Some 2,500 Palestinian children, aged between six and 12 years old, staged a military-style march through the streets of Hebron on Saturday.
The march in the town stadium included Karate displays and demonstrations of their skills dismantling and reassembling Kalashnikov assault rifles.
The event marked the end of summer training camps where they had received a paramilitary training. Children marched carrying Palestinian flags and portraits of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and flanked by their military instructors.
Abbas Zaki, a senior member of PLO's mainstream 'Fateh' faction addressed the gathering, warning against any concessions to Israel.
"Whoever cedes even an inch (of the West Bank or Gaza) will be considered a traitor," he said.
About 3,600 youths from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank are to be trained this summer in the use of automatic weapons and in combat skills, say Palestinian leaders.
Colonel Mohammed Harara, one of the summer camp's organizers said only 1,800 would be subsequently chosen to bear uniform -- HEBRON, West Bank (AFP)
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