Muhammed is about 13 or 14...
"If Muhammad had the power to end the conflict, this is what he'd do: ''I'd give Palestinians back all of their homeland, and I'd send the Israelis to the countries they came from.''
And if the Israelis refused to leave?
''Then I'd kill them.''
I asked Muhammad what he'd buy if he had money. ''A gun,'' he said. The last two summers, he added, he attended a sleep-away camp where he learned to shoot M-16's and Kalashnikovs, firing at targets dressed up like Israeli soldiers. The camp was financed by the Palestinian National Authority, the governing body of the Palestinian-controlled areas of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This summer he's going again. As soon as he's 16, he told me, he'll join the Palestinian security services.
What would you buy, I asked him, if you could purchase more than just a gun?
''I'd buy a tank,'' he said.
But what if there were peace? Then what would you buy?
Muhammad thought for a second. He looked upward, as if calculating something, then grinned in a way that involved his entire face. ''I'd buy a bicycle,'' he said. ''A mountain bike. I'd buy a cell phone. I'd buy a bed, and a bedroom, and a desk, and a soccer ball. And a TV. And chocolate. I'd buy a lot of chocolate. I love chocolate.'' " |
