MIDDLE EAST - UN summer camp attacked

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP):

Masked men trashed a United Nations (UN) summer camp yesterday, tying up guards and slashing tents and an inflatable pool in the second such attack blamed on suspected extremists in just over a month, a sign of how, in Gaza, youth camp is not just about crafts and volleyball.

Rival day camps by the UN and Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers compete for the hearts of the next generation, the roughly 700,000 children under 15 who make up nearly half of the Gaza Strip's population.

Hamas camps teach an anti-Israeli doctrine and military-style marching, along with horseback riding, swimming and Islam. UN camps try to instill hope in a better future, a message wrapped in fun and games.

The UN says it hopes to help shield Gaza's children against the lure of militancy, a task that's getting harder in the impoverished territory. Educators say today's children are more vulnerable than the previous generation, having witnessed war with Israel last year, internal Palestinian fighting and the violent Hamas takeover in 2007, followed by an Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has virtually cut Gaza off from the outside world.

"Time is against us," warned local UN chief John Ging. "We are losing an entire generation."

In yesterday's vandalism, two dozen masked men broke into a UN camp before dawn, while children were not present.