As armed male and female soldiers dragged settlers off hillsides near such settlements as Efrat and removed them from roadways outside Jerusalem, they had to contend with teenagers, children, even infants. In one immortal shot, a woman seated on the ground clasped an infant to breast as two female soldiers tried to cajole her into standing up and being led away. During one of last week's demonstrations, a number of children required infusions for dehydration, after spending hours in the blazing sun. At another, youngsters formed a line to pass stones, used to form a barricade against the advancing troops, while their elders burned tires nearby. The associations with the Palestinian intifada could not have been more obvious, which was probably what angered government spokesmen most of all.
Parents have no right to bring children to such events.
To confront children with soldiers is scandalous. Dr. Yitzhak Kadman, chairman of the independent National Council for the Child, is equally emphatic. But we regard it as a cynical exploitation of children for adult goals. Demonstrators see the matter very differently, however. Better the trauma of being carried away by a soldier now than facing a catastrophe later.