appreciate the racist nature of Israeli propaganda which portrays Palestinian parents as heartless, who carelessly put their children in harms ways.

More testimonies, documented by PACE, are soon to follow.

Q.: Is it true that Palestinian parents push their children at an early age (14 and 15) into clashes with heavily armed Israeli soldiers while being unprepared for such an unmatched confrontation which will result in their death?

A.: I did not know that Mohammad was going to participate in the clashes. Had I known I would have prevented him from doing so. He told me he was going to play with his friends, and it was still morning… or early noon. There were no clashes or confrontations to be concerned about and therefore no reason for me to forbid him from going out. Had there been any serious clashes I would have done anything possible to keep him at home because my son is the dearest thing in my life. God knows how much we suffer to bring them up, and how much we endure until they grow up. He was the closest to me among my children, the most affectionate, and the youngest, and he died just like this without any reason. I still had hopes that he would grow up, be educated and fight against the Jews using his education not arms because it is difficult for us to get arms. We struggle all our lives so that our children get a decent education and fight with their knowledge, their education is their weapon. But Mohammad, God's peace be with him, believed he was old enough to undertake what he did without consulting with his father or mother, or any body. He went out like all other youngsters; he felt he could do anything. He was not throwing stones when he died, he was helping the injured. He was a Boy Scout and he wanted to be were he was before he passed away.

Q.: Do you think you were vigilant enough in trying to prevent what happened to him, or perhaps you did not do your best?

A.: More than necessary. I always protected him, especially him. I was afraid especially for Mohammad because he was young and did things not for his age; it was always like that with him. I care for them all (my children). I always did, since their birth until they grow up. The most precious thing is your child, nothing is more precious for us, and I care for them, I always have. We used to live in Kuwait and we left. I asked to leave because I was afraid for them from the smoke of the petrol, from the war, and from the accumulation of the refuse in Kuwait. I was afraid they would get sick. I left the richest country in the world and came back here to protect them. It is unthinkable to see them die for any reason. All my life I cared for them. Even on his way to school I used to urge him every morning: take care Hammoudeh (diminutive of Mohammad), be careful from the cars, be careful…, where ever he went and consistently. He was even mad with me and used to tell me: you are always afraid for us. I used to behave the same way with his older brothers. I mean from the day the child grows up enough to be able to go out I am afraid for him. I am afraid for him from the cars, from the cold weather. Every morning when he went out to school in cold weather I used to get anxious about whether he did or did not put his jacket. I followed him and asked him: have you got your jacket on Mohammad? I cared for him all my life, and I do for his brothers. This is not something new, I mean. They are the most precious thing for me, they are the most precious, and we do not own anything else: no land and no homeland, nothing but my children, they are all my life. They are my children, everything I have in this world. When Mohammad passed away it was as if my soul went away with him. I felt a piece of my heart left with him. I mean my heart was torn apart. His older brothers are aware and they can decide… they know what to do, but Mohammad was young, and used to feel as old as his brothers. I cared for them since the day I bring them to the world. Until the moment of my death I will care for them. I own nothing but them. Maybe this (incident) gives us the strength to offer our children because there is no other way or possibility to take back our country and retrieve our dignity and land without them. We have no weapons, nothing but our children with whom we fight. They are the most precious thing we possess. There is no peace, there are no weapons, there is nothing. I mean there is nothing but our children, they are our capital, and there is nothing but them.

Q.: Does this mean that you are ready to repeat this experience? Your husband told us that he was ready to carry a weapon and fight, and even you would carry a weapon and fight against the occupation. What is your answer? Has not your pain from your martyred son Mohammad and your fear for your other children stopped you from this practice?

