By Itamar Marcus, Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin, June 1, 2003
Introduction:
The Palestinian Authority Education Ministry has announced the 10 first
place winners from among one million letters submitted in a children’s letter
writing contest. What is evident from the PA selections is that the PA Education
Ministry continues to promote hatred and violence as values for Palestinian
youth.
The ten winning letters all deal with the conflict, and promote hatred and killing.
Not one promotes peace with Israel. The themes include longing for Israel’s
destruction, desire to kill Israelis, and hatred of the US. Israelis are defined as
the enemy, Israeli soldiers are depicted as taking bottles of blood of murdered
children, and Israel PM Sharon is vilified.
It is very indicative of the foundation of PA education, that the very first letter
cited is entitled “I will yet return to Lod – a letter to my enemy” in which the
Palestinian child writes: “You do not deserve Lod, and after this day I will no
longer accept the small pool .”
Honoring the refusal to accept Israeli sovereignty over its cities Jaffa and
Lod is teaching Palestinian children that Israel’s destruction is a legitimate and
reachable goal.
Comment: If among the million of letters submitted, peace promoting themes
were present and yet the PA leadership refused to include even one among the
winners, it means the Palestinians are continuing their hate education.
On the other hand, there was not even one peace-promoting letter it is
equally disturbing, as an ominous warning of how successful the PA education
has been in creating a generation dedicated to hatred of Israel. PMW has noted
repeatedly that the PA education to hatred and violence, has been an accurate
indicator of PA goals and behavior in the past.
The following are the letters as they appeared in the official ad published by the
Palestinian Authority in the daily, Al-Quds on May 28th, 2003.
1- “I yet still return to Lod”
“A letter to my enemy, … I am Lara from Lod, and I am an eleven
year-old girl living in the city of Ramallah. I used to accept that Ramallah is a
substitute for Lod, and that the large sea has been exchanged for a small pool.
However, in spite of this you stole my simple dream from me. You came to my
little house and conquered it; you killed, you destroyed, and you carried out
arrests. Therefore you do not deserve Lod, and after this day I will no
longer accept the small pool. I will dream of the sea at Jaffa and the sunshine
in Lod.”
Lara Amar, Al-Janan School, Ramallah, Sixth Grade]
2- “My soul, my love, why do they keep me from you?”
“After we suffered from the attack upon my brother, the shahid, Majdi,
on April 24 th 2002, I also lost my father, Naji, forty days later, when he was
by the occupation.
I hurried to look for you, my father, in the corners of the houses but I did
not find you. I look at your empty bed, and see you as if in Hell. I am the one
who saw the death of his brother at the moment that he became a shahid. My
heart has turned into a sad block of pain. One day I will buy a weapon and I will
blow away the fetters. I will propel my living-dead body into your arms, my
father, and you will gather me into your hands. My soul, my love, why do they
keep me from you?”
Mahmoud Naji Chalilah, Jaba Boys Elementary School, Jenin, Seventh
Grade
3- “A bottle of blood as a Mothers’ Day Gift”
“To my fellow member of humanity, the Israeli soldier at the military
roadblock.
We celebrated Mothers’ Day and then we went to a family nearby to join
them for the celebration and give them our blessings because their son is
missing. My brother, do you know why he is missing? He died after one of your
comrades shot him, and he was killed at the age of 14.
Did your mother celebrate Mothers’ Day? I don’t think you celebrated
with her because of the assignments you have been given to carry out against
the Palestinians. I suggest that if you pay her a late visit, you should bring her a
gift: a bottle of the blood of a Palestinian child whom you have murdered on the
way and whose mother is still looking for him. I am sure that your mother
would be very satisfied with this gift.”
Jhouk Tarek abd Al-Chalim, Anavta Girls’ School, Tenth Grade
4 “Do they call you ‘Grandpa’?”
“To Sharon, without any greetings. “Sharon, you do not know how
much I wish I could meet your grandchildren so that I could ask them if you
play with them. Do they call you ‘Grandpa’? Or are they afraid of you? I would
like to tell you the secret of my hatred towards you. I do not hate you because
of your religion, because I believe in Musa , may his memory be
blessed. I hate you because you hate the children of my nation.
We love peace just as much you love war. And I would like to let you
know something. A very rude boy lives in my neighborhood, and do you know
what they call him? They call him ‘Sharon’.”
Saja Etzam Marei, Mahmoud Alhamshari School, Tulkarem, Seventh
Grade
5 – “She was at peace with herself.”
“To Mrs. Cynthia and Mr. Craig, the parents of the Shahida of the Palestinian people, the American, Rachel Corey, Washington.
Rachel’s pure spirit is still examining our intentions, and it asks us not to
give in or to be defeated. Rachel did not cross the ocean in vain. It was in order
to turn her body, which was small in size, into something great in terms of love
and hope, like a protective shield to those who are exploited under the
occupation. She came to take part in a symbolic trial against the president of
her country, George Bush, because she knew that your president’s
administration obeys the Israeli government. The sharpest proof of this is that
your country’s government did not condemn the killing of your daughter, but
sought to conduct an investigation into the incident. I would like to invite both
of you to visit Palestine so that you could see how much Rachel was at peace
with herself when she said what she did and did what she did.”
Mahmoud Ibrahim Alsatiti, Jilabun Elementary School for Boys, Ninth
Grade
6 – “A Letter to the Swiss Ambassador”
“Your respected government constructed our school in 1995. And now
Israel is currently building their fictitious security fence of separation only about
5 meters away from our school. Could you send the Israeli government a
request to keep the wall away from our school, as far as possible?”
7 -A Letter to an Israeli Soldier at the Roadblock
“I see you behind blocks of cement, on your back is this ammunition,
this equipment that is too heavy for you to carry, your face shows toughness,
in your heart is worry and fear. I see my friends while they are walking on their
way to school and on their backs their school bag is filled with
equipment. On their faces is hope and happiness. I see a big difference between
what we carry on our backs and what you carry on yours – You live
with the hope of power, while we live with the power of hope.”
8 -10 The last three are a letter to a father in an Israeli jail “who is rotting in a
place where time passes like a tortoise”, to a father who left when the children
were young, and a letter to the UN Secretary-General complaining: “Why are
you silent when major crimes are being perpetrated against us?”
