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This is background for the Boaz Wachtel articles. Can anybody say "kaneh bos" - Hebrew for cannabis in the Old Testament. In the Hebrew Kaneh-bosem is plural. The singular then is rendered Kaneh-bos. :)
These unfortunate kids being indoctrinated in fundamentalist Jewish, Christianist, and Islamist schools. Cannon fodder for their parents' spiritual ignorance.
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World Peace Herald. July 15, 2005.
Children's role in Gaza protest sparks concern
By Amelia ThomasMiddle East Times
Published July 15, 2005
NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza -- In readiness for Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza, anti-disengagement activists are lugging huge loudspeakers into Jewish settlements in Gush Katif that are designated to be dismantled. They intend to broadcast messages from local children to try to persuade frontline Israeli disengagement forces to refuse orders to remove the settlers.
This is not the first time that children will be brought into the conflict between the settlers and the state. In the much-publicized children's letter-writing campaigns to the Israeli cabinet and Sela, the Administration for Assistance to Gaza Residents included such phrases as "Elei Sinai is our home, and I'll never leave it," and "It is not fair to expel us from here," written by children as young as eight.
Some commentators feel that Gush Katif's children, however young, are every bit as entitled as their parents to have their views heard by the world. Moreover, having lived in the area their entire lives, they are seen as astute observers of the Gaza settlements, and of their current precarious situation.
"Anne Frank was only young," said one Neve Dekalim parent, "but she knew what was right and what was wrong, and what the enemy had in store for her."
Others, however, believe that parents like this are unfairly indoctrinating their children, since the disengagement is not an expulsion they say, but a move towards peace. Thus, the children are forced into a frightening situation of paranoia, they argue, being encouraged to believe in an Israeli 'enemy' which does not in fact exist.
Still others believe that some irresponsible settler parents are simply using young children as pawns in the game, encouraging them to write letters and attend protests in a thinly veiled attempt at emotional blackmail.
But whatever the reasons behind the public outcry coming from Gaza's some 3,000 Jewish children, the effect on their psychological health, say experts, is grave.
According to a study conducted in early 2002 by the Adler Center for Child Welfare and Protection at Tel Aviv University, 11 to 13 year olds in Gaza settlements have been exposed to five times more terror incidents than their 'mainstream' Israeli peers. This, says researchers, has led to high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder: the rate of settler children receiving counseling far exceeds the national average.
Moreover, youth coordinator Amatzia Yehieli of the Gaza Shore Regional Council recently expressed her concerns over Gush Katif's older teenagers, who are heavily involved in the demonstrations sweeping the country. Should the disengagement proceed, she said recently, the youth suicide rate could leap dramatically. The greater the teenagers' determination to succeed, she added, the greater their sense of loss on the 'day after'.
But despite the emotional hurdles they face, Gaza's younger Jewish generation is rising to the challenge of fighting the disengagement plan in every way possible.
Video footage of the frequent roadblocks plaguing Israel's roads show that the majority of the protestors are teenagers, and with schools broken up for the summer, they are free to protest as often as they wish.
The younger people are, by and large, those who stand at traffic junctions, distributing anti-disengagement orange ribbons to passing vehicles. At the beginning of July, it was teenagers who managed to infiltrate a Gaza army base - albeit only for a few minutes - in order to attempt to persuade disengagement soldiers to disobey orders.
Young people were responsible for the recent takeover of a Palestinian home in Muasi, near the Neve Dekalim settlement, and the subsequent lynching of 18-year-old Hilal Majaida.
Youth leaders in Gaza, however, are keen to stress that most of those involved in these crimes were not Gaza children, but the more radical, violent West Bank 'hilltop youth'.
Many teenage protestors from both Gaza and the West Bank have already been arrested for their involvement in these activities, and are serving time at Israel's Massiyahu prison in Ramle.
One 13-year-old girl was recently jailed for 35 days for refusing to identify herself to state authorities: In preparation for massive illegal protests over the summer, the State Prosecutors Office has introduced an across-the-board measure of not releasing detainees until they have provided their names and personal details. This, says the office, is because it would be almost impossible to prosecute a released, unidentified suspect.
For teenagers, however, the refusal to give their name is often viewed with triumph, and their time in prison a victory for the cause. Thus, the phenomenon of teenagers refusing to identify themselves is rapidly becoming a common one, and parents, quite often, are proud to allow them to remain - anonymously - in jail.
This is not the only child-related problem the Israeli prison service is currently facing. Service officials are now engaged in discussions over how to accommodate children whose both parents are arrested in anti-disengagement clashes.
Currently, children under two years old are able to remain with their parents in jail, but provisions must now also be considered for older children. Kindergartens and temporary schools may be established in prisons, say the authorities, should the need arise. With 900 extra beds already set up in the Massiyahu and Dekel prison near Be'er Sheva, it seems increasingly likely that it will not only be adults spending summer evenings behind bars.
The harshest criticism involving children's role in the disengagement is currently reserved for the many non-resident families who have recently moved to Gush Katif, a group of settlements on the south-west edge of the Gaza Strip, in order to fight for the survival of the Jewish settlements.
Many non-Gaza settlers who, until recently, were holed-up in the 'resistance headquarters' of the Neve Dekalim Hotel, had brought their children to live in the dirty, semi-derelict structure with little electricity and only cold running water. Others take even small children along to protests and rallies, which may, during the disengagement itself, develop into increasingly aggravated or violent scuffles.
