W. LOCUST ST. – Sickened by the daily violence which often leads to the death of their young, a Jerusalem-based children’s advocacy group, MART (Mothers Against Rock Throwing), has initiated a “Rock Buy-Back” program in an attempt to keep deadly, unregistered rocks off of the streets.
Lamis Alami, whose 10-year-old son was killed in 1999 when a stone went off in his hands, is alarmed by the current proliferation of rocks in Palestine.
“It seems like every time I turn around, I see another child who has somehow managed to get his hands on a rock. Nobody has properly taught them to have respect for the power of a rock.”
The program, which pays $25 for every rock that is traded in, has so far been wildly successful.
“We were shocked to learn how many rocks were out there. It seems like there’s no end to it,” said Amal Kamal, president of MART.
MART has collected thousands of rocks in the first three days of the program and has converted the weapons into safe toys for children. Kamal was thrilled that expectations were initially low for the expected turnout.
“We have already taken in 15,000 deadly rocks and, after conversion, re-distributed 135,000 safe, fun and harmless pebbles back to Palestinian children.”
“If we can’t keep children off of the streets, then we can at least keep rocks from falling into their hands,” mother-of-four Siham Diab said, shortly before being shot in the face by an unseen Israeli sniper.
Members of the group are driven by one simple truth – when a rock gets thrown up into the air, the law of gravity dictates that it must come back down.
“Before, you just had a few accidents here and there with children and adults alike stumbling over rocks in the rougher sections of towns,” Amal Kamal said at a news conference announcing the “Rock Buy-Back” program.
“Now, rocks are being glorified in the media and popular culture. Every other song on the radio is about ‘popping a rock in your ass.’ You make eye contact with a stranger these days and it might be enough for them to start looking around for a rock to throw at you. The madness has to end.”
MART is next planning on launching a program that will educate Palestinian parents on the proper methods of locking up their rocks and rock collections, which many leave unattended in unlocked desk drawers.

Author