"Egyptian boys run away from home to fight Israel"

[Lutfi M. Hussein]

Jordan Times
Friday-Saturday, April 5-6, 2002

Egyptian boys run away from home to fight Israel

CAIRO (R) — Two Egyptian boys who ran away from home to help the Palestinians
fight Israeli occupation were picked up by police near the Israeli border,
security sources said on Thursday.
Ahmed Saber Abdul Aal, 12 and his 11-year-old brother Yasser left a note at
their parents' home in the middle-class Cairo suburb of Nasr City on Wednesday
morning. It said they had gone to join the Palestinian uprising.

They were found near the Rafah Border crossing between Egypt, Israel and Gaza,
home to a million Palestinians, on Thursday with a stash of kitchen knives. A
17-year-old pupil from a Cairo religious school was reported missing on
Wednesday after his father found a note saying his son had left to fight
Israel.

Egypt's relations with Israel, often chilly, have come under increasing strain
since the Palestinian uprising against occupation started in September 2000.
Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab countries to sign peace treaties with Israel


Egyptian cities have seen angry demonstrations calling for Israel's ambassador
to be expelled and ties severed.

Public prosecutors on Thursday detained 31 students from Cairo University on
suspicion of wounding policemen and destroying private property after violent
protests earlier this week.



________________
Lutfi M. Hussein
Department of English
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-0302, USA
Email: lutfi.hussein at asu.edu
http://www.public.asu.edu/~lutfiawa/