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Gaza's children play war in Palestinian summer camp
[Pak Daily Times] As the hot weather arrives in Gaza, teenagers head to the town of Rafah for summer camp -- not to play sports but to join war games organised by radical Palestinian group Islamic Jihad.

Abu Khaled insists it is like any other "youth camp, (but) includes combat training."
Youngsters wearing military fatigues and the movement's black insignia capture a fellow camper posing as an Israeli soldier and drag him away -- all part of being trained to "resist" the enemy.

Around 100 children under the age of 16 learn from members of Islamic Jihad's armed wing al Quds Brigades how to strip down an AK-47 assault rifle, crawl through tunnels and run across burning tyres amid the sound of explosions on their assault course.

"When I'm older I want to fight in al Quds Brigades and capture Israeli troops," said 12-year-old Ezz, who was this time playing the role of the unfortunate enemy soldier taken from his position atop a scorching sand dune.

Ezz is a pupil at a school in the Gaza Strip run by the UN's Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.

Fellow camper Osama, holding a rifle, explains: "We learn to fight so that we're ready for our resistance against the Zionist enemy (Israel) who occupies our land and kills us."

The head military trainer at the camp, Abu Khaled, insists it is like any other "youth camp, (but) includes combat training."
Posted by: Fred 2013-06-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=370518