Children used as pawns by terrorists

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NABLUS, West Bank -- Abdullah Quraan earned as much as $4.50 a day in the past year ferrying packages on rickety pushcarts through the phalanx of Israeli soldiers who scrutinize every person and parcel coming out of this Palestinian city.

On Monday, a stranger gave the 11-year-old porter an unusually heavy payload and instructed him to deliver it to a woman on the other side of the Hawara checkpoint, the southern gateway to Nablus.

Minutes later, soldiers on alert for smuggled weapons had arrested the boy and blown up the package -- leaving behind a small crater of shrapnel that bore the markings of a suicide bomb.

Yesterday, the incident had become more fuel for an ongoing debate over the involvement of minors in the 3-year-old Palestinian uprising.

Accusing terrorists of trying to remotely detonate the bomb as Abdullah passed through the checkpoint, Israeli army officials said the incident highlighted the militants' cynical exploitation of children.

"I don't know what the bag looked like inside. When I saw the soldiers surrounding the bag, that's when I started to be worried," said the boy, who convinced Israeli interrogators that he was an innocent victim.

Palestinians, including the sixth-grade boy, were left dumbfounded by the incident. Although some offered conspiracy theories blaming Israeli secret agents, many acknowledged that some militants deliberately involve children in their attacks on Israelis.

Other incidents in recent months include a Palestinian teenager stopped on his way to perpetrate a suicide-bombing attack and two minors caught trying to slip into Israel with handmade guns.

Palestinians say youths in the Gaza Strip have been encouraged to test the tolerance of Israeli soldiers guarding the security fence that blocks off entrance to Israel.