The Ultimate Child Abuse

Palestinian Media Watch

Visual Analysis # 1 - April 23, 2002 *

*All the TV material cited is available on CD from [e-mail]

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 [weapons’] 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…”

[Our Arabic Language for 5th grade, page 60, Guide to Improve Arabic Language for 12th
grade, page 84, Our Beautiful Language for 7th grade, part A page 97, PATV, Oct 27, 2000 and
other broadcasts]

This poem

appears in three

additional

school books.

It has been

recited by heart

by children on

PA TV

.

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 [Holy War]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

…”

[Islamic Education, for 8th grade, page 176]*

*PA Ministry of Education, based on a Jordanian book

This clip attempts to allay Palestinian

children’s innate fear of death by depicting

death

by Martyrdom as painless, even serene.

“How Sweet is Martyrdom” for children

The following slides are from one of many

Palestinian TV clips encouraging Martyrdom.

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 [father] and don’t cry
over my parting, for my country Martyrdom... For
my country I sacrifice myself.”

[

He’s a nice, friendly child

]

“farewell letter”:

“With determination and desire I long to

approach”

“farewell letter”:

“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 Martyr Wajdi Al-Hattab (9

th

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’s
gym teacher:] ‘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…”

[PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 9, 2000]

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:

Caption: “Wajdi Al-

Hattib

When children were injured,

the PA reported they were disappointed

because they sought death as Martyrs.

“The injured [boy] Alfayumi [11] says that
being killed as a Martyr for Allah and the
motherland is an obligation of every
Palestinian.”

[PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 6,

2000]

“The injured [boy] Sa’ed Osallah [11] from
the Jebalya [refugee] camp said:

‘We are all potential Martyrs for Jerusalem
and the motherland’.”

[PA official daily, Al-Hayat

Al-Jadida, Nov. 6, 2000]

Ramadan Saadi Abed Rabbo, 13, injured:

“My goal is not to be injured, rather something
much nobler: Martyrdom.”

[PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-

Jadida, Nov. 8, 2000]

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…”

[PATV Jan. 15, 2002]

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.”

[Signed] “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.

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.

After editing, which took out both the “follow

me”

and the scene with the ferris wheel,

it was again broadcast regularly.

Disgraced at being caught telling children-

“follow me” to paradise, the clip was

immediately removed from PA TV.

[Al-Ayyam, Feb. 1, 2002]

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.”

[mother of Abbas Al Awiwi, PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Mar. 21, 2001]

Part 2: Success of the PA Strategy

Tragically the PA manipulation of their

children to seek Martyrdom has been

successful:

“63% of them [children] said they want to be
Martyrs.”

“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]

[The Eighth Day, Al-Ayyam, Mar. 3, 2002]

Child Karam -age 12-

wrote his own death announcement…

“The [child] Martyr Muhammad Abu Tahun
wrote his last words in his notebook:
‘The Martyrs [will enter] Paradise and myself
among them, Please Allah ...”

[PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 9, 2000]

Child Muhammad asked Allah for Martyrdom...

“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...”

[PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 30, 2000]

A mother of 2 dead sons:

My sons sought Martyrdom:

[‘Sout Al-Nissa-Voice of the Women’, Al-Ayyam, Feb. 28, 2002]

[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…”

[‘Sout Al-Nissa-Voice of the Women’, Al-Ayyam, Feb. 28, 2002]

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’.”

[‘Sout Al-Nissa-Voice of the Women’, Al-Ayyam, Feb. 28, 2002]

“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’…”

The Mother describes her pride:

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.”

[Al-Quds, Jun. 7, 2001]

“Children of Gaza Substitute Child

Play

with the Martyr Game”

...

[PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 26, 2001]

… 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!’ ”

[PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 26, 2001]

Conclusions

This PA education is a permanent stain on the

Palestinian Authority, placing them among the

greatest child abusers in history!

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.

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.

Palestinian Media Watch

Visual Analysis # 1 - April 23, 2002 *

Visit PMW Web site www.pmw.org.il

To receive PMW e mail updates send

an empty e-mail to

[e-mail]

for additional information, contact Itamar Marcus, PMW Director, at [e-mail]

The video material in this presentation is available on the site and on CD from the PMW office