A.: If there were weapons, and we get support like Israel may be. But that my son dies throwing stones, this is not my intention. I do not obtain my children on the road and it is hard to lose more than one (of your children). Mohammad is enough, and he chose his way. Mohammad was young but the stone he threw represented for him his dignity. I mean he was facing his enemy; in his perception he was beating the enemy with a stone. The stone could reach (the Israeli soldier) or not reach (him), but Mohammad was manifesting something inside him with the only way available, the method he watched on TV. On the other hand we used to tell him about our homeland and the dear land we cherish. The least he could do was through a stone. Mohammad, God's peace be upon him. But I do not want my other children, the older, to participate in this battle unless the fighting with Israel becomes balanced and they carry weapons. If all of us (the Arabs) come together in this, I do not have any reservations. I would be the first to participate, just let them call upon us. But with the stone I do not agree. If there were any people who would stand by us the same way the USA does with Israel, and we got weapons like Israel, there would be nothing wrong with that, we would be on an equal basis. But if they (Israelis) fight us who have stones only God be with them (my children), if they participate with no weapons or power like Israel. A lot of youngsters became martyrs like Mohammad. They did what the Arab tanks and all the Arab countries did not do. This is something remarkable, but we must not sacrifice the young for nothing, something must be achieved. Blood is not "free", and we do not bring up our children so that they pass away cheaply. They (the martyrs) did something, something very important, but what we need is something greater than the present achievements, and we do not want to restart from the beginning. I mean the stone will revive the (first) seven-year Intifada and we will restart from the beginning, and if they stop it now it will still be the same situation. This is not what we are looking for, we want to proceed; we want to free and build a country, not slaughter them (our children). No. We do not want to restart from the beginning. We want a country like Israel, or not exactly like Israel, I would say like any other neighboring Arab country. We might unite with them (the Arab countries), and we might stand up together, the women before the men.

Q: Forming some sort of front against Israel with Arab countries such as Syria and Egypt is not possible, neither at the present, nor in the foreseeable future. Does this mean that struggle should be ceased?

A: No, we will not stop the struggle. I am not putting so much hope in the Arabs. If they had had the intention, they would have done it on the first day of Indifadah. On the very first day when the young men hoisted the flag on Al-Aqsa Mosque, all Arabs should have come here in that same moment. If every Arab country sent one vehicle, they could have destroyed Israel. But those Arabs are not useful. Currently, the command and control is in the hands of the Palestinian Authority. They are the ones who should recruit the young men. Whoever loves to die as a martyr, the Authority should train and teach him. The resistance in Lebanon liberated the South completely. Were the Authority responsive to us, like the resistance actions in the South, our young men would have achieved the same results. I mean their weapons were not only the rocks and simple things. They can be gathered, trained and made ready for resistance. When they go to school, these young men throw stones. They have no experience or knowledge. The settlements are spread all over the country. If they just attacked one settlement, the Jews would not have been hanging around us. Now the rule is by the hands of the Palestinian Authority, by the hands of Abu Ammar. He should train his sons, the young men. He should deal with them as if they were his own children. He should not only watch them on TV while being massacred every day. He should have a goal through them. I mean they are his weapon. Those martyrs are his weapon. He should try to get them together, arrange and organize them. He will witness something stronger than arms as a result. We must be armed and this is not difficult. If only every Arab country had sent a vehicle, a tank, or a plane on that day when the flag was hoisted on Al-Aqsa Mosque, then Al-Aqsa would have been liberated. When Abu Ammar sees the blood of the young men being shed with no advantage gained, he should hold them and get them trained. He should create something bigger out of them. If trained, those young men will turn out to be some thing far bigger.

Q: I want to ask you a difficult question. I know it will make you remember cruel events, since the death of child is an unbearable thing. I am really aware that your own death is one hundred times easier than your son's. Nevertheless, how did this terrible incident take place, and how did you endure it? How did you accept it?

A: I got to the point where I called his name out, as if there were only one Mohammad in the entire world. I would shout in the streets, and call his name out. I was being abnormal. The kids from our neighborhood came forward and said " We are all your children". I mean, every young man, every boy, big or small came to tell me: " I am like your son". This is because Mohammad became a martyr at the beginning of the confrontations. His death as a martyr was hard for everybody. I thank God that I have faith. Everybody turns to his faith and belief, and recalls what his religion says about martyrs. It has a lot of benefits and virtues. May God grant him patience, as if he were actually alive in the best of his hours. He is Mohammad. He is alive. But at the beginning it was hard, very hard. I wish it were a dream. I know my wish is impossible. All the care and concern I had for him has vanished. Alas. Even though Mohammad was fourteen years old, he used to sleep by my side. All my concern for him vanished….. Mohammad has gone away like I do not know about it. Our religion, I thank God, makes us patient. We recite the holy Quran on him, and contemplate God's verses. We recall what God does for the martyr and God's rewards for him. This has had a great impact on me.

Q: Do you accept it as an easy matter that Mohammad died as a martyr, even at an early age?

