A dramatic rise has been recorded since the beginning of 2005 in the number of minors who were recruited to carry out terror attacks, including suicide bombing missions. This assertion appears in a report that was published by the Intelligence and Terror Information Center.

According to the report, the phenomenon is particularly widespread among Fatah activists in Nablus and demonstrates the difficulties the movement has encountered in recruiting and dispatching “high quality” troops on missions of this type.

In the wake of recent incidents at the Hawara roadblock, the parents and friends of one of the boys [recruited] spoke angrily about Fatah’s El-Aksa Martyrs Brigades. Meanwhile, activists for El-Aksa Martyrs Brigades in Nablus denied any responsibility for the incident and blamed Israel. The Palestinian Authority—with Abu Mazen’s knowledge—has taken no effective measures to date to put an end to having young boys sent on terrorist missions.

Fatah generally denies its involvement in recruiting minors for terrorist missions because of public criticism. Two weeks ago, after a Palestinian boy tried to stab an IDF soldier at the Hawara roadblock south of Nablus, the movement issued a spurious statement denying that it had dispatched the boy on his terrorist mission and alleging that the IDF had forced the boy to blame them “in order to malign the good name of the resistance.” The statement was published by the Palestinian news agency Maan last Wednesday.