100 Palestinian
Children Protest Death of Peers in Gaza
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Americans
Susan Barney from Boston (L) & Garrick Ruiz from L.A., join
Palestinian children in their protest
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RAFAH,
Gaza Strip, July 25 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - About 100
Palestinian children, joined by 3 U.S. citizens, gathered in downtown
Rafah Thursday, July 25, to protest the deaths of their peers in an
Israeli F-16 attack on Gaza City that killed 18, including eleven
children.
Boys
and girls aged 11 to 15 carried handwritten signs calling on U.S.
President George W. Bush to "stop killing Palestinian
children," and asking, "Are you still seeking proof to try
[Israel's prime minister Ariel] Sharon?"
The
small demonstration in this town on the Egyptian border was called by
the Mini-Palestinian Parliament, a forum dedicated to children and
modeled on the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), said an
organizer.
"We
could have brought more children to the protest, but we were afraid
for their safety," said Khaled Abu-Armana, pointing to an Israeli
military tower 200 meters (yards) away.
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Palestinian
children burn a photo of Bush together with homemade Israeli and
U.S. flags.
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"Many
children also refused to go out for fear of an Israeli air raid after
what happened Monday in Gaza City," he added, referring to the
civilian massacre in Gaza where 18 Palestinians were killed, including
11 children, and 150 were injured.
Three
U.S. citizens also participated in the small demonstration, as well as
40 Palestinian unemployed workers hoping to draw some attention to
their plight.
"We're
here in solidarity with the children, but we also want the world to
know we're hungry and have been out of a job for almost two
years," said Mohammed al-Najha, 34, heading a newly established
workers' committee that set up a tent near the protest site.
Towards
the end of the demonstration, a U.S. flag was burnt with the three
U.S. citizens taking part, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"As
long as the U.S. government is on the side of oppressors around the
world, a flag that is supposed to stand for freedom has no
meaning," Garrick Ruez from Los Angeles told AFP.
A
U.S.-built Israeli F-16 warplane dropped a one-ton bomb on a building
in densely-populated Gaza City late Monday, July 22, killing 17
civilians, eleven of them children, as well as its target for
assassination, Salah Shehada, the military chief of the Palestinian
Islamic resistance group Hamas, and his bodyguard.
Israel
came in for massive international criticism after the attack, as
condemnation calls came from Arab countries, E.U., Russia, China and
Malaysia. Even the United States, which rarely criticizes Israel,
labeled that attack as “heavy-handed”.
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"Are
you still seeking proof to try Sharon?" the children asked
Bush.
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Israel
was roundly condemned Wednesday, July 24, in the U.N. Security Council
for its air strike, with the Palestinian envoy calling for war crimes
charges to be filed in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Israeli
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres called the devastating air raid a
"mistake," although Sharon, who personally approved the
raid, called it one of the air force's most successful operations.
His
finance minister, Silvan Shalom, claimed Sharon had allegedly not
known the strike would cause so many civilian casualties.
A
disbelieving Israeli press has demanded how the army, which prides
itself on its pinpoint intelligence accuracy, could have dropped so
large a bomb on a crowded area of apartment blocks in the middle of
the night.
Meanwhile,
in the aftermath of Monday’s attack, rabbi Elimelher Shapira, 43,
was shot dead early Thursday in an attack on his car in the northern
West Bank, while a passenger was seriously injured.
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