he Children's Crusade was one of history's cruellest and most absurd examples of how adults will sacrifice their children's on the altar of religious fervor and political ambition. In the year 1212 CE, inspired by child visionaries, two armies of children set out from Europe in an attempt to retake the Holy Land from the Muslims.

  Tens of thousands of French and German families allowed their little boys (and some little girls) to set out for Palestine, convinced God would lead the innocents to triumph in the righteous cause.

  The Pope, alas, to no avail, told them to go home. Most died of disease, hunger or drowning at sea. The few survivors were taken prisoner by Muslims and sold into slavery.

  Today, a more enlightened West admits to the barbaric nature of the Crusades and we find it unthinkable that parents would risk their children in this way.

  Not so the Palestinians, who often cite the Crusades in their denunciations of the West and Israel, and, with a medieval sense of the value of their kids' lives, and a 21st-century sense of public relations, send their young out daily to provoke Israeli guns. Often these boys function as a rock-throwing shield behind which stand grown men - profiles in courage, throwing Molotov cocktails and firing rifles.

  When children are deliberately sent into a war zone to act as shock troops, deaths, inevitably, will occur. The adults who run Palestinian society don't seem to care that international law and common decency demand children not be used as combatants.

  Each new sound-bite report of something unthinkable - heavily armed Israeli soldiers intentionally targeting Palestinian children - reinforces the impression that the perceived underdog in the clashes, the Palestinians, are innocent victims of brutal Israeli repression. Palestinians portray their dead children (child sacrifice?)as innocent martyrs, dispatched gloriously to heaven by Zionist bullets. Each child's body, shown on TV throughout the Arab world and the West, is a formidable propaganda weapon. PLO chairman Yasser Arafat on PA TV January 15, 2002 explained that dead Palestinian children - shaheedin - are "the greatest message to the world."

  As usual, reality is at odds with the story presented by the international media. The rules of engagement for Israeli soldiers authorized lethal force only in life-threatening situations.

atred is not instinctive. As the saying goes, "You have to be carefully taught." The Oslo peace accord stipulated that Jewish and Palestinian schools alike teach their students, from an early age, values promoting mutual acceptance and respect. As an interim agreement between the two sides stated, "Israel and [the Palestinians] will ensure that their respective educational systems contribute to the peace . . . and will refrain from the introduction of any motifs that could adversely affect the process of reconciliation." Tragically, only the Israelis have abided by that agreement.

  Israeli schools have implemented a comprehensive "peace education" program that utilizes books encouraging students to accept and respect Arabs. Through stories and anecdotes, these books deplore prejudice. They present Arab traditions as admirable, and Arab people as good human beings whose hopes and dreams are very similar to those of their Jewish counterparts.

y contrast, The hatred of Jews, glorification of jihad, violence, death and child martyrdom are taught to Palestinian children almost from birth, as an essential part of their culture and destiny. For instance, ninth-grade Palestinian students study from official textbooks that assert, "Treachery and disloyalty are character traits of the Jews, and therefore one should beware of them." These books depict Jews as satanic, violent, "thieving conquerors" who have stolen Arab land and must be slaughtered.

  In a 1998 Israeli video documentary, the Children's Club,a Sesame Street-like children's program, complete with puppet shows, songs, Mickey Mouse and other characters, focused on inculcating intense hatred of Jews and a passion for engaging in and celebrating violence against them in a perpetual "jihad" until the day the Israeli flags come down from above "Palestinian land" and the Palestinian flag is raised.

  Eyad al-Sarraj, a psychiatrist in Gaza told USA Today, "At the age of 12, children start to look for role models. In the States, you have celebrities and athletes. In our part of the world, it is the martyr."

  The situation has gone from bad to worse. Palestinian terrorist organizations have begun to employ children in outright terrorist actions, including suicide bombings.

  In one of the most disgusting high-profile incidents, the Israeli army intercepted Hussam Abdo wearing an explosive belt with 18 lbs of explosives near Nablus. Hussam wasn't just transporting a bomb - he was the bomb. The dramatic scene of the youth removing his vest was caught on videotape and broadcast around the world.

  Hussam told the Israelis he was 14 years old. His family later said he is really 16, but is mildly retarded, with the mind of a 12 year old and is described as "gullible." He would be dead today but for an alert Israeli soldier suspicious that, on a warm day, the child wore a heavy, oversized coat to his knees, with long sleeves concealing his hands. Suspicious that Hussam had something under his sweater they pointed their rifles. He stopped, raising his hands above his head as the soldiers retreated behind concrete barricades.

  "He told us he didn't want to die, he didn't want to blow up," said Lieutenant Tamir Milrad. When the soldiers ordered him to take off the sweater, he immediately complied, revealing a gray vest with explosives packed inside.

  Hussam told the Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, he had learned about paradise in school. "A river of honey, a river of wine and 72 virgins. Since I have been studying Koran I know about the sweet life that waits there. Blowing myself up is the only chance I've got to have sex with 72 virgins in the Garden of Eden. They told me that this was the only way, and they promised that my mother would get one hundred shekels if I did this. But when the soldiers stopped me, I didn't press the switch. I changed my mind. I didn't want to die anymore."

  The incident was portrayed by many in the media as an isolated incident at best or a new "trend" in suicide bombing at worst. But the use of Palestinian children in terrorist attacks is hardly new and many of them were indoctrinated by Palestinian Authority (PA) officials to seek Death for Allah or Shahada.

uicide bombings are coldly calculated acts, conceived by killers who prey on the weakest members of their own society: the disconsolate, the simple-minded, shamed women and bullied children. It's never Arafat's family members or the relatives of HAMAS leaders who blow themselves up; yet they are the ones who glorify "martyrdom," the sacrifice of children and the murder of innocents.

