GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 - http://www.gush-shalom.org/

Press Release

The explosion which took the lives of  five children was not an accident. The 
death of these children on their way to school came hours after a commando raid 
by the Israeli army. The soldiers of the commando unit were sent there at night  - 
as was alleged by Palestinian witnesses and assumed by Israeli radio and TV 
commentators. These young soldiers were probably told that they were fighting 
terrorism. But what is terrorism if not the placing of explosives on a spot near a 
refugee camp, where children every day pass on their way to school?

What makes the death of these children - all from one family  - even more hair 
raising is that it came the day after Palestinian policemen were shown on Israeli 
television making in the same Gaza Strip enormous efforts to quell any possible  
violence. It was as if they said: look Mr Powell, we do our utmost to do as you 
asked. But how can they now calm down the masses of Khan Yuneis Refugee 
Camp where the children came from? Already during the demonstration erupting 
after the simultaneous funeral another casualty: a 15-year old  Palestinian - 
maybe a stone-thrower - was shot dead by IDF fire.

This proves once more that only international monitoring can pave the way out 
of the circle of violence and counter-violence, revenge and counter-revenge.
The sticking to the rules of the game has to be guarded by an arbiter as credible 
as can be found.