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Gaza's Factions Take Their Fight to Elementary School Playgrounds

[Observer-UK] Peter Beaumont - The four armed men who assaulted eight-year-old Shahab al-Akhras on a street corner in Rafah for wearing the black-and-white checked scarf associated with Fatah were wearing the uniforms of Hamas' Executive Force, Fatah's deadly rival. "They said that if they saw me wearing the scarf again they would shoot me in the legs," said the boy. The internal struggle between the Islamist Hamas and Fatah in Gaza is now over Gaza's children. "There is a preoccupation among the children about the issue of who is Hamas and who is Fatah," said Iyad Sarraj, a Palestinian psychologist. The children of Fatah families in particular, who saw fathers, brothers and uncles defeated by Hamas last June, are taking responsibility for the adult world. They fly the yellow Fatah flag on their bicycles to taunt the gunmen of the Executive Force, on occasion riding in gangs through Hamas demonstrations. They sometimes throw stones and insults, shouting "Shia!" at Hamas members. Ghazi Hamid, a former spokesman for Hamas, says, "I have never seen such splits in Palestinian society. Such hatred. And it really worries me. I have eight children and they talk about what goes on in school. The children abuse each other over what party they say they follow."
2008-02-11 01:00:00
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