Yeah, Right, Whatever

(h/t to BC) AP has a story about all the kids killed in the Israeli/Palistinian conflict. Too bad all things aren't as equal as they seem to think.

AP Enterprise: Count Shows Mideast Fighting Has Killed 514 Palestinians and 97 Israelis Aged 16 or Under

... Israeli soldiers had aimed at a Palestinian rocket squad, but witnesses say the militants were gone by the time the shell hit the youngsters, aged 10 to 16, who had been helping with the strawberry harvest. "Sadness will never leave our hearts," says the Ghabens' oldest son, Ghassan, 35, who was first on the scene and found his 10-year-old boy, Rajeh, among the dead.

About 65 miles away, in Jerusalem, Arnold Roth wrestles with the death of his 15-year-old daughter Malka, killed by a suicide bomber in a Sbarro pizza parlor, and tries to help his surviving six children through the trauma. "The children have a deep sadness, all of them," he says.

And they should have a deep sadness. Anytime a child dies, it is a time for mourning. But... look at the two cases. The Israelis were aiming at militants, who ran away. They weren't intentionally aiming at children. Malka was killed by a suicide bomber at a pizza parlor- he was targeting children (or families).

What is even more interesting in this article comes later, when it talks about how most of these children are killed. The Israeli kids have all been killed in premeditated attacks.

Virtually all the Israeli children were killed in Palestinian bombings and shootings, including 72 in Israel and 25 in the West Bank and Gaza, according to the AP's count.

But, then, there is this about the Palistinian children killed:

...one-third of the Palestinian youngsters were killed by Israeli fire in stone-throwing incidents, and the others by stray bullets at homes, on their way to and from school, while hanging around gunmen, or in Israeli air strikes against militants.... Palestinian parents say they have little control over children who play dangerous games under intense peer pressure.

At the first sight of soldiers, young boys rush to their friends' houses and urge them into the streets. They throw rocks, bottles and homemade firebombs at soldiers. The most daring clamber onto tanks to steal a trophy, or snatch flags from Israeli army posts. (The article does point out that teens who were recruited for suicide attacks were not included in the tally.-ed)

Palistinian parents have "little control" over their children? That is... insane. Parents have as much control as they want to have over their children. There's this neat word. "No." Learn it. USE IT!!!

What the AP and everyone else needs to realize is that as long as Palistinian terrorists brainwash kids into thinking that throwing firebombs at soldiers is going to somehow help their cause, there will never be peace. As long as they target the innocent and put innocent children - their own children- in harm's way, there will never be peace. As long as life means so little to them, especially the lives of innocents, there will never be peace. (I have often wondered who the Palistinians are fighting for. I mean, in most conflicts, at least part of the motivation is to insure security for the next generation. If the Palistinians are willing to sacrifice their children for this cause of theirs, then... who will benefit? Who is it for?)

Back in the 80s, Sting made the wish "I hope the Russians love their children, too." Too bad the Israelis can't even cling to that hope.