Jerusalem----August 26......The Palestinian journalists union Monday banned journalists from
photographing Palestinian children carrying weapons or taking part in activities by militant groups, saying the pictures harm the Palestinian cause.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate also called on Palestinian factions and their military wings to stop using children in their activities.
Children carrying weapons or dressed up as suicide bombers have been frequently seen at rallies and marches in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the nearly two years of the current conflict.
Israel has charged that Palestinians are misusing children as pawns in the conflict; the Palestinians counter that Israeli forces target children with gunfire during riots.

Recently six children armed with M16 and Kalashnikov rifles took part in a pro-Iraqi rally in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Palestinians dress up babies as "suicide bombers"

Tawfik Abu Khousa, deputy chairman of the syndicate, said such pictures harmed the image of the Palestinian people and the credibility of Palestinian journalists.

"We have decided to forbid taking any footage of armed children, because we consider that as a clear violation of the rights of children and for the negative effects these pictures have on the Palestinian people," he said.

In the statement issued by the syndicate it said footage of armed children served "the interests of Israel and its propaganda against the Palestinian people." The union threatened to boycott militant groups who use children and masked men in their activities.

In a statement, the Foreign Press Association expressed "deep concern" over the decision by the syndicate and its threats of sanctions against journalists, local and foreign, who disregard the ban.

"While we share the expressed desire to defend the rights of children, limiting coverage of legitimate news events and elements of stories is not the proper way to achieve this goal," it said.

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based international watchdog of the media, called on the Palestinian Journalists Union to reverse its ban on local and foreign journalists taking pictures of Palestinian children carrying weapons or wearing military uniforms.

The Palestinian union said such pictures are "a flagrant violation of the rights of children."

However, Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert M nard called the ban "a misguided way to protect children aimed at misinforming the world about the real situation in the occupied territories.

It is also very odd, to say the least, for a journalists' union to forbid journalists to do their job."