Nadia Matar, head of the militant Women In Green and fervent anti-disengagement campaigner, is one such Israeli who recently moved to Gaza along with her six children, in order to protest from "within". In a recent open letter, she described how her children experienced their first mortar shelling when Palestinians fired missiles into Gush Katif.
How far such parents are prepared to push the limits of their children's psychological well-being and physical safety in pursuit of an ideal, however, remains to be seen in August when the disengagement begins.
"Anne Frank was only young," said one Neve Dekalim parent, "but she knew what was right and what was wrong, and what the enemy had in store for her."
Others, however, believe that parents like this are unfairly indoctrinating their children, since the disengagement is not an expulsion they say, but a move towards peace. Thus, the children are forced into a frightening situation of paranoia, they argue, being encouraged to believe in an Israeli 'enemy' which does not in fact exist.
Still others believe that some irresponsible settler parents are simply using young children as pawns in the game, encouraging them to write letters and attend protests in a thinly veiled attempt at emotional blackmail.
But whatever the reasons behind the public outcry coming from Gaza's some 3,000 Jewish children, the effect on their psychological health, say experts, is grave.
According to a study conducted in early 2002 by the Adler Center for Child Welfare and Protection at Tel Aviv University, 11 to 13 year olds in Gaza settlements have been exposed to five times more terror incidents than their 'mainstream' Israeli peers. This, says researchers, has led to high levels of post-traumatic stress disorder: the rate of settler children receiving counseling far exceeds the national average.
Moreover, youth coordinator Amatzia Yehieli of the Gaza Shore Regional Council recently expressed her concerns over Gush Katif's older teenagers, who are heavily involved in the demonstrations sweeping the country. Should the disengagement proceed, she said recently, the youth suicide rate could leap dramatically. The greater the teenagers' determination to succeed, she added, the greater their sense of loss on the 'day after'.
But despite the emotional hurdles they face, Gaza's younger Jewish generation is rising to the challenge of fighting the disengagement plan in every way possible.
Video footage of the frequent roadblocks plaguing Israel's roads show that the majority of the protestors are teenagers, and with schools broken up for the summer, they are free to protest as often as they wish.
The younger people are, by and large, those who stand at traffic junctions, distributing anti-disengagement orange ribbons to passing vehicles. At the beginning of July, it was teenagers who managed to infiltrate a Gaza army base - albeit only for a few minutes - in order to attempt to persuade disengagement soldiers to disobey orders.
Young people were responsible for the recent takeover of a Palestinian home in Muasi, near the Neve Dekalim settlement, and the subsequent lynching of 18-year-old Hilal Majaida.
Youth leaders in Gaza, however, are keen to stress that most of those involved in these crimes were not Gaza children, but the more radical, violent West Bank 'hilltop youth'.
Many teenage protestors from both Gaza and the West Bank have already been arrested for their involvement in these activities, and are serving time at Israel's Massiyahu prison in Ramle.
One 13-year-old girl was recently jailed for 35 days for refusing to identify herself to state authorities: In preparation for massive illegal protests over the summer, the State Prosecutors Office has introduced an across-the-board measure of not releasing detainees until they have provided their names and personal details. This, says the office, is because it would be almost impossible to prosecute a released, unidentified suspect.
For teenagers, however, the refusal to give their name is often viewed with triumph, and their time in prison a victory for the cause. Thus, the phenomenon of teenagers refusing to identify themselves is rapidly becoming a common one, and parents, quite often, are proud to allow them to remain - anonymously - in jail.
This is not the only child-related problem the Israeli prison service is currently facing. Service officials are now engaged in discussions over how to accommodate children whose both parents are arrested in anti-disengagement clashes.
Currently, children under two years old are able to remain with their parents in jail, but provisions must now also be considered for older children. Kindergartens and temporary schools may be established in prisons, say the authorities, should the need arise. With 900 extra beds already set up in the Massiyahu and Dekel prison near Be'er Sheva, it seems increasingly likely that it will not only be adults spending summer evenings behind bars.
The harshest criticism involving children's role in the disengagement is currently reserved for the many non-resident families who have recently moved to Gush Katif, a group of settlements on the south-west edge of the Gaza Strip, in order to fight for the survival of the Jewish settlements.
Many non-Gaza settlers who, until recently, were holed-up in the 'resistance headquarters' of the Neve Dekalim Hotel, had brought their children to live in the dirty, semi-derelict structure with little electricity and only cold running water. Others take even small children along to protests and rallies, which may, during the disengagement itself, develop into increasingly aggravated or violent scuffles.
Nadia Matar, head of the militant Women In Green and fervent anti-disengagement campaigner, is one such Israeli who recently moved to Gaza along with her six children, in order to protest from "within". In a recent open letter, she described how her children experienced their first mortar shelling when Palestinians fired missiles into Gush Katif.
How far such parents are prepared to push the limits of their children's psychological well-being and physical safety in pursuit of an ideal, however, remains to be seen in August when the disengagement begins.
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Photo galleries. Cannabis events worldwide.
http://gallery.marihemp.com/mmm 
MMM (Million Marijuana March).
First Saturday in May, or that weekend, or thereabouts.
Hundreds of different cities worldwide since 1999.
2005 city list, links, world map:
http://members.fortunecity.com/multi19/mmm2005map.htm
Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cannabisaction
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