A: When you are a Moslem, a true believer and a believer in fate and the Quran, then you would consider dying as a martyr is the best death and an a honorable one. Since we are believers who pray, fast and worship God, we should believe in every single word in the Quran. Dying a martyr is the sweetest and most honorable death. When Mohammad went out and died as a martyr, it is because he loved to die as a martyr. He always mentioned those who died as martyrs. I used to explain the Quranic verses to him as normal school lessons. At school he was taught these subjects and he liked them very much. He used to understand and even appreciate them. In other words, he went out to become a martyr. Maybe God the Almighty made him go to that place. He wanted to come back. He went out feeling that he was in a battle, like any other young man. But he had in mind to come back, because he rolled up his sleeves and his pants to keep them clean. This means he wanted to come back and narrate what had happened. Mohammad used to tell me exactly what happened when he returns from any place. He used to tell me so and so happened. He never hid anything. He witnessed many exciting things. He very much wanted to tell what he had seen, but his fate did not give him the chance to come back and tell.

Q: When someone's child dies, even if the death was natural, he does not have so much time to think of his problem at first. This is because of the presence of crowds of people around him, who come to console him, and in the case of a martyr more crowds are there. Later, people go back to their busy daily life, and there the real suffering begins, the mother's in specific. Have you gone through this experience and how was it. How did you handle that?

A: This is what I wanted to talk a bout. When people stopped coming to our house, and no one was around, I started walk back and forth inside the house crying. I can not open his wardrobe and remember what Mohammad used to like or dislike. I remember his movements and all his belongings. When I hear the scouts' music on TV, I get touched very much. When his sister got up to go to school, I recalled how I used to wake him up, but this time he was not there. He was the youngest and filled up my world. His brothers were older, and did what they wanted on their own. But I used to do every thing for him. I used to teach him , dress him up and pick out his clothes. His death as a martyr was the hardest ever. Wherever I go I feel that he is with me, and always talking to me as if he were living with me. I cry all day long.

Q: I thing that this is a natural feeling, because children are the dearest, and their death is the hardest on parents. However, the Western Media portraits the Palestinian as ones who do not care very much for the death of their children? A: Just imagine, those Westerners raise animals, treat them and even get them special food. And they are merely animals. How about your child, who has come out of your soul? How do you want to treat him? How will you live without him? How will you stand his separation away from you? Mohammad never stayed away from me, neither did I. One time I stayed away form him when I visited my relatives in Jordan. That was the only time I ever was away from him. Even when I wanted to go shopping , he had to come with me. When I wanted to visit some people and social with them, I mean visit women only, he used to accompany me until finally I told him : " You are old enough Mohammad." Then he told me " I like to come with you". This means that he is my son and my soul. My heart saw him before he was born. It is the mother's heart. I feel that my soul has gone with Mohammad. I wished that my soul went out of my body ( died) and he lived. It is the West's racial crime. (They think we are careless about our children). In your own way , you should make them understand this issue, because we can not convey this to them.

Q: Despite everything, is there in this world any justification for a mother to sacrify her children, especially at this age?

A: In these circumstances your children do not give you the chance to think. Who he goes to throw a rock or struggle will not give a chance to say anything. I said, if I could , I would not have let him go because he is young. But those young men do not give the chance. No martyr, a wounded person, or a person who blew himself up had told his family about what he was going to do. Neither did he give them the chance to talk to him about that. The issue is not whether it is worth it or not . We bring them up to love their country. We create this in them, and after that if you tell them not to go out participate, you will be teaching them how to betray, or how to lie. They are living for the sake of nothing, but their country. Unlike the rest of the world, their land is usurped. Maybe they can liberate it. They do not give you the chance to explain to them that they need weapons and so on and so forth. Every thing to them has become mere lies. In their point of view every thing is useless. We the elderly can mutually talk. We also make tens of attempts so that none of our children get wounded or die. But our children have reached to a point where they do not want to listen to or talk . They want to do what they have in mind. They want to try. There is no way to make them sit with you and comprehend, because they have already sat, listened and consulted. They have been listening to speeches about peace for the last fifty years, and have become impatient. It is impossible for any of those young men to go and tell his mother : " I am going to throw stones" or " I am going to be a martyr", because they know in advance that their parents are going to stop them. The Jewish soldier does not give them a chance. If they throw stones , she will kill them. The Jewish soldiers justify this by saying he who throws a stone now will shoot at them some day. Killing is the Jews' hobby. Those soldiers know that Palestinians are unarmed. Your child can not understand this formula, but you can through your own way. You are old enough but he still lacks knowledge. When your son participates in the demonstration, he says he wants to do something. He says " I want to kill a Jew", because it is the usual practice that Jews kill us. Our children have become fed up of the Jews who have been killing, massacring , torturing and jailing us. Our children have reached a point where they do not appreciate speeches or thoughts. They want to do something . Maybe it works out.

