Palestinian Media Watch Analysis, April 23, 2002
All the TV material cited is available on CD from info@pmw.org.il
PMW has compiled substantial evidence that the Palestinian Authority
has been encouraging Palestinian children to seek death as Martyrs
This report presents examples of this evidence: Part 1: Encouraging
Children to seek Martyrdom Part 2: Success of the PA Strategy
Part 1: Encouraging Children to seek Martyrdom
This drawing depicting a dead child Martyr appears in a 7th grade Palestinian
schoolbook… with the following poem glorifying Martyrdom: “The Martyr” by
Abd El Rahim Mahmud:
“I shall carry my soul in my palm And toss it into the abyss of
destruction…
By your life! I see my death, but I hasten my steps towards it…
Hearing clash is pleasant to my ear And the flow of blood
gladdens my soul. By your life! This is the death of Men And who asks for a
noble death – here it is.”
Schoolbooks induce children not to fear dying by teaching that death is
predetermined and Martyrdom is better than any other death:
“The Moslem sacrifices himself for his belief and wages Jihad
for Allah. He is not swayed for he knows that the date of his death has been
predetermined and that his death as a Martyr on the field of battle is preferable
to death in his bed.”
“How Sweet is Martyrdom” for children
The following slides are from one of many Palestinian TV clips encouraging
Martyrdom.
This clip attempts to allay Palestinian children’s innate fear of death by
depicting death by Martyrdom as painless, even serene.
This clip depicts the last day in the life of a young boy. His farewell letter
explains that he willingly chose death:
+ Boy routinely leaves to school, without disclosing his plan
+ Father receives “farewell letter”: “Don’t be sad, my dear and
don’t cry over my parting, for my country Martyrdom… For my country I
sacrifice myself. With determination and desire I long to approach. How sweet
is Martyrdom when I embrace you may land.”
Palestinian TV broadcast this glorification of a child’s eager self-sacrifice nearly
every day last year. Often 2 and 3 times a day.
The news media openly portrayed children as seeking death:
When 14 year old Wajdi died, the official PA daily glorified what they claimed
was his desire for death:
“The Martyr Wajdi Al-Hattab (9th grade) responded to the call of Allah
and achieved the Martyrdom that he yearned for…
He would always say to his friends: ‘When I become a Martyr, give out
cake…
he attained what he yearned for. He reached the highest levels with
Allah.
‘Wajdi asked me to give out cake if he becomes a
Martyr.’
His classmates swore that they would continue in the path of Martyrdom
until the liberation of Jerusalem.”
When children were injured, the PA reported they were disappointed because
they sought death as Martyrs.
Ramadan Saadi Abed Rabbo, 13, injured:”My goal is not to be injured, rather
something much nobler: Martyrdom.”
“The injured Sa’ed Osallah [11] from the Jebalya camp said:
‘We are all potential Martyrs for Jerusalem and the motherland’.”
“The injured Alfayumi [11] says that being killed as a Martyr for Allah and
the motherland is an obligation of every Palestinian.”
This interviewer asked a 2nd grader if he wasn’t afraid to die fighting Israel.
When the child hesitated, the interviewer prompted him by shaking her head
“no”, after which he answered “no.”
Even 7 year olds are being pushed to Martyrdom.
Arafat on PA TV: His message to PA children is that their “greatest message in
the world” is Martyrdom:
Question: “Mr. President, what message would you like to send to …
Palestinian children?”
Arafat: “.This child, who is grasping the stone, facing the tank – is it not
the greatest message in the world when that hero becomes a Martyr? We are
proud of them.”
Palestinian children are asked to “follow” a child Martyr to Paradise
Mohammed Al Dura was killed by an undetermined source in a televised
crossfire. He was turned into a symbol for Palestinian children.
In order to make child paradise look attractive, the PA TV broadcast a video clip
with an actor playing Al Dura, frolicking in child paradise. The clip opened with
this call from Al Dura in Paradise to other Palestinian children to follow him:
“I am waving, not to say good bye, but to say follow me.”
“Muhammad Al Dura.”
