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The recent twelve months, the year of Palestinian violence, has been characterized by a collapse of all norms by the Palestinians. They did not hesitate to blatantly violated all writen agreement between us and them - the use of violence, damaging holy sites, murdering Israelis and also unrestrained and malicious incitement against the state of Israel and its armed forces.
The Palestinian Authority incites the Palestinian people without any inhibitions, beginning in kinder-gardens, through schools, mosques, on official radio and television stations, thus the PA cannot evade direct responsibility for the brutal and murderous violence and terror against the State of Israel and its armed forces.
Several examples of the Palestinian Incitements:
PA Music Video Promising "Maidens of Paradise" to Shahids - 2 days before "Hudna" Suicide Bombings (12.8.03)
By Itamar Marcus,
Palestinian Media Watch
An integral message of PA social - religious ideology is that great heavenly rewards await those who die the death of the Shahid, meaning they died for Allah. The PA defines all its terrorists, including suicide terrorists, as Shahids. One of the rewards promised the "Shahid" in PA Islamic teaching, is "72 dark eyed virgins" - the "Maidens of Paradise".
This week a music video that depicts a Shahid joining beautiful maidens in heaven, broadcast hundreds of times over the past three years, returned to PA TV. [August 10, 2003]
The clip begins with scenes depicting a romance which is cut short when soldiers shoot the woman in the back. The woman goes immediately to heaven, where she joyously joins other young woman all dressed in identical long white gowns - the "Maidens of Paradise". The maidens are dancing in water, a clear depiction of Afterlife in Islamic tradition, said repeatedly in the Koran to have "flowing streams". Later on in the clip, the man visits the woman's grave and the soldiers shoot him in the back as well. At the moment he falls to the ground, he immediately goes up to heaven and joins the "Maidens".
To view the video rendition on PA TV - the "Maidens of Paradise", click the link below.
The PA grants Shahid status to all those killed in the war including, suicide bombers and other terrorists. This clip has appeared hundreds of times on Palestinian television since October 2000, as the PA has taught men to believe that they will get these women, possibly as encouragement to would be suicide bombers. Now this clip has come back on the air.
PMW Comment:
Today Israel was attacked by 2 suicide bombers. Whereas there is clearly no causal link between the recent broadcast on PA TV and today's bombing, there may very well be a more important link.
The political forces in the PA that control TV and gave the instruction to rebroadcast this music video encouraging Shahada, are quite possibly the same political forces that gave the okay to go ahead with the attacks. Yesterday, the day before the bombing, in interviews on Israeli TV channel 10 and Galei Zahal [Israeli Army radio], PMW director Itamar Marcus warned about the implications of the return of this music video:
"That this message has returned quickly, after several weeks during which we did not see it, I view as being very serious, as they are showing men once again that it is worthwhile to become a Shahid." [TV -10]
In the past PMW has demonstrated the direct link between PA terrorism and PA broadcasting, and has been able to accurately project PA intentions and actions based on PA media.
To view the "Maidens of Paradise" music video click here:
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This promise, of "72 Dark Eyed Virgins" has likewise been taught on PA TV by PA religious leaders:
To view the religious leader explaining the "72 dark-eyed virgins" reward of the Shahid:
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Violence, Dead Bodies and Seriously Wounded in PA TV clip
By Itamar Marcus,
Palestinian Media Watch
July 30, 2003
The Palestinian Authority rebroadcast yesterday an old clip, filled with violence, stone throwing and shootings. It includes 24 graphic scenes, including many close ups, of dead and seriously wounded Palestinians. It is the type of clip the PA used to broadcast hours a day during the height of the conflict.
Video clip "Killing, Bombardment, and House Demolition"
The following are the words that accompany the film:
Killing, Bombardment and house demolition
That will not hurt our strength.
By God, we shall say hello to you, oh Jerusalem
We will take our freedom.
We are your boys Palestine
This is the Intifada generation
We will attack while the stones are in our hands
By God, [may] your struggle be like this.
We will not surrender, and no to humiliation
Even if the airplanes are bombing us
.until the liberation of Palestine
our blood will not be in vain
We are your people. Oh old one [Arafat is seen on screen]
We are the heroes of stone!
New Palestinian Hate-Video: "Torture" of Palestinian Prisoner
By Itamar Marcus,
Palestinian Media Watch
April 24, 2003
One of the potent means used by the Palestinian Authority [PA] to indoctrinate children to hate Israelis is the repeated broadcasting on Palestinian TV of hate-filled Music Videos.
A new Palestinian Hate-Video has Arabic speaking actors portraying a fictitious torture of a Palestinian prisoner by an Israeli soldier. This has been broadcast numerous times daily as part of the special PA TV broadcasting for "Palestinian Prisoners Day" which was marked this week in the PA.
PA TV: Kill Jews of the Disputed Areas
By Itamar Marcus,
Palestinian Media Watch
April 30, 2003
Official Palestinian Authority [PA] TV has broadcast a music video calling for the murder of Jews in the disputed areas, even showing scenes of Jewish teenage girls and a Jewish couple, who are among those targeted for death by PA TV.
The music video shows scenes of masked gunman firing automatic rifles, aerial views of Jewish towns, and as mentioned, Jews who are targeted for murder: a man walking his wife, a group of teenage girls, and a soldier.
The words that repeat throughout the music video:
Click here or here to view video.
