Gaza teens graduate military school
2013-01-24 21:41
Gaza City - More than 3 000 Palestinian teenagers on
Thursday graduated from the ruling Hamas militant group's first high school
military training programme in the Gaza Strip, displaying mock weapons,
crawling commando-style on the ground and taking up fighting positions for
thousands of cheering supporters.
Hamas officials said the Futuwwa, or "Youth,"
programme is aimed at fostering a new generation of leaders in the struggle
against Israel.
"We teach the youth to honour the national flag and
anthem, to strengthen their affinity with the homeland and Jerusalem, the
spirit of resistance and the principles of steadfastness," said Abu
Hozifa, a 29-year-old national security officer who teaches in the programme.
"We also prepare them in terms of faith and physical
fitness to serve as resistance fighters if they want to be in the future."
The programme is a weekly elective that is offered in all
Gaza high schools.
Officials said 3 600 participated in the first session,
which began in September.
During the one-hour session each week, students were
taught to climb down buildings on ropes, jump through obstacle courses and
crawl under barbed wire.
The oldest students are trained to use light weapons,
while younger ones train with wooden rifles. Each participant is assigned to a
security officer who oversees their training.
The first graduates, called the "Liberation
Vanguards”, were dressed in black T-shirts and hats, and some painted their
faces black.
"My officer taught me the values of courage, sacrifice
and love of jihad, as well as some battle tactics," said Radwan Wasfi, 15,
whose black-painted face dripped with sweat after going through a drill.
"I feel that I can free my energy in a good way. I
can do for real what I do in video games."
Hamas' Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who attended the
ceremony held at a soccer stadium, said he had ordered his education minister
to establish a full-time military college to open next September.
"This is the generation that will bring victory to
its people and will liberate their land," he told the audience.
Hamas, an Islamic militant group sworn to Israel's
destruction, seized control of Gaza from the rival Fatah faction of Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.
The group has survived repeated bouts of fighting against
Israel, most recently an eight-day flare-up of heavy violence in November in
which Hamas fired more than 1 500 rockets into Israel.
The fighting ended in an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire.
Repeated attempts by the rival Palestinian factions to
reconcile have sputtered.
- SAPA
