Girl, 15, wants to be suicide bomber

Jamal Saleh's eyes fill with tears. His wife, Aisha, smiles awkwardly. She looks embarrassed at what her daughter has said at the end of reading out loud her diary kept during the nine days when Israeli troops used their flat as a sniper's nest.

Their ordeal began in Israel. Women, children, old men and families were ripped apart in two suicide bombs in Haifa and Netanya. Forty Jews were killed in a couple of days.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, backed by the vast majority of Israelis, ordered his army into the West Bank. Its orders were to crush the terror groups, the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and the loose alliance of street fighters known as the Tanzim.

Reem Saleh was 15 on 30 March. Her uncle, Jamal abu Sureya, is British and lives in Brixton. In a school exercise book she kept a diary of the days that began with the roar of tanks and calls from the mosques of Jenin's refugee camp not to prayer, but to arms. Jenin has been a hotbed of terrorist activists and its refugee camp "boasts" that it has produced a disproportionate number of suicide bombers and gunmen who have attacked Israeli civilians across the Green Line two miles away.

Living in a four-room flat in Jenin's refugee camp, Reem's experiences will have left an indelible mark on her. For the past 18 months, she's lived the al Aqsa Intifada. Palestinian radio and television have fed an undiluted diet of anti-Israeli propaganda.

Reem has no posters of her favourite pop stars or soccer players. Her favourite books are political texts She says: "We have no other experience than as an occupied nation, that's all that matters - we have no childhood."

Living in the maze of a camp established in 1948 at the end of the first Arab Israeli war, Reem is a third generation refugee. On 28 February her cousin, Mariam abu Seria, 10, was killed when Israeli troops invaded the camp, along with 23 others.

3 April, 2am:

"Israeli tanks have arrived in Jenin. There are Apaches (gunships) too. The muezzin have been calling loudly for the resistance to come out and fight the Israeli army.

"There is heavy fighting. The Israeli army has taken over many houses and snipers are everywhere. I've heard six Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed, and two Israeli soldiers."

6 April:

"We hear voices outside the house speaking in Hebrew. Dad (Jamal) calls out 'baby, baby' to tell them we have children in the house. Amer, my brother, is only three years old. They came into our flat.

"They were very aggressive and their faces were painted. Some seemed nervous, the others had hatred in their eyes.

"They made Dad walk in front of them as they

searched every room and threw the furniture around.

"Then they made our family, my uncles, and some neighbours all live in one room, 24 of us together. I could not believe they were in the house. I didn't feel anything. Others were scared, but I could not feel a thing.

"Outside there was a lot of gunfire and explosions, Tanks were roaring about and our fighters were using their MI6 and AK47s as well as homemade bombs. The muezzin is still calling for fighters".

As the days wore on much of Reem's diary is taken up with news reports from the Israeli and Palestinian radio.

On 8 April she notes she's seen houses demolished and "no one knows how many people died".

An Israeli soldier tells Jamal and his family not to worry, they won't be rocketed because Israeli troops are with them. Later, the family discover that two rooms have been used as snipers' nests, holes for high-powered rifles have been cut in the walls and marked with spray paint.

9 April:

"The Israelis in the house tell us that they won't leave until all the gunmen have surrendered. A cell phone ringing makes the Israeli angry. They take Dad out and demand to see where it is hidden. "He doesn't know. They hit him. We're only allowed out of the room to go to the toilet and the kitchen, one by one."

At some stage during this time Reem lost track of the days, one of the Israeli snipers is shot inside the family's flat.

"He cried out. I saw a lot of blood, they put bandages on his face and arm. We were very afraid they would take revenge on us, they kept screaming at us, and one of them was banging his head over and over again on the wall," says Reem.

Twenty three Israelis died in fighting outside Reem's home, where hundreds of flats were demolished.

Today, the Israelis have gone - but they leave hatred in their wake. What does she want to do when she grows up? "I'll die for my country".

Her father is shocked and chokes back tears. Palestinian teenagers often say this as they try to out do one another.

"She doesn't mean she wants to by a bomber - but she has no hope. The young people have no hope here," Aisha explains with that awkward smile.

Israel pulls out of Jenin camp