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Friday, September 10, 2004

Palestinian kids hanging with the terrorists in Gaza


Running through the eastern edge of the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip is a sandy track called Sikkert Street. All through the day, it was a dangerous place to be.


Israeli troops had taken up a position at one end. Every few minutes they sent bursts of machine gun fire up the road.

Taking cover at the corners were Palestinian militants. They were armed and they wore masks. Most were from the Hamas movement.

And crowding around the fighters were large numbers of Jabaliya's teenagers and boys - some no more than eight or nine years old.

With a mixture of defiance and bravado and stupidity, they peered around the walls at the Israelis. Some would step out into the street, and then scramble for cover when the machine guns roared."