The following is the text of an e-mail that I sent to The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied territories.
"I was struck by the great number (207) of under-18's killed by the Israeli security forces during the time periods listed on your site. But it occurs to me that there is no table showing what the 207 minors were doing when they were killed. How many were engaged in violent confrontations with the security forces and how many were killed as the result of simple murder? A 16-year-old with a large stone or a gun is very different from a 10-year-old who is bothering no one. Do you have a break-down of this sort, and if so, will you make the figures available? The death of anyone is troubling, but sometimes knowledge of the circumstances surrounding a death can help to put it in a more comprehensible perspective.

Newbern W. Johnson"
I hope to get an answer that will clear up this question for me. I recall a similar list put out by The Committee to Control Handguns a few years ago. The figures were staggering. Then it was discovered that they were listing anyone under 18 years of age as a "child".
This was at the height of the drug turf wars in many of our major cities and the gangbangers were killing each other left and right. When the list was broken down to show who had been engaged in the commission of a felony at the time of death, the figures dropped dramatically.
While the untimely death of anyone is deplorable I don't feel that the deaths of those who have deliberately placed themselves in harms way should be given equal weight with those who have been coldly murdered even though them were no threat to anyones safety.

troll