PMW Comment:
It is interesting that PA has chosen to broadcast this call to murder Jews of the disputed areas at the very time that the Palestinian Authority is approving Mahmoud Abbas as the Prime Minister. Abbas in a recent interview legitimized the murdering of Israelis who live in the disputed territories:
"The Intifada must continue. And it is the right of the Palestinian people to rise and to use all means at their disposal... all means even guns..." [A-Sharq Al Awsat, March 3, 2003]
It may be that this week's public call in the media to murder Jews is the PA reassurance to its people, that in spite of Western demands to solve disputes through negotiations, the PA continues to follow the Abbas doctrine, seeing murder as a legitimate tool, in times and places when seen as beneficial. [Significantly, the PA population has internalized the Abbas doctrine with 90% supporting the murder of Jews in the disputed areas. -Al Hayat Al Jadida, April, 15, 2003]
Hamas: We will use Jewish skulls to build a bridge to Heaven (16.12.02)
The Hamas website (http://www.palestine-info.info) published a banner Dec. 16, 2002, encouraging the murder of Jews as part of Jihad (Holy War). The banner depicts an eagle pecking at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's severed head with the slogan: "We will use the skulls of Zion's sons (Jews) to build a bridge to Heaven."
The banner was signed in the name of the Iz A Din Al Kassam Brigades, which is the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization.
The following is the banner as seen on the Hamas website:
Hamas: "We shall knock on heaven's doors with the skulls of Jews" (2.12.02)
By Itamar Marcus
Palestinian Media Watch
The Palestinians have reported that recent talks between the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas have led to a strengthening of cooperation. Indeed numerous terrorist attacks have been executed by joint Hamas - PA terror teams. Given the increased PA cooperation, the political messages of the Hamas take on greater significance. The following two items now appear on the Hamas website. The first describes the killing of Jews as the way to Islamic heaven and the second deals with the religious question as to whether a woman terrorist may dress without the traditional Islamic garb when the Islamic garb hinders her ability to commit terror acts.
1. A picture on the "art page" carries the title: "We shall knock on heaven's doors with the skulls of Jews".
Below these words, an ax is crashing down on the words "the Jews". On the ax are the words "Al-Kassam" the name of the Hamas terrorist unit. The face is of arch terrorist Immad Akkel, who planned and executed more than 13 terrorist attacks.
[Web address of Hamas "art" page:
http://www.kataeb-ezzeldeen.com/Mosharakat/index.asp]
2. Religious law question in the "Religious Law Corner"
"Must the female suicide seeker [Istishehadiya -Palestinian term for suicide bomber] about to execute an operation, dress in accordance with the Sharia [Moslem religious law], knowing that if the operation is to be in an Israeli area... the woman will be exposed?"
Answer: "The question of the hijab [woman's head-covering] is not open to discussion. This is a commandment and obligation a Jihad warrior may not forgo. A second point is that in our streets and cities, occupied by the Jews [all of Israel is considered `occupied'], our sisters may walk about dressed in their Shar'i clothes, even with veils on their faces and wearing gloves. The third point, and it is very significant, is that our sisters, the Jihad warriors, can deceive the Jews by wearing clothes of the type worn by the so-called religious Jewish women which is acceptable under the Sharia. Onward the Shahid [Death for Allah] convoy!"
In Gaza: Palestinians celebrate terrorist attack in Hebron (17.11.02)
Hundreds of rejoicing Islamic Jihad supporters took to the streets of Gaza on the night between the 16th and 17th of November after receiving word of the terrorist attack in Hebron Saturday night. 12 Israelis were killed in the attack including nine members of the security forces and three civilians. The demonstrators sounded cries of joy and support for the attack.
It should be noted that the Palestinian Authority did nothing to stop the street celebrations thus showing that they too sympathized with this deadly attack.
Palestinian Authority TV portrays Palestinian Martyrdom as a Christian Ideal (30.5.02)
By Itamar Marcus,
Palestinian Media Watch
Introduction:
The Palestinian Authority has constantly presented the yearning for Martyrdom as an Islamic ideal incumbent upon every Moslem. Today, it broadened the religious significance, presenting Martyrdom as a Christian ideal as well. On a television program discussing the power of words the following poem glorifying Martyrdom was read and displayed on the screen. The poem promises that the Martyr, in Afterlife will, together with the Koran, "carry a Cross".
"The Beat of the Words" - Palestinian Authority TV [May 30, 2002]
The Winds of Revolution
"Why do you kill my dream,
And not let me die as a Martyr?
My death will strengthen me,
And melt the iron for me.
I do not die to end,
Because in my death -is life,
In my death -is a hymn.
I am, my friend, a revolution in a human body,
A determined volcano.
I will carry my soul on my shoulder,
And in the Afterlife I will carry
A Cross and a Koran."
Palestinian students commemorate intifada with grisly display (24.09.01)
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Commemorating the year-old uprising against Israel, Palestinian university students opened an exhibition Sunday that included a grisly re-enactment of a suicide bombing in Jerusalem. Wearing a military uniform and a black mask, a Palestinian entered a doorway and set off a fake explosion in a replica of the Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem, where a suicide bomber killed himself and 15 other people last month. It was one of the deadliest attacks in a year of Mideast violence and drew widespread international condemnation. The exhibit at Al-Najah University in Nablus was put on by students who support the militant Islamic movement Hamas, which carried out the Jerusalem attack. Support for Hamas traditionally runs high at the university. The school is a hotbed for Palestinian militants and has produced a number of suicide bombers. Thousands of people, most of them university students, visited the exhibit, which is to run for a week in the university cafeteria. In another part of the exhibit, visitors looked through dark windows to see mannequins dressed as suicide bombers. Each had Islam's holy book, the Quran, in one hand, and an automatic rifle in the other - real suicide bombers often assume this pose in videos they make before staging attacks.
|  An exhibition showing artists impressions of the suicide bombing at the Jerusalem Sbarro restaurant, to mark the first anniversary of the Al Aqsa Intifada at the university in the West Bank city of Nablus. (Photo: Reuters) |
"Our message from this exhibition to our people is that the occupiers will suffer as long as we are under occupation," said Ala Hamedan, one of the organizers.
"To the Israeli people: If you leave the occupied territories, you will not suffer and you will not see blood anymore," he said.
