aspire to death for Allah - Shahada.

The following is the text of the interview:

Journalist Samir Shahin: "The children only wanted to leave [school] and throw stones at the Israeli soldier, and to reach Shahada. They aspired to Shahada as a first priority.

Moderator: Mrs. Firial, in your opinion, does the Palestinian child understand the concept of Shahada?

Firial Hillis, Director of the Palestinian "Children's Aid Association": "The concept of Shahada for him [the Palestinian child] means belonging to the homeland, from a religious point of view. Sacrifice for his homeland. Achieving Shahada in order to reach Paradise and to meet his God. This is the best. We also teach our children to protect the homeland, belonging and to reach Shahada."
[PA TV, May 4, 2003] To view this interview click here.

Teaching Palestinian Children They Can Destroy Judaism
April 21, 2003

One of the most frequently shown Palestinian music videos, broadcast regularly for two years - and frequently in recent days - teaches young children that throwing stones at Israelis is a way to defend their mother's honor.

In one scene young boys throw stones at a glass window with Jewish symbols: the word Israel in Hebrew, a star of David, an Israeli flag and an Israeli soldier. Immediately after the window and the Jewish symbols are smashed, all the flames on a menorah [a traditional Jewish candelabra] are extinguished.

The message to Palestinian children is clear: their stones have the power to destroy Jewish symbols and extinguish the flames of Jewish tradition and, by extension, Israel.

PMW in Front Page Report in Jerusalem Post

PA urging kids to risk their lives
Jerusalem Post, Margot Dudkevitch, November 20, 2000

A report issued by Palestinian Media Watch yesterday shows that children seen in potentially life-threatening confrontations with soldiers since the outbreak of the Aksa intifada are being encouraged by the Palestinian Authority, media, parents, and teachers.

PMW director Itamar Marcus translated excerpts from reports published by the PA television and radio and by Palestinian newspapers, which prominently display the attitude of parents and teachers toward dead children. There are also statements from children injured in clashes whose main goal is to seek martyrdom. The PA pays compensation to the families of those killed or wounded in the clashes, $2,000 for a dead person and $300 for the wounded.

"As the number of those killed rises, the Palestinian media extols and exalts not only those killed, but also their willingness to die as martyrs for Allah, emphasizing that dying a martyr's death was the realization of their hopes," wrote Marcus.

On November 9, the official PA daily Al-Hayat al-Jadida published remarks made by Wajdi Hatab, 14, to his friends days before he was killed.

"When I become a martyr, give out kannafa [traditional cake]." Reacting to his death his schoolmates swore they would carry on down the road of martyrdom. The same article also quoted Hatab's gym teacher, who said he asked her to pass out the sweet cakes if he was killed. On November 1, Al-Ayyam quoted a mother who encouraged her sons to sacrifice themselves for Palestine. "The danger of injury to the boy Tzabar Ashkaram, 18, paralysis and permanent disability, just added to his mother's determination to encourage her sons to participate in the intifada riots... the fact of his injury by a live bullet did not cause her to mourn. She said she had previously lost her older son Iyyad."

Ramahan Sahadi Abed Rabbah, 13, who was asked why he participated in clashes with soldiers, was quoted in Al-Hayat on November 8 as saying, "My purpose is not to be wounded but something more sublime - martyrdom."

On November 6, the same newspaper quoted a wounded 11-year-old from Jabalya refugee camp: "We are all potential martyrs for Jerusalem and the homeland."

On PA television on November 2, a teacher standing next to pupils said, "Our blood is a sign of our fighting for our precious Palestine."

Since the outbreak of the intifada, Palestinian Web sites are inundated with "live testimonies" from the wounded and those who witness the death of their friends. The dead are listed as martyrs, although Israeli monitors say not all were killed in clashes.

Janine Zacharia adds from Washington: Roughly 200 US pediatricians, disturbed by recurring violent street demonstrations involving children in the West Bank and Gaza, have formed an informal coalition to condemn those who purposely expose children to danger for political gain.

Doctors Opposed to Child Sacrifice "will be a vocal advocate for the safety and well-being of children around the world by working to end the practice of using children as targets and weapons in violent political activities," according to a press release issued yesterday.

The doctors signed a statement which calls on "all parents and governments to bring an end to their children's participation in non-peaceful demonstrations." It singles out the PA as a prime offender and calls on the international community "to make a strong statement against this outrage."

"We believe that it is in the best interest of the healthy development of children to teach and model non-violent methods of conflict resolution," the statement said. "Governments that encourage or permit children to participate in violence, to further political aims, are practicing a form of societal abuse."