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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