Twenty-one Palestinians have blown themselves up in suicide attacks in the past year, killing more than 50 people and wounding hundreds. Hamas, along with Islamic Jihad, have carried out the bombings.
Among Palestinians, only a minority supported suicide attacks before the current uprising began last September. However, recent polls have shown that a majority support such attacks.
In another part of the exhibit, one room pays tribute to three Hamas leaders killed in targeted attacks by Israeli troops. Three open graves surrounded by candles hold white coffins for Jamal Mansour, Jamal Salim and Salah Darwazeh, all senior Hamas figures in Nablus.
The exhibit also includes a large rock in front of a mannequin wearing the black hat, black jacket and black trousers typically worn by ultra-Orthodox Jews. A recording from inside the rock calls out: "O believer, there is a Jewish man behind me. Come and kill him."
Looking at the exhibits, economics student Ghadir Haddad, 19, said she identified with the displays.
"This exhibition shows the reality we live in. Suicide bombings here, killings there," she said. "I'm very happy because, as they kill and torture us, they are also killed and tortured."
Haaretz Daily (English)
In the memory of 5 Schevischorder Family members killed in the Attack
The Martyr Strategy / Jeffrey Goldberg (9.7.01)
The following are excerpts from a recent issue of The New Yorker:
".A recent poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion found that seventy-six percent of Palestinian respondents approved of suicide bombings that targeted Israelis. And Palestinian religious leaders have for some time been praising the virtues of suicide in the service of their cause.The attacks have also won support in the wider Arab world.
"In a column published in May in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Usbu (and disseminated by the Middle East Research Institute, in Washington, D.C.), the writer Amru Nasif called for mass suicide attacks against Israelis, and volunteered himself for a suicide mission. 'Let us do some mathematical calculations,' he wrote. 'Two hundred and fifty Palestinians have signed up for martyrdom operations, and it is not impossible to raise this number to a thousand throughout the Arab world. The average harvest of each act of martyrdom is ten dead and fifty wounded. Thus a thousand acts of martyrdom would leave the Zionists with at least ten thousand dead fifty thousand wounded.' Nasif also pleaded with Allah to let him "become a shahhed" and grant him the "honor of reaping as great a harvest as possible of Israeli lives."
Quotes: PA TV Broadcasts call for weapons to slaughter Jews
The following items were broadcast on PA TV, not live, but after editing.
Palestinian kids perform a suicide bombing play in Gaza
Kids, as young as 10, participated in a memorial ceremony which took place in Gaza last weekend. The kids performed a play dressed as suicide-bombers. The demonstration was organized by the deadly Islamic Jihad in memory for three Palestinian kids who had recently died.
The demonstration began with 15 kids, all at the age of 10 or less, performing a play about suicide bombing in Israel. One of the kids was dressed as a suicide bomber - he had a black mask on his face, and he wore a suicide-bomb belt, made of aluminum paper. He and the rest of the kids sang "we will die for Allah (god)".
Another kid lay down in a box that looked like a coffin, which had the Israeli flag on top of it. Young girls also took part in the play and one of them held an Semi-Automatic weapon and one of her friends shouted into the microphone "rise up the flag of Jihad! (holy war)".
Leaders of Islamic Jihad have rejected the accusations of child abuse by saying "the Islamic nation and the Palestinian people, from children to the elderly, are willing to sacrifice themselves for the land."
Fadel Abu-Hayen, a child psychiatrist from Gaza, says that the participation of youngsters in such demonstrations is psychologically very detrimental to these children. Instead of being taught peace and coexietnce they are brian washed from an early age into believing violence is the answer, into believing they must kill Jews, and into believing their sole purpose in life is be a suicide bomber. "It makes them fear and they become more aggressive", he summarized.
Violence and the Peace Process in the Palestinian Media
Curses for Rabin on his Memorial Day
Columnist 'Atallah Abu Subh Ph'D, writes in the Hamas weekly, Al-Risala, "...To Yitzhak Rabin: On your memorial day they turned you into a myth. But I say: 'Let Allah condemn you to hell.' You have been a murderer, a spiller of blood and a racist. You are from amongst the first. replete with animosity and rot to your bones. The make-up that is put on our faces in order [for us to] see you through - is rotten.and even if it is fastened with nails - we will remove it in disgust, no matter how long it takes. We are confident that whatever was built on a lie - remains a lie.' To conclude, I say: '[let] Allah's curse be upon you in both this world and the Hereafter."
Praise for Usama bin Laden
Deputy Head of the Islamic Movement in Israel writes in the Movement's weekly, under the title "Usama [bin Laden] and Shamel [Basayev], against the Drunken and the Base:"[1] "The US was confident that it would 'clean the world of terrorists' according to its own interpretation for those who demand the right and defend their people and homeland. But lo and behold, she is surprised by those who aim the arrows at her and tell her 'you are the defender of terrorism and every oppression in the world.'
'The injustice and violence are under your robe,' Bin Laden tells the base American president Clinton, Hillary's husband and Monica's lover. 'You are terrorist number one in the world, you who killed thousands of Iraqis with your missiles and daily bombings and starved hundreds of thousands of children to death with your siege of Iraq. How dare you [pretend] to grant vouchers of honesty [to others] and classify people into terrorists who should be killed. and those who behave properly and should be rewarded?"
