(Communicated by Israeli security sources)

In a joint IDF and ISA arrest activity on October 10th, 2005, a Palestinian youth aged 14 who had been asked to carry out a suicide attack was arrested in his house in Nablus.

During his questioning, the youth revealed that he had been coerced to carry out a suicide attack by Rabi'ah Farid Mousah Abu Alil, 23, a wanted Tanzim operative from the Balata refugee camp in Nablus. Abu Alil attempted to convince the youth to carry out the attack, after the youth quarreled with his father over a matter of money theft. The youth tried to evade the request, under the pretext that he was an only child, but the pressure on him intensified when he was approached by another wanted Tanzim operative from the Balata refugee camp, Jamal Abed El Hamid Mahmad Tirawi, 39. The youth was taken to an apartment where he met with several more wanted men, and his picture was taken with different weapons and flags. Despite the youth's pleas that he be released to his home and left alone, Tirawi and Abu Alil threatened him that if he did not cooperate, they would kill him and distribute a communiqué claiming the he had been collaborating with the Israeli army.

When the youth was asked to write his last will, he claimed that he did not know how to read and write, and consequently the will was written for him by Abu Alil. Afterwards the two photographed him wearing a vest and holding a rifle and a copy of the Quran.

Following his release from the apartment, the youth approached his family and asked them to assist him in persuading the operatives to withdraw their demands.

This is not an isolated case. Since the beginning of 2005, the number of minors who have been drafted by the different organizations to carry out terror attacks and attacks against Israeli military targets has risen dramatically, despite the period of calm. This is a recurring phenomenon with Tanzim operatives in the city of Nablus. In this case it even received the backing of Jamal Tirawi, a high-ranking intelligence official in the Palestinian Authority.

The youth's testimony raises once more the cynical use of minors and young children by Tanzim operatives in Nablus for the purpose of terror attacks. The operatives apply intense and constant pressure on those they wish to recruit, despite their reluctance and unwillingness in many of the cases, such as in this latest one.