Never a dull day in the Middleeast, always thinking up new and exciting ways to blow each other up. Christ, What's wrong with these people? Do they really hate the Israelis more than they love their kids?Palestinian boy, 14, got NIS 100 to blow up at IDF roadblock
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and AP
Israel Defense Forces paratroopers caught a Palestinian boy aged 14 wearing an explosive belt at the Hawara roadblock, south of Nablus, in the West Bank on Wednesday afternoon.
Sappers used a remote-controlled robot to pass scissors to the boy, Hussam Abdu from Nablus, so that he could cut the explosive belt off his body, and then safely detonated it in a controlled explosion.
Abdu, who was taken in for questioning, said that he received NIS 100 to carry out a suicide attack.
The IDF believes that Abdu was meant to detonate the 8 kg belt near the soldiers or close to the nearby army base.
A Tanzim cell from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus took responsibility for sending the boy.
Abdu told soldiers of his dream of receiving 72 virgins in heaven, which his dispatchers had promised him, and said that he had been tempted by the promise of sexual relations with the virgins. He said that he had been bullied at school for his poor academic performance and that he had wanted "to be a hero."
The commander of the Paratroopers Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel "Guy," told Haaretz that the boy was apparently instructed to set off the explosives he was wearing among the soldiers.
It appears that he was afraid to detonate the bomb at the site, as he was surrounded by Palestinians and the soldiers were too far away. Lieutenant Colonel "Guy" added that the "level of awareness" of the soldiers prevented a serious terrorist attack.
The family of the boy said that he was gullible. "He doesn't know anything," his brother, Hosni, said.
In a statement, the Israel branch of Physicians for Human Rights condemned the Palestinian militants for sending the teenager on a bombing mission.
The statement said, "Adults should cease to exploit children by making them take part in such acts." The Israeli branch of the physicians group often issues protests about Israel's practices in the territories.
Soldiers at the checkpoint said they had received intelligence that there was an imminent attack planned there, shut down the crossing and began searching people there.
Suddenly the boy, wearing an oversized red jersey, approached them in a suspicious way, said an officer at the checkpoint.
"We saw that he had something under his shirt," he said. The soldiers dove behind concrete barricades, pointed their guns at him and told him to stop.
They ordered him to take off his jersey, revealing a large gray bomb vest underneath. "He told us he didn't want to die. He didn't want to blow up," the officer said.
The soldiers then sent the robot to hand the scissors to the boy. He cut off part of the vest and struggled with the rest. "I don't how to get this off," Abdu called to the soldiers.
After he dropped the vest, soldiers ordered him to take off his undershirt and jeans, to ensure he had no other weapons on him.
"This is another horrific example of how the Palestinians use their own children to spread terror against Israelis," David Baker, an official in the prime minister's office, said in response.
"These children are turned into human time-bombs for the purpose of spreading as much terror against Israelis as possible," Baker added.
Abdu's mother voiced astonishment at the incident.
"Hussam left home this morning to school, and this was the first we hear of what happened," Tamam Abdu told Reuters from the family home in Nablus, just north of Hawara. "This is shocking. To use a child like this is irresponsible, forbidden."
Just last week, soldiers found an explosive charge on a cart pushed by a 10-year-old Palestinian boy at the same roadblock.
The soldiers released the boy after it transpired that he did not know what was in the bag he was carrying through the barricade.
Late Wednesday, several Israeli tanks moved back into an area of the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, residents said.
Military sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was a similar, limited operation to one the day before in which some structures were razed.
(I understand the Palestinian Boy's family were not in on it, or so the story goes)