Calls for Martyrdom
Palestinian Authority (PA) Deputy Minister of Culture, Yahya Yakhlaf, in a commemoration ceremony of the Kufr Qasem massacre of 1956 said: "...What took place in Kufr Qasem [43 years ago] is repeated [these days] in new ways... The land plundering policy [of Israel] is still the practical application of Zionism [while] defending the land and martyrdom [Istishhad] are the practical application of [Palestinian] national [commitment]..."[2]
Former leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh 'Abdallah Nimr Darwish, at the same event said: "...The [Israeli] attack on the land... gives the attacked the right to fight against it, [while] the [Israeli] attack on the people gives them the right to choose martyrdom [Shahada]..."[3]
References to the "Armed Struggle"
Abu Ali Mustafa, Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP] - who was recently allowed into the PA by Israel, stated:"...Our right to struggle is a legitimate right and we will apply all forms of struggle and adhere to our principles and to our people's historical rights. The PFLP [will not] give up the 'Armed Struggle' alternative..."[4]
Palestinian Legislative Council Chairman, Ahmad Qurei', [aka "Abu 'Alaa"], during a visit to China stated: "...Either [we achieve] a just peace that will guaranty the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people, including [the] Return, self determination, and the establishment of an independent [Palestinian] state with Jerusalem as its capital - or there will be no peace but [rather] a return to the struggle in all its forms."[5]
[Israeli-Arab] Knesset member Muhammad Baraka stressed the need to devise a strategy of combat on the ground, in order to enter the final status negotiations [in a better position]. He said, "...The Palestinian people cannot enter these negotiations on the basis of the [present] balance of power, because with this balance of power - we [are sure] to lose. [Therefore], we must establish an active balance of power on the ground..."[6]
Interview with a PA Minister
Following are excerpts from an interview given by PA Jerusalem Affairs Minister, Feisal Al-Husseini to the weekly Al-Sharq Al-Awsat:
"Al-Husseini: The Palestinians must again begin to fight on the ground [against] the settlement [activity]... Barak will not stop without struggle on the ground.
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: What do you mean [by] 'fighting on the ground'?
"Al-Husseini: It means that the public [should] go into the streets to clash with the Israelis, in order to defend its property. The Israelis should know that any piece of land that they take will bring about a clash...
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: But such a clash may cause the whole situation to blow-up.
"Al-Husseini: If it does - it will be Barak's responsibility, because he is the one who took control of the lands, counting on Palestinian lack of reaction.
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: You are not worried about the implications [of such an explosion] on the entire peace process?
"Al-Husseini:: The peace process is not a Palestinian interest, but rather an Israeli and international interest. Therefore, it is unreasonable that we should pay all of the cost. Either the Israelis pay a real price or they do not want peace."[7]
Muslim Clergy Voice Claims to Jerusalem and the Need for Jihad
Sheikh 'Ikrimeh Sabri, the PA appointed mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine, in the Friday sermon in the Al-Aqsa mosque [November 5, 1999] stated: "...The entire Islamic nation has to act to terminate the Israeli occupation of the holy city and strengthen in it the presence of the Murabitun [Muslim warriors holding the front lines]. It is the religious [Islamic] duty [Fardh 'Ein] today, of each and every Muslim male and female...
Both east and west Jerusalem belong to the Arabs and Muslims because it is a Waqf land. Our properties in west Jerusalem are more than 70% of its territory and Israelis do not in fact have any land in Palestine..."[8]
"Hamas" leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, in a message to a Muslim gathering in Jenin, celebrating the prophet's ascension to heaven, according to the Islamic tradition, stated: "...On this anniversary we renew our commitment to Jihad until the land of Palestine is liberated, [for] it is a holy and Waqf land that cannot be surrendered..."[9]
[1] Al-Haqq wa Al-Hurriyya, November 6, 1999
[2] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 7, 1999
[3] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 7, 1999
[4] Fasl Al-Maqal, November 5, 1999
[5] Al-Ayyam, September 24 1999
[6] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 7, 1999
[7] Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, October 24, 1999
[8] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 6, 1999
[9] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 6, 1999
Hamas Martyr's Memorial Hosted By PA School
In a speech delivered by phone to a Hamas gathering that was convened last Friday in the Palestinian Authority Al-'Adawiya High-school in Tulkarm, Head of the Hamas Politibureau, Khaled Mash'al, stated:
"Hamas has tens of martyrs who are willing to carry out attacks against Israeli targets. An operation of such Martyrs exceeds that of Arab armies who fought the Hebrew state. The importance of the weapon of such martyrs is no less than the importance of nuclear weapons."
"These initiatives and proposals [Mitchel's and Tenet's] are only meant to save Tel-Aviv and its Premier Sharon, after the rope of these Martyrs has tightened on his neck. They are only meant to deal with Israel's security, not with the Palestinian people's rights."
"The ceasefire that was declared [by Arafat] is not accepted by Hamas neither in terms of principles nor considering the reality. In terms of principles what happens in the occupied territories is not [a clash] between two armies and therefore the principle of ceasefire does not apply to it. Also, it is not mutual violence. Rather, it is legitimate activity of the Palestinian people to defend itself against the aggression of the occupation."
"Realistically, the Intifada continues and will continue. It did not stop because there is a consensus amongst the Palestinian people on all its factions to endorse the option of struggle and Intifada until all of the goals of the Palestinian people are achieved [namely]: the liberation of the land, and the expulsion of the occupation."
"The martyrs of Hamas are ready to carry out their duty and Sharon has no where to hide but to go."(1)
The PA organ Al-Hayat Al-Jadida published an invitation to join the gathering. The invitation mentioned that the gathering is convened to commemorate and honor the two martyrs of the Al-Qassam Brigades, Ahmad Umar Alayan and Mahmoud Ahmad Marmash. The invitation specified the location of the gathering in the PA high-school.(2)
Little children holding weapons participated in the gathering as well as future suicide bombers with their white garments and bandanas. Hamas activists distributed amongst the participants at the gathering posters of the last 10 martyrs in suicide operations.
Endnotes:
(1) Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 24, 2001.
(2) Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 21, 2001.
Dramatic Increase in Violent Broadcasts on PA TV
In the last 24 hours there has been a marked increase in the volume of violent clips that are being broadcast on PA TV.
