The culture of hatred in Palestinian Education and Media

Quotes by Parents and Children

Palestinian Authority spokesperson Hanan Ashrawi rebuked NBC journalists when they challenged that Palestinians are teaching their children to become murderers, stating that only monsters would do such things. Despite real resistance among some Palestinians to seeing their children participate in the violence, the PA is achieving increasing success in inciting hate within its people.

“I’m prepared to sacrifice my six children,” said Mahmoud Sumara’s mother, Halima. “I’m serious. I don’t mind if I lose them if that brings back al-Aqsa...”
(NBC News)

“We meet everyday and decide. We just want to get Israeli’s. I want to kill them.”
(15-year-old Mahmoud Sumara on NBC News)

“I pray that G-d will choose them (to be martyrs)”
(says a father of a 13-year-old to journalist Chris Hedges of the NY Times,Oct. 29, 2000)

“I am happy that he [her 13-year-old son] has been martyred. I will sacrifice all my sons and daughters (12 in all) to Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem.”
(a mother to Sam Kiley of the London Times)

“If I had 20 children I would send them all down (to fight), I wouldn’t spare any of them. We’re not scared of death.”
(Taman Sabeh, a 50-year-old woman in Nablus, as quoted by Associated Press)

“I’m happy to die for my country, as long as a couple of Israeli soldiers die, too.”
(12-year-old schoolboy from Beit Jalah, Samir al-Mahari, tells the Jerusalem Post, Nov. 13, 2000)

“I wrote my name on my arm so that I will be identified after I become a martyr.”
(Palestinian child reports to media)

“When I become a martyr, give out kannafa (traditional cake).”
Wajdi Hatab, age 14 tells his classmates days before being killed.

Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 9th, 2000

“My purpose is not to be wounded, but something more sublime – martyrdom.”
(Ramahan Sahadi Abed Rabbah, age 13, tells PA paper Al-Hayat on Nov. 8th, 2000)

A mother speaking about another mother who had children fighting:
“The danger of injury to the boy Tzabar Ahkaram, 18, paralysis and permanent disability, just added to his mother’s determination to encourage her sons to participate in the intifada riots…the fact of his injury by a live bullet did not cause her to mourn. She said she had previously lost her older son Iyyad.”
(PA paper Al-Ayyam Nov. 1st, 2000)

“We are all potential martyrs for Jerusalem and the homeland.”

quote by wounded 11-year-old boy from Jabalya refugee camp
(PA paper Al-Hayat, Nov. 6th, 2000)

Palestinian Authority School Textbooks

Many of the activities of the Palestinian Authority are supported by international aid, much of which comes from the United States, and supervised by the World Bank. $299 million for the years 1995-1998 for PEACEFUL education was donated. Much of this money resulted in the PA’s publishing of false and hate-filled material towards Israel and Jews as is presented in the following quotations. Palestinian Authority school texts actively portray the Jew as the evil force in their world. Zionism is equated to Nazism and modern events are misrepresented to portray Israel and Jews the enemy of Islam and the Arabs. PA refused to let school books be checked, and the are currently in use.

“There is no alternative to destroying Jerusalem.”
(Our Country Palestine a banner found on the title page of Volume I)

“The return of the Jews to Palestine and permitting them to establish a Jewish State contradicts history…”
(Our Country Palestine from the introduction, pg. ix)

The book is dedicated to: “…those who are battling for the expulsion of the enemy from our land!”
(Our Country Palestine)

“There will be a Jihad and our country shall be freed.”
(Our Arabic Language for Fifth Grade)

“…there will be a Jihad and our country shall be freed. This is our story with the thieving conquerors. You must know, my boy, that Palestine is your grave responsibility…”
(Our Arabic Language)

“Remember: The final and inevitable result will be the victory of the Muslims over the Jews.”
(Our Arabic Language)

“Exercise: Distinguish between verb and noun clauses: ‘The land is our land and Jerusalem is ours.’”
(Our Arabic Language)

“The honorable soul has two objectives: Achieving death and honor.”

(Abd al-Rahim Mahmud’s Song of the Martyr, Sixth Grade)

“The Martyr rejoices in the paradise that Allah has prepared for him…"
(Islamic Education for Seventh Grade)

“The Jews claim that this is one of the places belonging to them and call it “The Western Wall”, but this is not so.”

(Reader and Literary Texts for Eighth Grade)

“Racism: Mankind has suffered from this evil both in ancient as well as in modern times, for, indeed, Satan has, in the eyes of many people, made their evil actions appear beautiful…Such a people are the Jews”
(Islamic Education for Eighth Grade)

“Lessons to be learned…One must beware of the Jews, for they are treacherous and disloyal.”
(Islamic Education for Ninth Grade)

“Subject for Composition: How are we going to liberate our stolen land? Make use of the following ideas: Arab unity, genuine faith in Allah, most modern weapons and ammunition, using oil and other precious natural resources as weapons in the battle for liberation.”

(Our Arabic Language for Seventh Grade)

“…Martyred Jihad fighters are the most honored people, after the Prophets…”
(Reading And Literary Texts for Tenth Grade)

“The clearest examples of racist belief and racial discrimination in the world are Nazism and Zionism.”(The Contemporary History of the Arabs and the World)

Palestinian Authority Television
The Palestinian Authority has been committed to the Peace Process for the last 7 years. Many of the following programs received funding from the International community for Peaceful Re-education.

Below are excepts from a Palestinian TV children’s show, “The Children’s Club”, aired on July 2, 1998 & February 8, 1998.

“When I wander into Jerusalem I will become a suicide bomber.” proclaims a young Palestinian, age nine or ten

“I come here to say that we will throw them to the quiet sea. Occupiers, your day is near, then we will settle our account. We will settle our claims with stones and bullets.”

An 8-year-old boy announces to the child-filled studio audience.

A 10-year-old girl declared that she wanted to “turn into a suicide warrior” in Jerusalem

“We are ready with our guns; revolution until victory; revolution until victory.” a chant of young boys with arms raised at a rally.

Other Palestinian Authority TV
Palestine television aired this on August 28th, 2000 in a program called “The Bird’s Garden” a program for young children. It depicts the land of Israel as actually being Palestine.

“Today I chose a really nice drawing for you of the map of Palestine. Lets look at it together. A drawing of Palestine. There is Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberias, Nazareth, Jerusalem…Palestine is so beautiful!

“Israel’s mean, brutal, immoral, inhuman, fascist, racist, genocidal, cleansing wars…”
(PA television, May 14, 1998)

“Jerusalem is a Palestinian Arab city, and it has no connection to Israel.”
(PA television May 24, 1998)