Palestinian incitement of suicide bombings

Israel Foreign Ministry, May 18, 2001

1. Suicide bombings today constitute the preferred means of
   Islamic terrorist organizations in their struggle against Israel.
   The perpetrators of these attacks receive encouragement from the
   well oiled incitement machines of religious officials, on the one
   hand, and from political leaders in the Arab world and the leaders
   of the terrorist organizations, on the other, who derive their
   inspiration from Islamic sources.

2. The incitement to continued terrorist attacks is carried out
   through a number of channels, such as through public pronouncements
   and calls from religious figures and leaders, and through propaganda
   which penetrates Palestinian society, via the media and the
   education system. The propaganda has a double aim: there is the
   effort to recruit additional volunteers for suicide missions and the
   attempt to establish support and public backing for the suicide
   bombers and their families, among the Palestinians and in the Arab
   world, in general.

3. There follows a number of examples from recent months:
   1. Youssef Jamah, Palestinian Minister of Holy Sites, in an
      interview on Egyptian Television (April 29), stated:
      “The suicide bombings are a legitimate means through which the
      Palestinians fight the enemy. Their aim is to serve Allah, and
      through them, they fight for Allah and for the Islamic faith and
      homeland. The attacks are the command of Allah.”

   2. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of the
      Hizbullah (Radio Nur, March 31):
      He called on the Palestinians to sacrifice more people, and to
      carry out Jihad missions, for “they embody the salvation from the
      occupiers of the pure and holy land, the accomplishment of freedom
      and the return of the dispersed Palestinians to their homeland.
      The Zionist entity is a cancerous entity and, therefore, there is
      no room for compromise with it.”

   3. Khalad Mashal, Hamas (Reuters, February 16):
      “You have no place here, on the holy land of Palestine… You
      will never have security in this place, not even on a single
      centimeter of this land. This is a call for every Palestinian to
      turn into a time bomb – to fight them with every means at your
      disposal.”
      (Al Quds Radio, February 17):
      “Kill them! Allah will answer them through your means! I hope
      that there are those among you who will kill and be killed!”

   4. Dr. Mahmud Alzahar, a Hamas spokesman (on Internet Site
      “Albouaba”, April 23):
      “The sacrificial acts to sanctify Allah’s name are designed to
      attack the personal security of the Israelis. We are not referring
      to negotiations, but to an occupation that is harming personal
      security and that is destroying the Zionist society.”

   5. Sheikh Youssuf Kardawi (Aljazira, April 11):
      In response to a question regarding attacks against civilians:
      “Israeli society is a military society, and every person is
      either a soldier in the Israeli Army or a reserve soldier. This
      society must be intimidated, until they return to the countries
      from which they came. When they feel afraid and fearful, they will
      not feel secure in the country, and we must intimidate and
      frighten them.”
      (Albayan – Internet, May 12):
      “I believe that the Palestinian Jihad fighter who carries out
      suicide actions in Israel does not think about the murder of
      children and women, but rather goes to fight against Israel, its
      army and its forces. The suicide mission is the loftiest form of
      Jihad. We are talking about an heroic act of sacrifice and
      sanctification. The person who redeems his soul for Allah,
      sacrifices himself as a sacrifice for his religion and people, and
      fights the enemies of Allah with new weapons that fate awarded to
      the downtrodden, in order to fight with these means against the
      tyranny of the arrogant.”

   6. The Palestinian Council of Religious Leaders publicized a
      Fatwa (Al Iyyam, May 6), determining that

      “these acts of sacrifice are legitimate, and their legitimacy is
      derived from the Koran and Islamic law.”

   7. Khamad Almadavi, a preacher at the Al Aqsa Mosque, and the
      Chairman of the Islamic Appeals Court in Jerusalem (in an
      interview to a radio station in London):

      “the suicide attacks
      are commanded by the Koran and the command applies to every Muslim.”

   8. Sheikh Ahmad Yassin (Egyptian Television, April 29):
      “The fighters for Allah kill and get killed. Can there be
      bravery which is superior to that shown by a person who sacrifices
      himself for his homeland, in order to sow fear, defeatism, death,
      division and destruction amongst enemy ranks.”

   9. Faez Kandil, Radio commentator, Damascus, February 19):
      “Israel has many weapons, but the Palestinian people also have
      a large number of weapons and they are: The weapon of sacrifice to
      sanctify Allah’s name. This is a noble Arab weapon which renews
      itself in the same way as the sun shines every morning. The second
      weapon is the explosive material of the Fedayeen, and the third
      weapon is the geographical proximity, enabling the Palestinian
      resistance to strike at every place they wish. The towns of
      Netanya and Hadera are close to Tulkarem and Kalkilya, in the same
      way that Maaleh Adumim is close to Ramallah.”

   10. Sheikh Alshaibi, Head of the Faculty of Religious Studies,
       University Bin Saud (Alhayat, April 30):
       “The suicide missions are a legitimate act, and are included
       within the framework of the Jihad in accordance with Allah, if the
       intention of the person perpetrating it is pure. These actions are
       one of the most effective means of the Jihad. One of the most
       effective means against the enemies of the faith is to bring about
       disasters and attacks in their midst… in other words, to cause
       killing and mutilation, and to sow panic in their midst. These
       actions strengthen the Muslims and their spirit, and breaks the
       morale of the enemies.”
4. In the context of the propaganda, “broadcasting services” are
   broadcast to Palestinian children, in which the boy Mohammed A-Dura,
   the “martyr” , calls out to his friends from paradise, and asks them
   to follow his path and join the fighters.
   The chairperson of the Hizbullah Womens’ Movement is quoted on Al
   Jezira Television (December 13, 2000):

   “I will push my child to
   participate in the resistance, and I pray to Allah that my son ends
   his life as a Shaheed (martyr).”
   Another member of the organization
   is also quoted:

   “I began to take action within the framework of the
   American University in Beirut, and to explain the priorities of the
   Shaheed children – in the same way that we are educated to become
   doctors, they are educated to die like their fathers.”

5. There are a few religious figures who reject the religious
   legitimacy of suicide attacks. For instance, Mufti Alsheikh of Saudi
   Arabia maintained that suicide attacks have no basis in Islamic law.

   In Egypt, Sheikh Alzahar maintained that “if a person blows himself
   up between people who are fighting him, he is a Shaheed, but if he
   blows himself up between young children, women or the elderly that
   take no part in the fighting, he is not a Shaheed.”

   Nevertheless, most of the religious figures responding rejected the ruling of
   Mufti Alsheikh of Saudi Arabia, and claimed that his ruling was
   incorrect and was intended only to serve political ends.