International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, June 3, 2004

Two days before four Palestinian civilians were killed and others injured during the recent fighting in Rafah, the Palestinian Authority called on women, children and the elderly to stand in front of the IDF bulldozers that were searching for weapons tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, says Palestinian Media Watch founder Itamar Marcus.

"The area was infested with terrorists, and was the location of heavy fighting between the IDF and armed Palestinians. Instead of urging civilians to stay out of harm's way, the PA intentionally sent them to the front lines of an active war zone," Marcus writes in The Jerusalem Post.

The Rafah incident is "part of a consistent and disturbing pattern" deliberately pursued by the PA-controlled media, "pushing civilians, especially children, to leave the safety of their homes and join the fighting."

"Palestinian leaders know that civilian corpses make powerful images and increase global anti-Israel sentiments. Dead Palestinian children make the Palestinians look like victims and create a smoke screen for the PA's terrorism war against Israeli civilians."

"Simply put," Marcus concludes, "dead Palestinian children create the illusion of moral symmetry."

And "the saddest part of this twisted value system," he adds, "is how well it is succeeding."