Here are some of the video clips' lyrics:
There are repeated components in this clips: pictures of Israeli soldiers committing violent acts: kicking or hitting men, women and children; shooting at rioters and throwing tear gas grenades; Graphic pictures of Palestinians wounded of killed in violence. The pictures include close-up photographs of dead and wounded, of hospitalized children, funerals, bitter crying, screaming, and fearful children and elders; Scenes of Palestinians who are rioting and fighting with Israeli soldiers including rock throwing, throwing of fire bombs, etc. In many pictures the emphasis is on the activity of the masses in the riots, especially that of children.
Some of the clips are staged, and actors take part in them. In one of the clips a child is seen throwing a stone that shatters the Israeli flag. Young viewers are taught that their rocks have significant power. In another clip subtitles are depicting Israeli soldiers' thoughts portraying them as sadists wanting to kill children.
Even Palestinian crosswords reject Israel
By Jonathan Krashinsky, Palestinian Media Watch
As part of our ongoing examination of Palestinian society and culture, PMW yesterday published a report on crossword puzzles that appear in the Palestinian daily newspapers. Enclosed is the Jerusalem Post story. The PMW report was also reported in Maariv, and PMW director was interviewed on 4 radio programs.
Question: What is the well-known port city of Palestine?
If you answered "Gaza," you'd be wrong - it's Haifa, according to crossword puzzles that appear in Palestinian media sources routinely enjoyed by Palestinians of all ages, including children. In fact, going by the clues these puzzles offer, there is no Israel at all - from Metulla to Eilat, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan, with the eternal united capital of Al-Quds (Jerusalem), it's all Palestine.
The normally innocuous medium of crossword puzzles seems to have become just one more battleground in the long struggle between Israel and the Palestinians, according to a report released yesterday by Palestinian Media Watch. The puzzles which appear, notes the report, are full of rejectionist and antisemitic "clues" - and not only since the outbreak of the "Aksa intifada."
"It is important to note that these problematic 'messages' are not published in the Palestinian Authority newspapers in the aftermath of violence or during times of particular tension in the Israeli-Palestinian relationship," reads the report. "Rather, these have appeared over the past number of years as a routine part of Palestinian culture and amusement, reflecting normative Palestinian thinking and expectations."
The report cites numerous clues with a deeply antagonistic message against Jews and Israel, including identifying Yad Vashem as "commemorating the Holocaust and the lies," the Jewish trait as "treachery," and Jerusalem as "the Palestinian capital from the dawn of history until eternity."
Moreover, with the exception of Tel Aviv and its immediate environs, every major city and geographical feature in Israel is identified as Palestinian. This includes numerous references to Lod, Safed, and Jerusalem as "occupied" by the Israelis, as well as including Ashkelon, Jaffa, Acre, Caesarea, Haifa, and geographical features such as Lake Kinneret, Mount Meron, and the Negev desert in the same category.
"We have observed this taking place since we started following the Palestinian media some five years ago," said Itamar Marcus, director of the organization. "This cultural expression is in many ways more significant than the statements of Palestinian leaders, since it makes us aware of the deep beliefs of the Palestinians. In all the crossword puzzles we've seen, we've never found reference to any place in Israel as Israeli. Every place is called Palestine.
"This isn't incitement... it is an honest expression of beliefs."
Marcus, who intends to extend the Watch's study to all aspects of cultural expression reflected in the media, criticized Israel's leaders for ignoring a growing process of radicalization of Palestinian opinion. "I think all the Israeli governments have made a tremendous mistake in ignoring what has been called incitement for all these years," said Marcus. "By now, it's no longer incitement - it has been absorbed and adopted, and it now forms a large part of the Palestinian national consciousness. In many respects, we are much further from peace between the people than we were before the signing of the Oslo accords."
Official Palestinian Authority Daily Glorify Suicide Bombing
Today's official PA daily glorifies suicide bombers, in its caricature and in an opinion piece which calls them: "the salt of the earth...the most honorable among us."
Caricature in Palestinian Authority official daily
Text reads: "The hero of the Naharia [suicide] attack is from the Abu Sinan village in Palestine '48" [Al Hayat Al Jadida, Sept. 11, 2001]
Note: Many Palestinians refuse to recognize Israel's existence and routinely refer to Israel as "Palestine 48" - a shortened version of "Palestine occupied in 1948."
Also note: The suicide attack being praised was carried out two days ago. Three people were killed and nearly a hundred wounded.
From column in Palestinian Authority official daily
"The suicide bombers of today are the noble successors of their noble predecessors...the Lebanese suicide bombers, who taught the US Marines a tough lesson in [Lebanon]...and then, with no preconditions, they threw the last of the remaining enemy [Israeli] soldiers out of the [security] zone. These suicide bombers are the salt of the earth, the engines of history...They are the most honorable [people] among us..."
[Al Hayat Al Jadida - Official Palestinian Authority daily, Sept. 11, 2001]
Rape, Murder, Violence and War for Allah Against the Jews:
Summer 2000 on Palestinian Television (SEPTEMBER 11, 2000)
Palestinian Authority [PA] television broadcasting of violence and hate has reached unprecedented levels this summer and has created an atmosphere of the eve of outbreak of war. Palestinian television is currently broadcasting a systematic campaign that negates the peace process and reconciliation. Included are abundant violence clips, the depiction of Israeli soldiers as rapists and murderers, call for eternal war against the Jews, military marches, libelous accusations, denial of Israel's right to exist, and education of Palestinian children to see all of Israel as stolen "Palestine". These inciting broadcasts appear frequently each day, beginning with afternoon children's programming and ending with the closing of the programs at night.
