Middle East - AP
Palestinian Teen Dies in Gaza Ritual
Date: Thu, Apr 22, 2004
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip - Mohammed Elmalfouh, 16, slipped out of the house Thursday morning, telling his mother he was off to see his math tutor. Instead, he joined dozens of teens throwing stones at Israeli tanks from close range. The 10th grader was killed by a large-caliber bullet in the upper back.
Mohammed was part of a deadly ritual played out again and again in Gaza: Palestinian youngsters charge at tanks with rocks to prove their courage to their peers, even when soldiers are firing machine guns mounted on the tanks.
The teenager was killed on the third day of an Israeli army raid on Beit Lahiya, a town in northern Gaza from which crude rockets were fired in recent days at Israeli settlements in Gaza. In all, 16 Palestinians were killed in the town in the three days — seven gunmen, three stone-throwers and six onlookers.
Among Thursday's dead were a 9-year-old girl shot in the stomach outside her apartment complex and a 4-year-old girl who doctors said died of tear gas inhalation.
Sitting in a mourning tent, Mohammed's family tried to make sense of his death. His father, Rassem, said it was God's will, but he had trouble fighting off the tears.
Mohammed's brother, 17-year-old Ahmed, had blood stains on his hands and jeans, from a last embrace in the hospital morgue.
"No one can fill his place in my heart," Ahmed said.
On Thursday morning, Ahmed stood on a balcony and caught a glimpse of his brother as he left the house, notebook in hand. Mohammed told his mother he was on his way to a private math tutorial. Schools were closed in Beit Lahiya, as on previous days, because they are too close to Israeli tank positions.
Mohammed never made it to math class. He walked several hundred yards in the direction of the Israeli settlement of Nissanit. Earlier in the day, tanks had pulled out of Beit Lahiya and deployed on the outskirts of the settlement. Dozens of teens followed the armored vehicles, Mohammed among them, throwing stones and drawing machine gun fire across sand dunes and empty plots.
Mohammed was about 300 yards from a tank when he was killed by a machine-gun bullet in the back, Palestinian medics said.
His father, Rassem, head of the Palestinian Authority (news - web sites) body that deals with volunteer organizations, said he had told his children, four boys and a girl, that education is important. However, he said, it is impossible to shield them from violence.
"I was and I am still doing my best as a father to protect my children," Rassem Elmalfouh said. "But this did not mean that I am advising my sons to grow up like cowards."
In more than three years of fighting, Israeli troops have repeatedly raided Gaza towns and refugees camps in search of militants. In a typical raid, tanks rumbling through the streets are pelted by stones or come under fire from gunmen.
The Israeli military said that in Thursday's confrontations, about 100 Palestinians threw stones, but also firebombs, grenades and explosive devices toward the tanks. The army said soldiers fired at armed men, not at stone throwers.
However, an apartment complex in Beit Lahiya that is home to about 4,000 people was within firing range of the tanks Thursday, and the facades of several apartments showed bullet marks.
Nine-year-old Mona Abutabaq was standing outside her apartment building when she was shot in the stomach. She died several hours later.
SOURCE
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