++++
Sayed Kashua Calls on Every Palestinian: Stop Children's Suicide Attacks
Not every form of struggle is legimate, and even the struggles of people
fighting a cruel occupation have moral limits.
Haaretz November 12, 2015
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.685740
Sayed Kashua |
Illustration by Amos Biderman.Credit: Illustration
You can call them terrorists, you can call them heroes. But they are victims.
Victims who are not yet 12 years old. That must be stopped – and no, I’m not
referring to the iron fist of the Israel Defense Forces, the terrors of the
Shin Bet security service or the firearms wielded by civilians. They are not
the people I am calling on to stop the acts of suicide by Palestinian children.
The truth is that I don’t know who I am calling on for this end, or whether a
mechanism of authority of any sort remains that can act as a compass for the
children of East Jerusalem. And no, I am not, heaven forbid, calling for an end
to the struggle against Israeli oppression, even if that struggle is
purposeless in the absence of Palestinian organizing, Israeli morality, an
international conscience and Arab common sense. Sometimes a struggle for the
sake of a struggle is of value as part of an effort to give meaning to a life
that has lost its value. And no, not every form of struggle is legitimate, and
we have the right to pass moral judgment even on nations that are under cruel
occupation and are being subjected to a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
“Again child terrorists,” a senior journalist said this week. “What motivates
them?” he wonders, knowing the right answer, which lay in the headline below
the “Wave of Terror” banner that leaves no room for doubt about the identity of
the perpetual victim. “Israeli rule in Judea and Samaria, extremist Islam, or
the brainwashing that leads to hatred of Jews as such?” As though 12-year-old
children from East Jerusalem are even aware that there is such a thing as Jews
who are not Israelis. It’s doubtful whether they know that there are Jews who
are not soldiers or settlers. As if a Palestinian kid from the Shuafat refugee
camp decides that he hates Jews as such, for anti-Semitic reasons, because of
feelings related to their racial superiority.
Still, despite the Israeli denial of the reality that the state is creating,
everything must be done to put a stop to this. I don’t know whom the children
in the eastern part of Jerusalem listen to, who can influence their behavior.
And no, I am definitely not about to adopt the concept of “incitement” of which
the prime minister, his cabinet ministers, his soldiers and his journalists are
so fond. The only incitement I can point to is that of Israeli policy, in words
and in deeds.
Is it really the case that a Palestinian who lives in a refugee camp, for whom
soldiers are an integral part of his life, who has been subjected to
humiliation and belittlement from the moment he was born, needs someone to
finger those who are jailing him, who have taken his land and who are holding a
gun over his head? Does a Palestinian child need to read a textbook to
understand that Israel is tearing him to shreds?
I don’t know who can influence Palestinian children. I don’t know who the
authority figures are in their part of Jerusalem. The offices of organizations
there were long since purged by the Israelis; Orient House was shut down years
ago by a government order. The cinemas emptied out, the theaters were destroyed
and the newspapers’ editorial offices drifted elsewhere. I don’t know whom the
children in East Jerusalem listen to. To their parents, though they are in part
rebelling against us – we who became shadows of our former selves and lost hope
already in the previous round? To a generation of parents most of whom are
servants of the masters in the western part of the city?
Do they listen to their teachers, most of whom are controlled by the education
department of the Jerusalem Municipality, are appointed by it and teach under
its supervision? Which school did the two cousins from Shuafat, who got on the
light-rail train with scissors and maybe also a knife, attend? Did they even
have a class? Or are they among the thousands of children in the eastern city
who don’t have a school or a classroom? I don’t know, I truly don’t know what
the children there see and what influences them, other than the reality of
their life, which they compare to the reality of the life of the Jews that
surrounds them on all sides. I would like to think that, like my children of
their age, they watch cartoons and play computer games that are appropriate for
them. Do they even have computers?
Even if I don’t know whom they listen to, I do know that everyone who can make
his voice heard via every possible medium has the obligation to prevent the
children’s deeds. If Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wields any influence,
he must come forward filled with shame at the youngsters’ aim of stabbing
Israelis and of killing themselves. If Hamas has a say, then its leadership is
obligated to do all it can to stop the children’s actions.
I am no authority on the religious precepts, but I have no doubt that enough
sources exist that speak in condemnation of sending children to the front line.
And I have no doubt that there are enough quotations that condemn adults who
stand by helplessly as children fight their war.
Although thousands of Palestinian children have been killed over the years, it
is impossible to compare a child who was killed in his home, in his
neighborhood, in his city with a child who sets out to commit suicide by trying
to stab someone with scissors, a screwdriver or a knife.
It is incumbent on every Palestinian who has a platform and a voice to do all
he can to put a stop to this phenomenon. It is incumbent on all of us to tell
our children that their life is important, that their life is sacred. It is
incumbent on us to teach children that the life of others is sacred. It is not
the role of children – nor, indeed, of anyone – to go on a stabbing spree
against civilians. If there is a worthy struggle, it must be one that is
conducted for the sake of Palestinian children before it is conducted against
Israel.
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Sayed Kashua
Haaretz Contributor
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