False accusations against Israel and Israeli soldiers and the presentation of Israelis as murderers have long been regular subject matter of the Palestinian media. This week on "Panorama", Palestinian television's cultural program, a brutal scene from a Palestinian movie was shown in which Israeli soldiers throw a Palestinian girl on top of their jeep and rape her, and then murder her parents. (See part 1).
The messages on the religious broadcasts by the official Palestinian Authority religious leadership this summer, show that the religious worldview of the Palestinian Authority is identical to the principles of the Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority religious leadership, Islam's war with the Jews is eternal, the peace agreements are temporary, and Allah will inevitably liquidate the state of Israel. (See part 2).
One category of the heightened incitement that can be measured is the increase in quantity and heightening of the severity of violence clips on PA TV. As an established daily routine, clips showing violence against Israel and the Israeli army are shown daily between regular programming on Palestinian television. By using pictures of riots from different time periods, which have undergone careful editing, Israeli soldiers are presented as cruel and murderous while the Palestinians, especially the children, are presented as heroic fighters. Broadcasting these clips creates a perpetual warlike atmosphere. The hypothetical Israeli equivalent would be were Israeli television to broadcast daily old footage of suicide bombings. In recent weeks PA TV is showing many times the usual number of these clips.
In addition, Palestinian television began broadcasting this week a clip called "Where are the Millions [Masses]" which in the past has been identified as a call to go to the streets and riot. Over the last week this clip has been shown every single day, following a number of years during which our research staff has not seen it at all. (See part 3).
This week the new PA schoolbooks were presented to the press and Israel still does not appear on a single map in any schoolbook while its place is marked as "Palestine". This education of children to deny Israel's existence is reinforced regularly on children's television programs in which the entire land of Israel is presented as stolen Palestine. (See part 4).
False accusations such as those of Suha Arafat, who said that Israel attacks Palestinians with gas, are heard incessantly by officials in the Palestinian Authority. Recently, the PA has been reporting that Israel is distributing drugs in order to hurt Palestinian youth, together with other false accusations. (See part 5).
This paper will present a number of representative examples of the above themes that have been appearing this summer in the Palestinian Authority's official TV broadcasts from Ramallah.
Contents
1. Israelis presented as murderers and rapists.
1. Israelis presented as rapists and murderers
2. Islam's eternal religious war against the Jewish people.
3. Encouragement of violence in clips and praise for terrorists
4. Children's Education: "Palestine" -Metulla to Eilat - is temporarily in chains.
5. Libelous accusations
1. Libelous accusations against Israel and Israeli soldiers are fundamental elements in the Palestinian media. This week on the "Panorama" cultural show, a horrific scene from a Palestinian movie was shown in which Israeli soldiers rape a girl and murder her parents. In the scene Israeli paratroopers wearing red berets torment a Palestinian family. A soldier conducts a search and when he does not find anything the soldiers take the girl, drag her to the hood of the jeep and rape her. The parents try to resist and after the rape the father is shot and the mother is stabbed to death. The Israeli soldier calmly wipes the blood off the knife into his palm and rubs the blood with his finders. The girl is rolled off the jeep to the ground, apparently, she is also murdered. Throughout the scene, other soldiers are shown smiling and laughing. In the end the soldiers leave in the jeep flying an Israeli flag. (1)
2. Palestinian television broadcasts archive scenes from the Intifada, which have been edited to present a distorted picture. During a day of special broadcasting upon Yasser Arafat's return from Camp David, a clip was broadcast that included an Israeli soldier shooting followed by a girl falling to the ground. The viewer concludes that the girl was shot in the back by the soldier. However, a slow viewing clearly shows that there is no connection between the two scenes. The message of the clip: Israeli soldiers shoot children in the back. (2)
3. Throughout the summer vacation, summer camps were held to give the children semi-military training and inculcate them with anti-Israeli ideology. Messages to the children included the presentation of Israel in general and Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria specifically as murderers. In one summer camp, girls performed a skit that was shown on Palestinian TV. The skit begins with a father talking with his boy Salah out in the field:
Father (to Muhammad): ".What is the goal of the settlers on your land?"
Muhammad:"They want my land that I have plowed and reaped."
Father: "These dogs, the settlers take but they don't give."
The father is then left alone in the field. A group of armed settlers enters, one of them dressed as an Israeli soldier. The father says, "Get off my land! Get off my land! Stop taking other people's property!"
The settlers wave a piece of paper in the air and say, "Listen! It says on this paper that this land is ours!" The father shouts, "This is my property!" and rips up the piece of paper. "I plowed it and reaped it". Pushing and hitting ensue. The father tells them, "Get off my land! I plowed and reaped it." The "settlers" push him to the ground, shoot him and run away. The son Salah returns and says to his father, "Father, Father, what have they done to you? Why are you laying on the ground?" The dying father says to his son, "My son Salah, guard this land because the settlers want to take the land that I have plowed." The show ends.
Presentation of Israelis in general and of settlers specifically as enemies and murderers of Palestinians and as an existential threat to the Palestinians, is one of the fundamentals of the Palestinian Authority's education. This gained impetus in informal educational frameworks throughout the summer. (3)
4. The Palestinians even make use of the classic anti-Semitic libel of blaming the Jews for Jesus' murder. On the weekly interview show "Good Morning Jerusalem" a Palestinian artist presented his new paintings, among them a picture of Jesus with two Israeli soldiers standing at his sides. The artist explains:
". Our struggle today against the other (Israel) is an eternal one. It can be said that it started 2,000 years ago and continues until today. I demonstrate this though the figure of Jesus, who came to the world with a message of justice and the other (Israel) side did what they did to him. The Palestinian demands that same right and is being treated in the same manner. In this painting I demonstrate the following idea: the Israeli soldiers are wearing army uniforms while Jesus has nothing except for the truth. When they searched him at the entrance to Jerusalem, they found a stone, a piece of bread and fish and he was cuffed. This is the Palestinian from the beginning of the struggle until its end - if it will ever end." (4)
This artist's depiction is consistent with the Palestinian Authority's official position defining Jesus himself as a "Palestinian". In an article from the Palestinian Authority's official newspaper about the city of Nazareth, Jesus is defined as the first Palestinian murdered by Jews.
