SIDON, Lebanon: After 10 years the 1972 Cubs camp is back in Ain al-Hilweh, enabling Palestinian youngsters to train to become future fighters against Israeli occupation, as envisioned by Fatah Movement head Yasser Arafat in the 1970s.
Arafat ordered the creation of the Cubs to educate and train children, men and women to fight the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.
The new training camp was established in the Taamir neighborhood of Ain al-Hilweh.
“Yasser Arafat visited the camp whenever he had the chance, but with the Israeli invasion in 1982, the camp was destroyed,” a retired Palestinian officer said. The destruction of the camp was a huge blow to the Palestinian resistance, which was forced to leave Lebanon and set up headquarters in another Arab country, Tunisia.
The Cubs camp renewed its activities during the ’90s and children once again donned military garments in preparation for training. But the program was stopped again by the end of the decade for no specified reason. Sources told The Daily Star the order to close the Cubs camp came from Ramallah.
An agreement between Israel and the Fatah Movement could have played a role in the camp’s closing, sources explained.
But by November 2014, the Cubs camp resumed its work, training the next generation of Palestinian freedom fighters. Youngsters begin combat training using sticks.
“To the left, to the right, in your place,” screams a trainer at the Martyr Mohammad Mawaad Camp, one place in Ain al-Hilweh where the Cubs convene. “Storm, storm, storm,” reply the youngsters, between 6 and 13 years of age.
Sunbul, commander of the Cubs camp, has spent more than 30 years training youngsters. As a Cub graduate himself, Sunbul said top Palestinian officials also spent their youth training at the camp.
“Palestinian officials who were 6 and older in 1972 graduated from the Cubs camp,” Sunbul said, adding that the Cubs used to train in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
“The last time I saw Abu Ammar [Yasser Arafat] was before the [1982] invasion and before that when he visited the camp and supervised a graduation ceremony for Cubs.”
Sunbul, who firmly calls on the youth to stand in line silently before giving orders to commence self-defense training, believes that the Cubs camp helps to keep the memory of Palestine alive among children.
“The organization welcomes new members starting at the age of 6 and training is constant until the age of 18, at which point the trainee is a young man or woman and ready to become a fighter,” Sunbul explained.
In the beginning trainees are given lessons on Palestinian history, then asked to participate in physically demanding activities, such as high jumping and tightrope walking. By the age of 12, Cubs are taught street fighting techniques, Sunbul added, in which sticks are used as weapons.
There is also a separate training program for females who are referred to as “Roses.”
“We remember late President Yasser Arafat, who used to say that a Cub from our Cubs and a Rose from our Roses would one day raise the Palestinian flag atop Al-Aqsa,” Sunbul said.
The Cubs will be participating in a ceremony to mark the creation of the Fatah Movement on Jan. 1.
Ten-year-old Mohammad narrowly missed a hurling fist during a combat training session.
“I am training for Palestine and my return to my homeland,” said Mohammad, who hails from Saffuriya, and is in Grade 4.
His comments were echoed by Bassem Slim, 13, in Grade 6.
“I have been training for a month to protect my people in the future and to return to Palestine through education, self-confidence, preparation and training,” Slim said. “My rifle will be to win Palestine and for nothing more.”
In the Cubs training camp there is little patience for making mistakes, said Ahmad Awad, another trainer.
“We train him [the Cub] to jump from a height of three meters so he can land standing on his feet,” Awad said, stressing that this requires much effort, technique and patience.SIDON, Lebanon: After 10 years the 1972 Cubs camp is back in Ain al-Hilweh, enabling Palestinian youngsters to train to become future fighters against Israeli occupation, as envisioned by Fatah Movement head Yasser Arafat in the 1970s.
Arafat ordered the creation of the Cubs to educate and train children, men and women to fight the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.
The new training camp was established in the Taamir neighborhood of Ain al-Hilweh.
“Yasser Arafat visited the camp whenever he had the chance, but with the Israeli invasion in 1982, the camp was destroyed,” a retired Palestinian officer said. The destruction of the camp was a huge blow to the Palestinian resistance, which was forced to leave Lebanon and set up headquarters in another Arab country, Tunisia.
The Cubs camp renewed its activities during the ’90s and children once again donned military garments in preparation for training. But the program was stopped again by the end of the decade for no specified reason. Sources told The Daily Star the order to close the Cubs camp came from Ramallah.
An agreement between Israel and the Fatah Movement could have played a role in the camp’s closing, sources explained.
But by November 2014, the Cubs camp resumed its work, training the next generation of Palestinian freedom fighters. Youngsters begin combat training using sticks.
“To the left, to the right, in your place,” screams a trainer at the Martyr Mohammad Mawaad Camp, one place in Ain al-Hilweh where the Cubs convene. “Storm, storm, storm,” reply the youngsters, between 6 and 13 years of age.
Sunbul, commander of the Cubs camp, has spent more than 30 years training youngsters. As a Cub graduate himself, Sunbul said top Palestinian officials also spent their youth training at the camp.
“Palestinian officials who were 6 and older in 1972 graduated from the Cubs camp,” Sunbul said, adding that the Cubs used to train in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.
“The last time I saw Abu Ammar [Yasser Arafat] was before the [1982] invasion and before that when he visited the camp and supervised a graduation ceremony for Cubs.”
Sunbul, who firmly calls on the youth to stand in line silently before giving orders to commence self-defense training, believes that the Cubs camp helps to keep the memory of Palestine alive among children.
“The organization welcomes new members starting at the age of 6 and training is constant until the age of 18, at which point the trainee is a young man or woman and ready to become a fighter,” Sunbul explained.
In the beginning trainees are given lessons on Palestinian history, then asked to participate in physically demanding activities, such as high jumping and tightrope walking. By the age of 12, Cubs are taught street fighting techniques, Sunbul added, in which sticks are used as weapons.
There is also a separate training program for females who are referred to as “Roses.”
“We remember late President Yasser Arafat, who used to say that a Cub from our Cubs and a Rose from our Roses would one day raise the Palestinian flag atop Al-Aqsa,” Sunbul said.
The Cubs will be participating in a ceremony to mark the creation of the Fatah Movement on Jan. 1.
Ten-year-old Mohammad narrowly missed a hurling fist during a combat training session.
“I am training for Palestine and my return to my homeland,” said Mohammad, who hails from Saffuriya, and is in Grade 4.
His comments were echoed by Bassem Slim, 13, in Grade 6.
“I have been training for a month to protect my people in the future and to return to Palestine through education, self-confidence, preparation and training,” Slim said. “My rifle will be to win Palestine and for nothing more.”
In the Cubs training camp there is little patience for making mistakes, said Ahmad Awad, another trainer.
“We train him [the Cub] to jump from a height of three meters so he can land standing on his feet,” Awad said, stressing that this requires much effort, technique and patience.
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