Q: You have given the greatest possible sacrifice. It is even greater than sacrifying your own soul as you have just maintained. Are you still ready to struggle?

A: We are going on . It is a war which we do not want to fight by rocks only. Young men have to get organized , and do any thing that push them forward, and not pull them back. I mean this road is not going to be an easy one. Victory is not an easy mission. I hope that Mohammad and those martyrs' blood is not a waste. My son's blood as well as my other sons' , all the martyrs are my sons not only Mohammad, is a precious blood. Palestinians must do something and then they can reach Jerusalem. They can reach Java , Haifa and Al-Abbasiyah our hometown, God willing. I hope that the price of that blood is not money, treason, negotiations and peace. Oh….. who will live that long? No, I hope the price is that we get armed and trained as soon as possible. After that , young men will forge on their road.

Q: Could I understand that you have a feeling that Mohammad's blood will not be the last sacrifice of the Palestinian people?

A: No. Of course Mohammad's blood will not be the last. Since 1948 and even before that our people have sacrificing, and God willing they will continue to do the same. But, God willing, sacrifice should have a return. I mean that in return for Mohammad's blood I wish to see the blood of one hundred Jews being shed. Also in return for the hundreds who got killed , hundreds of Jews must be killed Only then our martyrs' blood will cool down. Still our martyrs' blood as well as Mohammad's has not not cooled down. Our wound has heeled yet. I hope by the time our wound heels, our young men will have done something great for this country, the Palestinian Authority will be with the people, and the Arabs will have supported us. In other words, they make us feel that the martyrs' blood was not a waste. There is nothing by hour hands. We are powerless. We have martyrs and causalities every day. I hope that some day, very shortly, those young men be provided with arms. Weapons are going to make us progress somehow. If we get liberated, we will have killed ,scared and intimidated the Jews, because they are coward. They get more coward when they see us armed. What they care for in the peace process is to make us disarmed . If we get armed, we will do something great. I swear to God that I want to see a Jew get killed by the hands of those young men who throw rocks, in return for each drop of blood spilled from Mohammad. I really want the young men to start shooting bullets as soon as possible. This is my wish .

Q: This is the final question. How and when will you feel that Mohammad's blood was a waste? What would make you feel so? What scares you?

A: If they go back to negotiations. If they return to where they started, sit at one table and resort to negotiations. Also, if they talk back and forth, tarrying and thinking that the do us a favor, giving us from their rights not form ours. Then I would feel that Mohammad was a loss. But if they do like I have just told you: they give the young men arms, train them and the Jews are killed like they kill, then I …………. . If negotiators meet at one table, eat, drink, stay up at night and have fun ……………. They are the chiefs who control us and their sons go to have fun and live their life…….. then I would say that Mohammad's blood was a waste. If our chiefs did that, then stones will be directed to them and not to the Jews. Stones then will hit the Arabs.

Q: This means that the greatest sacrifice one can make has not scared you ,or made you stop?

A. No. It has not scared me. My young son went out to defend me, my children , his house and all the Arabs . He was not scared. I do not get frightened , but we should not keep giving without return. There should be a return. This what I want to say. If I get scared and retreated , this means that I do not need my country. No, I need our country, and we should liberate it. We do not want to be, unlike the rest of world, trodden on. If we do not want to liberate, there are other generations coming up. I will have my children get married. They will have their own children who should live a stable life like the others. Let Mohammad be one on the road of martyrs. Other martyrs will follow. Palestine is not cheap, but expensive. A lot of people will sacrify for its sake. I hope that they do something to make those young men stronger, like providing them with weapons. The most important thing is the weapons, because we are fighting the most powerful people in the world. We can not defeat them by rocks. We will make the world move by the stone, but it is difficult to defeat Israel with it. It is hard to fool our selves. If our neighboring Arabs helped us, and the entire world moved to help, that is if they really want peace, then they have to stand in our side, negotiate and give the first priority to our issue and resolve it. This is if they want to solve it peacefully. But our young men can no longer tolerate it if they want to make us a game to play forever, like the ball from one country to another,

End of Interview