Watching the television coverage of the daily
Palestinian riots, known as the Al-Aqsa intifada, one is
immediately struck by the near total absence of adults. Indeed, most of
those hurling Molotov cocktails and stones are teenagers; many are even
younger. Intoxicated by the challenge of becoming a hero, lacking the
maturity to calculate the dangers they are assuming, these young people
are easily motivated to place themselves in harm’s way.
Media reports highlighting the instances in which
Palestinian children have been killed or injured by Israeli troops or
policemen have generated much criticism of Israeli policies. The
Palestinian leadership has attempted to convince the international
community of the need to dispatch a contingent of international
observers to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, ostensibly to protect the
Palestinians from the depredations of the IDF.
The presence of rioting Palestinian children is not
accidental. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has intentionally mobilized
Palestinian children to man the front line in its struggle against
Israel, frequently using them as shields to protect Palestinian gunmen.
This mobilization of Palestinian youth has, moreover, been facilitated
by the long-term impact of PA curricula, government-controlled media,
and summer camp programs, which indoctrinated the youth for armed
confrontation with Israel even prior to the current crisis.
The utilization of children in armed conflicts has
been increasingly condemned by the international community. It is barred
by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and recent UN Security
Council Resolution 1261, which specifically described the use of
children as soldiers as a “violation of international law”.
International law broadly attempts to protect children from the horrors
of armed conflict. Jean Pictet, in the official Red Cross commentary on
article 28, notes that the use of civilians (of any age) as shields has
been condemned as cruel and barbaric.
Moreover, the Palestinian leadership, in a classic
case of bad faith, accuses Israel of committing human rights violations
for the fatalities, while evading its own responsibility for the
orchestrated appearance of children in the front lines of the conflict.
This constitutes a cynical exploitation of human rights concerns. While
the PA is not formally bound by international human rights conventions,
it nonetheless is required by the Oslo agreements, which PA Chairman
Yasser Arafat signed, to honor “internationally accepted norms of human
rights and the rule of law”.
The new Palestinian violence undermines not only
the spirit of the Oslo peace process but its raison d’être – to
resolve differences through negotiation rather than violence. The
problem of incitement to violence has been repeatedly addressed in the
interim peace agreements. However, none of the anti-incitement
provisions in the interim peace agreements, each one signed by Arafat,
has been honored in practice.
The message from the top, from PA Chairman Arafat,
is unequivocal. Arafat ruthlessly encourages the involvement of
Palestinian children in violence, referring to them as “the generals of
the rocks” and boasting after the IDF attack on Fateh offices, “[the
attack] cannot shake one eyelash of a Palestinian child holding a stone
to defend holy Jerusalem.” Arafat plays to their pride; he would have
them believe they are “generals” and heroes when they function as
cannon-fodder in the media campaign to discredit Israel.
According to international law, in particular
Article 43 of the Hague Regulations of 1907, Israel is obliged to ensure
public order and safety in the areas it occupied in self-defense in the
Six-Day War of 1967. This means that Israel must carry out necessary
security measures in response to the widespread shooting and stoning
that has characterized the Al-Aqsa intifada. The force employed
by the IDF in response to these complex and dangerous confrontations is
not indiscriminate. Nor is it intended to harm the Palestinian youths.
Rather the goal is to restore safety on the highways and other locations
where violence has been instigated. IDF regulations make every effort to
avoid incurring unnecessary casualties. Any soldiers who violate the
rules of engagement are subject to investigation, disciplinary trial
and, in serious cases, court-martial, as well they should be.
It is unquestionably a tragedy when children fall
victim to the Al-Aqsa intifada, but the blame does not rest with
the IDF. The tragic reality is that children, often of primary school
age, man the intifada’s first line of offense. Thus, it is not
the IDF, but rather the Palestinian leadership, which should ultimately
be held responsible for the injury and death among their rioting
children.