  Terrorists are increasingly focusing their attention on children because they are easily impressionable, satisfied by small amounts of money, and are less likely to be scrutinized by Israeli soldiers looking for bombs and weapons at checkpoints. These children are assigned to perpetrate attacks, attend violent demonstrations and confrontations against IDF soldiers, smuggle bombs and weapons, and stand guard during terrorist operations and meetings.

  Sometimes children are not even aware of the fact they are involved in terrorist activities, and are unknowingly sent to transport bombs and other weapons, as in the case of the 12-year old Palestinian boy was unknowingly given a bomb to smuggle across a roadblock.

ccording to Israeli government officials, during the course of investigations and from findings discovered during Israeli Security Force operations, it appears that various terrorist organizations are using children's toys and props, such as backpacks and toys, in order to camouflage explosive charges. For example, during IDF operations in Qalqilya on April 26, 2002 three sabotage laboratories were exposed. These laboratories contained explosive charges, explosive materials, grenades and weapons. A child's backpack was found in one of the laboratories, and it contained explosive devices ready for use.

alestinian leaders have denied that they encourage their children to aspire to Shahada. However in Arabic, the PA continues to express pride in educating children to seek "Death for Allah, portraying it as a national achievement. The Director of the Palestinian Children's Aid Association candidly reiterated this PA educational policy, on PA TV May 4, 2003.

  Imad Shakur, Arafat's advisor told Israel Radio that the Al Aqsa Brigades, that sent Hussam Abdo to try to blow himself up at the Hawara checkpoint, "is not the military wing of Fatah or part of Fatah." However, the PA's own official website states that Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is "the military wing of Fatah movement."

  There are a number of voices among Palestinian leaders, however, condemning the manipulation of children by terrorists. In an interview with the Associated Press, Palestinian Minister Saeb Erekat said that “Our children need hope and a future, and they must not become suicide terrorists. We want them to be doctors or engineers.”

mnesty International issued a statement on March 24 calling the use of children to carry out or assist in armed attacks of any kind an “abomination.” The statement called on the Palestinian leadership to publicly denounce these practices and warned that "Palestinian armed groups, including HAMAS, Islamic Jihad and al-Aqsa Martyrs's brigades, must put an immediate end to the use or involvement of any kind of children in armed activity."

The following is a partial list of incidents where Palestinian children were recruited by terrorists:

  July 6, 2002 - two minors, both 11 years old, were caught by Israeli Security Forces, near the Dugit outpost. Both had knives. When questioned, they stated that they had planned to plant a bomb in the area. One of the youths stated that he wished to commit suicide and had hoped to be killed by IDF fire.

  February, 2002 - Fahed Taisir Ali Azazi, 16 years old, a resident of Rafah, was killed by IDF fire after he threw a grenade at the Tarmit outpost.

  April, 2002 - A fifteen year old minor, a resident of Bethlehem, was interrogated due to information that indicated she was preparing to perpetrate a suicide attack. The minor confessed that she planned to perpetrate a suicide attack with the help of her uncle, a senior Tanzim activist in Bethlehem. She asked her uncle to recruit her to the Fatah's Al-Aqsa Brigades, and her uncle agreed. Her uncle asked her to recruit additional girls from her school into the organization.

  March 31, 2002 - Jamil Khalaf Moustafa Hamid, 16 years old, a resident of Bethlehem, was recruited by the Tanzim. He perpetrated the suicide attack at the Magen David Adom station in the town of Efrat. As a result of the attack 6 Israeli civilians were injured.

  February 24, 2002 - Noura Jamal Mouhamad Ghanem, 16 years old, a resident of Tul Karem, she perpetrated an attempted stabbing of an IDF soldier at the Taibe check-point near Tul Karem. IDF forces fired opened fire during an "arrest of a suspect" procedure, which ended in the subject's death. The Fatah took responsibility for attack.

  May 22, 2002 - Issa Abd Raba Ibrahim Badir, 17 years old, a resident of Doucha/Bethlehem, he perpetrated the suicide attack in Rishon Le'tzion, as a result of which 2 Israeli citizens were killed and over 30 injured. Issa was directed by the Fatah military infrastructure in Bethlehem.

  July 30, 2002 - Hazem Atta Yousef, 17 years old, a resident of Beit Jala. He perpetrated the suicide attack at the Falafel stand on Neve'im Street in Jerusalem; as a result 5 people were lightly injured. The Fatah took responsibility for the attack.

February 12, 2003 – A group of four boys were hired to cross from the Palestinian side of Rafah to the Egyptian side as part of an attempt to smuggle weapons to Israel from Egypt.

March 26, 2004 – A 16-year old boy was sent by the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades to blow himself up. As he was caught by the IDF at a checkpoint he said, “when the soldiers stopped me, I didn't press the switch. I changed my mind. I didn't want to die anymore.”

March 22, 2004 – A 12-year old Palestinian boy was unknowingly given a bomb to smuggle across a roadblock. The plan was to detonate the bomb once the boy reached the checkpoint, essentially making the boy a suicide bomber without his even knowing.

March 16, 2004 – Militants gave an 11-year old boy explosives to smuggle into Israel. When the boy was caught at a roadblock he was not aware that he was carrying explosives.

February 26, 2004 – Three boys aged 13, 14, and 16 were caught on their way to perpetrate a shooting attack in Afula. The 16 year old had been recruited by Islamic Jihad.

ne additional worrying development is that parents are allowing their children to dress up as "martyrs". More and more, we see the phenomenon of children participating in marches and parades while dressed as "martyrs" and wearing props similar to explosive charges and slogans proclaiming their "martyr" status. There is no doubt that this phenomenon has a destructive effect on the education of these children, who imbibe the Jihad culture, making them easy targets for recruitment by terrorist organizations for perpetrating attacks.