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Palestinian summer camps feature military training for kids

Special to World Tribune.com
MIDDLE EAST NEWSLINE
Sunday, July 23, 2000

GAZA -- The Palestinian Authority has launched summer camps meant to train youngsters in protecting PA areas from Israeli troops and Jewish settlers.

PA officials said the summer camps will last two weeks and feature both civilian and military courses designed to bolster patriotism. In the Hebron area, 12 camps were launched on Thursday -- attended by more than 3,000 youngsters.

Fatah supporters demonstrated a weapons and shooting display in Hebron in what they said was an effort to defend against any Israeli military invasion. PA officials said the Israeli military has deployed as many as 50 tanks in the Gaza Strip.

Brig. Gen. Haj Khaled Musmar, head of the supreme council of summer camps, accused Israel of spreading false reports of the activities of Palestinian summer facilities. Musmar said the camps focus on agricultural, cultural and sports activities during the summer vacation.

Israeli officials as well as Fatah activists said the summer camps serve to train thousands of youngsters in military skills, including weapons training. Fatah activists said earlier this week that about 2,000 youngsters are attending these PA-sponsored camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

For his part, Musmar did not deny that the campers are being trained in military skills. He told a news conference that Palestinian youngsters have the right to be taught self-defense against what he termed was the aggressive intention of Jewish settlers.

The general said Jewish settlements contain a large number of weapons and said the settlers and their children are being trained in firearms and other methods of killing.

An Israeli senior officer denied Palestinian accusations of an Israeli military buildup in the Gaza Strip. The officer said military commanders have been explaining such movements as that of armored personnel carriers in the area as defensive.

Sunday, July 23, 2000

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