[Peace-discuss] Israel's shooting of young girl highlights international hypocrisy, say Palestinians

[David Green]

Israel's shooting of young girl highlights
international

hypocrisy, say Palestinians


By Chris McGreal in Khan Yunis


The Guardian

January 30, 2006


As the votes were counted in the Palestinian election
and

the scale of Hamas's landslide became apparent to the

world, Aya al-Astal drifted away from her home and

wandered towards the fence along the border between
the

Gaza strip and Israel. The nine-year-old girl's
parents

realised she was gone as they watched the election
results

on television. They do not know precisely what
happened,

but the Israeli army later said Aya was behaving in a

suspicious manner reminiscent of a terrorist - she got
too

close to the border fence - and so a soldier fired
several

bullets into the child, hitting her in the neck and

blowing open her stomach.


Aya was the second child killed by the Israeli army
last

week. Soldiers near Ramallah shot 13-year-old Munadel
Abu

Aaalia in the back as he walked along a road reserved
for

Jewish settlers with two friends. The army said the
boys

planned to throw rocks at Israeli cars, which the
military

defines as terrorism.


The two killings went unnoticed by the outside world
amid

the political drama, but they made their impact among

Palestinians angered by demands from western leaders
for

Hamas to recognise Israel and renounce its armed
struggle.


Some Palestinians see the demands as a rejection of a

democratic election and as siding with Israel. Others
see

hypocrisy. They say Israeli soldiers killed twice as
many

Palestinians last week alone - both of them children -
as

the number of Israelis killed by Hamas all last year.


"Aya was shot in the neck and stomach. Her stomach was

hanging out," said the child's mother, Aisha. "We have
no

idea why she went there but she was a child. She was
so

small. She was nine years old. She didn't wear a
hijab. It

was clear she was just a young girl. This is hatred."


Hamas is responsible for the murder of more than 400

Israelis. But since it declared a ceasefire a year ago
the

group has killed one Israeli, according to the Israeli

government's own figures. Sasson Nuriel was kidnapped
in

September and forced to record a video demanding the

release of prisoners. Hamas said it shot him when the
army

got close to finding him.


Hamas also carried out a suicide bombing at Beer Sheva
bus

station in August that seriously wounded two security

guards, and it was behind some of the attacks by

rudimentary rockets fired from Gaza into Israel that

frequently terrify but rarely kill. Hamas said it
launched

the rockets in response to Israeli attacks.


"Hamas has kept the calm for a year. Israel is still

killing our civilians," said the Hamas leader in Gaza,

Mahmoud al-Zahar. "Why is it that the Israelis can

continue to kill our people, innocent people walking
down

the street, and there is no criticism from those who
tell

us we must give up our historic struggle against

occupation? Why are they so afraid to criticise Israel
but

tell us what to do?"


The Astal family is politically divided. Aya's mother

voted for Hamas. The child's aunt, Samir al-Astal,
backed

the losing party, Fatah. But there is little
difference in

their belief that there is a double standard at work
in

the foreign demands of Israel and of Palestinians.


"The Americans always give excuses for Israel," said

Samir. "Israel is like a spoilt son. They never
pressure

them. They kill our children and no one says anything.
If

there is a reaction by Palestinians to these incidents

they call us terrorists."


Israel said it regretted civilian deaths but added
that

they were accidental, unlike those caused by suicide

bombs. It said Hamas was "intensively involved in

terrorist actions" despite the ceasefire.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1697745,



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com