The headline: "The city in which the Jews murdered the first of its Palestinian sons." The article states: ".the Jews tried to attack it (Nazareth) many times and established settlements there. But the Palestinian people of Nazareth are still keeping their Palestinian customs and traditions. The Palestinian language is still spoken to the point that when speaking with them you can feel that time and the Zionist occupation will not be able to change the face of the Palestinian Nazareth, and that it still has not forgotten nor will it forget her first son (Jesus), which the Jews betrayed and handed over to the emperor and insisted on his killing. Inevitably the savior will one day come to Nazareth to return the joy." (5)
Note that the official PA daily the Israeli city of Nazareth is presented as a temporarily conquered Palestinian city.
2. Islam's eternal war religious against the Jewish People
Every Friday, Palestinian television broadcasts a sermon from a mosque. The Palestinian Authority's religious leaders' sermons express the same opinions as the Hamas.
1. Teaching that Israel's existence is forbidden according to Islamic law by Palestinian Authority religious leader, this summer:
"Muslim Palestine is one and cannot be divided. There is no difference between Haifa and Nablus, Lod and Ramallah, Jerusalem and Nazareth or Gaza and Ashkelon. Palestinian is Wakf land (Muslim religious trust) that belongs to Muslims throughout the world and no one has the right to give it up or to forsake. Whoever does this is a traitor to the trust and is nothing but a criminal whose end shall be in hell." [Al Aksa mosque. Sheik Yusef Abu Sneina] (6)
2. Israeli-Palestinian relations are defined as a holy war, and the Jewish people are seen as the enemies of Islam. The following are the words of a Palestinian Authority religious preacher, Dr. Ahmed Yusuf Abu Halabiya:
"We the Palestinian nation, our fate from Allah is to be the edge of the sword in the war against the Jews until the resurrection of the dead, as the prophet Muhammad said: `the resurrection of the dead will not arrive until you will fight the Jews and kill them.' We the Palestinians are the edge of the sword in this issue and in this campaign, whether or not we want this. All of the agreements being agreed are temporary." (7)
"Jerusalem, Palestine and Al Aksa, the land and its surroundings that Allah had blessed, will remain the focus of the struggle between truth and falsehood, between the Jews and non-Jews over this holy land. It does not matter how many agreements will be signed or how many contracts will be confirmed. The truth is in the Koran, which is verified in the words of the prophet Mohammed, that the deciding battle will be in Jerusalem and its surroundings: `Resurrection of the dead will not arrive until you fight the Jews.'" (8)
"Oh our Arab brothers. oh our Muslim brothers. don't leave the Palestinians alone in war against the Jews.even if it has been decreed upon us to be the sharp edge of the sword. Jerusalem, Palestine and Al Aksa .will remain the center of the battle of truth and falsehood, between the Jews and non-Jews." (9)
"My brothers who are believers, let me take this opportunity, while speaking about the Jews, about their cunning ways, their heresy, their jealousy and their attempts to get you to lose your way and to distance you from your rights. Let us take this opportunity, to appreciate the courageous position of the negotiators.we remind them.that Palestine, Jerusalem and Al Aksa are a holy debt to the Muslims, Arabs and us especially, the Palestinian nation. They belong to all of the generations, not only to a specific generation. The generation that is not able to restore its rights must provide the next generations with this opportunity. Through adhering to this right and principle and not forgoing this right until the next generations come, in order to carry out what we have failed to do today, against the enemies of Allah." (10)
"Palestine. causes the Jews sleeplessness at night, causes sleeplessness to Allah's enemies throughout the world. They want to cure this abscess called Palestine, Jerusalem and Al Aksa and that is called the beloved and blessed Palestine. Jerusalem is a symbol of the Muslim's unity and it is a symbol to their strength and to the Muslim people's Jihad forever." (11)
The Palestinian Authority's religious leader rejects any agreement with the Jewish nation, as a message to the peace talks negotiators:
"No one, no Arab, Palestinian or Muslim is allowed to forgo one grain of soil of the land of Palestine, Jerusalem and Al Aksa .whoever forgoes even one grain of soil will be punished for his sin, for the sins of all Palestinians, for the sins of all Arabs and for all of the Muslim's sins forever and ever." (12)
".The Jews gathered from all ends of the earth in our beloved Palestine, from Rosh Ha-Nikra in the north to Eilat in the south.from sea to river, it was all a land of Muslims." (13)
".Palestine's borders, the promised Palestine, is from the sea to the river." (14)
".Allah decreed on us in this lifetime to humiliate the Jews sooner or later." (15)
".The Muslims and Arabs must stand behind the Palestinian nation, which is the sharp edge of the sword in the war against Allah's enemies. I swear on Allah, the Jews are Islam's enemies in this life time." 16
The Palestinian Authority's leaders, often repeat their interpretation of Oslo as a temporary agreement, or as a part of the PLO's plan of stages for the liquidation of Israel. This week, Knesset member Abd Al-Malek Dahamshe was interviewed on Palestinian television. In response to a viewer who called the studio and said, "Our problem with Israel is not a problem of borders but an problem of existence", he responded: "We are exaggerating when we say `peace'.we are talking about `Hudna'." "Hudna" is an Islamic term that means a "cease-fire" agreement rather than peace.
