When older Palestinian boys started throwing stones at Border Police officers in the flashpoint West Bank village of Biddu last week, 13-year-old Muhammed Badwan went along to watch.
He ended up on the hood of a Border Police jeep, at least one of his arms tied to a wire mesh screen that blocks the windshield from incoming stones, according to a photograph of the purported incident distributed Thursday by local group Rabbis for Human Rights.
"He was a shield for them," Saeed Badwan, a 34-year-old laborer, said of his only son. "When I saw him on the hood of the jeep, my whole mind went crazy... It's a picture you can't even imagine. He was shivering from fear."
The Israeli High Court banned the use of Palestinians as human shields in 2002. The Israeli Justice Ministry is investigating the matter. The Alternative Information Centre is a Palestinian-Israeli organization which disseminates information, research and political analysis. Bumperactive'll bet you a five-spot the little shit learned his lesson and won't grow up to be a Palestinian rock thrower like the older boys he went along to watch.