[WCUSP] Children of Gaza burn toy guns in protest against daily atrocities

[Kate Zaidan]

MAAN NEWS AGENCY
---------------------------


Children of Gaza burn toy guns in protest against daily atrocities

Date: 05 / 02 / 2007 Time: 11:21

Rafah - Ma'an - On Sunday the children of Gaza burned their toy guns as 
an expression of their opposition to the daily atrocities being 
committed by Fatah and Hamas militants in their clashes. Children said 
these toys have become part of the chaos, because their leaders use the 
real weapons for killing and destruction.

The supervisor of the Palestinian small parliament, which organized the 
activity, Abdur-Raoof Barbakh, said: "What is going on in Gaza Strip is 
horrible and regrettable. Unfortunately, nobodies' endeavors succeed in 
stopping the fighting between brothers who are being moved by blind 
partiality and narrow-mindedness." He continued "it never occurred to me 
that one day a Palestinian resistance fighter could kill another or 
throw heavy artillery at him at a time when the Israeli occupation is 
only few meters away from our borders."

A child participant in the demonstration, Ameer Barakah aged 15, said 
that burning weapons is the only way to stop the fighting. He said: "We 
don't need weapons anymore because they were used for the resistance and 
unfortunately everybody has abandoned resistance to get involved in 
inter-brethren fighting and to commit atrocities against Palestinian 
houses and educational institutions." He added that "weapons have become 
dirty and unpatriotic, so Palestinian citizens are fed up with them and 
their bearers who direct their weapons towards their brothers."

Another participant, Nizar Breikah said: "I ask Fatah and Hamas leaders, 
if they can't secure our future and unity, to depart from this noble and 
sacred country and let us live in peace and protect our lives from the 
death they have distributed on the streets of the Gaza Strip." He asked: 
"Hasn't the Israeli army committed enough massacres against Palestinian 
children?" He described Hamas and Fatah leaders as "adolescents who kill 
Palestinian children and destroy institutions on behalf of the Israeli 
occupation."

Hanein Zu'rob, a girl aged 11, she asked the children: "Do you want 
Fatah," and they resolutely replied "No," then she asked: "Do you want 
Hamas?" And the children shouted together "No." When she asked: "Do you 
want Palestine?" All the demonstrators replied "Yes." The girl said to 
Ma'an's correspondent: "We don't want both Fatah and Hamas because 
neither of them have done us any good, and instead they are fighting 
over authority and posts and forgetting about homeland, Jerusalem and 
the prisoners, as well as the children."

-- 
Kate Zaidan
Program Coordinator
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
1213 Race Street
Philadelphia, PA  19107
215-563-7110 [ph]
215-563-5527 [fx]
www.wilpf.org

Never have the armies of the North brought peace, prosperity, or democracy to the peoples of Asia, Africa, or Latin America. In the future, as in the past five centuries, they can only bring to these peoples further servitude, the exploitation of their labor, the expropriation of their riches, and the denial of their rights. It is of the utmost importance that the progressive forces of the West understand this.

— Samir Amin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samir_Amin