Hundreds of Palestinian refugee children today gathered at UN officers in Tyre, calling for an end to Israel's "massacres of children" in the Palestinian territories.
Standing outside the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) offices, the refugees - some as young as five years old - carried Palestinian and black flags, and held banners saying "protect our people from the massacres."
Other children held up pictures of Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat and demanded their "sacred right to return to Palestine."
They handed in a memorandum to UNIFIL addressed to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan referring to "the right to live in peace with our own people."
"Injustice must not pass with impunity, you must protect our people and our children from the massacres carried out by Sharon," the statement said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon.
On Tuesday, 500 Palestinian children marched through the streets of the port city of Sidon in the first such demonstration since the Israeli invasion in 1982, and called on Mr Annan to "bring an end to the war of extermination being carried out by Mr Ariel Sharon" and "to ensure international protection for the children of Palestine."
More than 760 people have been killed since the Palestinian intifada or uprising started on September 28th last year, mainly Palestinians.
AFP