The Hamas leader, Sheik Yassin has also recently expressed willingness for a "Hudna'" with Israel: "We are talking about "Hudna" [a cease fire] for a interval, but not about ending the struggle. And for this, a full retreat from Gaza and the West Bank must be carried out." (19)
3. Encouragement of violence in clips and praise for terrorists
The daily Palestinian television broadcasting includes clips that show violence and fighting against Israel and the Israeli army. Recently there has been an increase, both in number of broadcasts and in their severity. Likewise, there is a sharp increase in the number of pictures of dead Palestinians and others with open wounds.
There are three components to these clips:
1. Pictures of Israeli soldiers committing violent acts: kicking or hitting men, women and children; shooting at rioters and throwing tear gas grenades.
2. Graphic pictures of Palestinians wounded of killed in violence. The pictures include close-up photographs of dead and wounded, of hospitalized children, funerals, bitter crying, screaming, and fearful children and elderly.
3. Scenes of Palestinians who are rioting and fighting with Israeli soldiers including rock throwing, throwing of fire bombs, etc. In many pictures emphasis is on the activity of the masses in the riots, especially that of children.
The scenes are accompanied by marching and military songs including praise of Jihad as well as nationalistic songs. The following is a typical example of a song during the broadcast of a scene of a jail, a dismembered body and the like are being shown:
The following is another example of words that are heard during a broadcast of Israeli soldiers fighting with Palestinians:
4. The 'where are the millions' [the masses] clip has been shown every day this past week, after years of not seeing this clip at all on Palestinian television. Over the background of scenes of violence and fighting, the following song is played:
As is well known, the clip has been known in the past as a call for going out to riot in the streets.
5. One of the heroines of the Palestinian Authority is Dalal Al-Mugjrabi, a terrorist who took part of the hijacking of a bus and murder of 36 Israeli passengers in 1978. On the show `Panorama', Dr. Salah Al-Kadumi explains her importance: "Dalal is a symbol for the Palestinian nation. Through the show we transmit to the viewer the Palestinian woman's role as a fighter. as a builder of the Palestinian society. we cling to Dalal as an individual who belongs to the Palestinian consciousness." Immediately following this statement a scene is shown from a film about the terrorist in which Israelis wearing Kippot [Skull Caps] are threatening a Palestinian with a pistol, interrogating him in the cemetery in which Dalal Al-Mughrabi is buried where she appears above her grave as living. Palestinian TV often has programs like this one admiring the murderers of Israelis. (23)
4. Children's Education: "Palestine"- Metulla to Eilat - is temporarily in chains
The Palestinian Authority continues to educate its children that the entire land of Israel is "Palestine", that it belongs to the Arabs and was stolen from them in 1948. The following are three examples from children's programming on Palestinian television.
1 .In "The Birds' Garden", a program for young children, the hostess presented the children with a map of Israel including the Palestinian Authority areas. The children are taught that all of Israel is "Palestine". These are her words:
2. In another episode of "The Bird Garden", the hostess presented a similar drawing of Israel including the Palestinian Authority areas tied in chains. The following is the explanation she gave the children and the hope for the future:
A girl shouts out: "Palestine"
Hostess: "A picture of the map of Palestine with chains around it, and Allah's will, my dear ones, these chains will be freed one day and Palestine will remain ours forever."
3. A television clip that had been broadcast in the past dozens of times but stopped following complaints from Israel has been returned. The clip for children defines the entire land of Israel as "Palestine", saying that in 1948 they (the Israelis) took everything. and explains that "they" (the Israelis) changed its name. However it is still "Palestine".
The clip, called "My Homeland" opens with a group of children that are building "Palestine" with small figures. They are "building" houses and "planting" trees and the atmosphere is one of joy and happiness. These are the words to the song:
Suddenly the song stops and the music ends. There is an earthquake and all of the houses and trees fall down and the girl says in a serious and sad voice:
At the end of the clip the children present themselves by their first name and where they come from. Among them Kafar Kasem, Jerusalem, Haifa, Yaffo and other places within Israel.
The message to the Palestinian Authority's children is that Israel's creation is to be viewed as stealing Palestine." (26)
1. False accusations like that of Suha Arafat, who said that Israel used gas against the Palestinians, are heard regularly in the Palestinian Authority's official media. Israel has been recently been blamed for intentional drug distribution in order to hurt PA youth:
"The minister Intisar Al-Wazir (widow of Abu Jihad) said that her office (the Ministry for Social Affairs) provides all possible help to those fighting drugs however the Israeli authorities are working hard on bringing drugs into the Palestinian society." (27)
2. Lies are common blaming Israel for the burning of Al Aksa Mosque (21/8/1969) and for planning the building the third Temple after destroying the mosques. The following is one example:
An Australian non-Jew set the Al-Aksa mosque on fire in 1969. However the PA teaches through its schoolbooks and through its leaders that Israel stood behind the fire as part of its war against Islam. During a special program that commemorated the burning of the mosque, Sheik Ikrima Sabri, the Mufti (Islamic religious leader) of Jerusalem said:
1 Palestinian Television [PT], 31/08/00
2 [PT] 26/07/0
3 [PT] 16/07/00
4 [PT] 23/07/00
5 Al-hayat Al-Jadida 24/01/00
6 Palestinian Television [PT] 8/9/00
7 [PT] 28/07/00
8 [PT] 11/08/00
9 [PT]
10 [PT] 11/08/00
11 [PT]
12 [PT]
13 [PT]
14 [PT]
15 [PT]
16 [PT]
18 [PT] 1/09/00
19 [PT] Al-Hayat Al-Jadida 24/07/00
20 Palestinian Television [PT] 26/07/00
21 [PT] 23/07/00
22 [PT] 10/09/00
23 [PT] 31/08/00
24 [PT] 28/08/00
25 [PT] 25/07/00
26 [PT] 11/09/00
27 [PT] 23/07/00
28 [PT] 11/08/00
29 [PT] 21/08/00
| Link & Sources: |
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Memri Palestinian Media Watch One Jerusalem |