In paradise for child Martyrs, he is: Running on the beach “How sweet is
the fragrance of the Martyrs, how sweet is the fragrance of the earth, its thirst
quenched by the gush of blood flowing from the youthful body.”
Playing with a kite “I shall go with no fear, no tears.”
And even with a Ferris Wheel “How sweet is the fragrance of the
Martyrs”
Post Script: After PMW exposed this on NBC TV, the Palestinian Authority, in a
special press release, attacked PMW’s and NBC’s credibility. Disgraced at being
caught telling children “follow me” to paradise, the clip was immediately
removed from PA TV. After editing, which took out both the “follow me” and
the scene with the ferris wheel, it was again broadcast regularly.
The text: ‘How sweet is the fragrance of the Martyrs, how sweet is the
fragrance of the earth, its thirst quenched by the gush of blood, flowing from
the youthful body’… continues to be broadcast.
Young girls were given posters idolizing the first woman suicide bomber as the
“Heroine Martyr Wafa Idris.”
Parents are regularly cited describing their joy at the death of their children:
“The best Mothers Day present I got this year was the death as a Martyr
of Abbas.”
Part 2: Success of the PA Strategy
Tragically the PA manipulation of their children to seek Martyrdom has been
successful: “72% of the children sampled from all the districts of Gaza
expressed the hope of becoming Martyrs…”
[‘Sout Al-Nissa-Voice of the Women’, Al-Ayyam, Jan. 24, 2002]
“63% of them said they want to be Martyrs.”
Child Karam – age 12 – wrote his own death announcement.
“Prior to his being injured… Karam announced his own death on the
walls of his home and attributed to himself, in his own handwriting, Martyrdom
and its honor. The notice read: ‘The Al-Kard family announces the death of its
courageous Martyr Karam…”
“The Martyr Muhammad Abu Tahun wrote his last words in his
notebook: ‘The Martyrs Paradise and myself among them, Please
Allah …”
A mother of 2 dead sons: My sons sought Martyrdom:
The first son: “He wrote phrases of love of the homeland and becoming a
Martyr… he referred to himself as a Martyr. On one of his notebooks he wrote:
‘The Martyr hero Yasser Sami Al-Koussba died as a Martyr on the land of
Palestine.”
The second son: “A few days before he became a Martyr, wrote the following
phrase on one of his notebooks: ‘Mother! Don’t cry over me if I am killed.
Death does not scare me, my aspiration is to be a Martyr’.”
The Mother describes her pride: “After reading this passage, Fatma’s
expression took on a look of pride and honor at her sons’ sacrifice, and her own
sacrifice. The she said: “Praise to Allah, I gave birth to heroes’.”
[‘Sout Al-Nissa-Voice of the Women’, Al-Ayyam, Feb. 28, 2002]
10, 11, and 12 year-olds – ran away to seek Martyrdom.
“The residents of Yassid,a Palestinian village, found the missing girls,
aged 10, 11 and 12, after a day-long search. Apparently, the children went
looking for Jerusalem, seeking Martyrdom…
The children said they were going to get weapons and to be martyred in
Jerusalem, and that the Israeli checkpoint would not prevent them from their
aspiration to achieve Martyrdom.”
“Children of Gaza Substitute Child Play with the Martyr Game” …and compete
who will be the Martyr “Nada, a seven year old girl, says to her friends: ‘Let’s
play the Martyr Game!’ The children fetch an old sheet that they spread on the
ground, and then they argue who will play the Martyr. Fa’iz, 6 years old, says:
You were the Martyr yesterday, today it’s my turn! I’m younger than you. I will
be the one to die!’ ”
Conclusions
The Palestinians are presenting Martyrdom to their young children as something
idyllic and as something expected of them. The selections here are just a
sampling of the evidence.
The Palestinians’ education of the next generation to see Martyrdom as an
ideal, will have tragic repercussions, even if only 1% of the children fulfill their
“duty”. The victims of their terror will be Israel, other Western democracies,
and of course, the children themselves.
This PA education is a permanent stain on the Palestinian Authority, placing
them among the greatest child abusers in history.
