Children: Victims of the Hate Industry

March 31, 2008

According to Islamic tradition, a martyr (shaheed) is someone who had sacrificed his life on the battlefield for the sake of Allah, usually against a superior force. The martyr can be male (shaheed) or female (shaheeda). The prophet Muhammad is reported to have said when a Muslim dies as a martyr as described, his corpse is not washed and he is to be buried as he fell, even if his clothes are torn and bloodstained. That is because on Judgment Day, the stains will emit an especially pleasing odor.
According to the tradition, all corpses, including those of shaheeds, must be buried as quickly as possible. The corpse must not be washed to preserve its sanctity. However, at least the face is often washed when the corpse is brought to the hospital.
Islamic burial and mourning traditions stated that the corpse has no value. For that reason, after a partner’s death, a husband may not touch his wife, nor a wife her husband because their marriage is no longer considered valid.
According to the tradition, immediately after death, the Muslim soul leaves the body, rises in the air and disappears to an unknown location. The soul of the shaheed, on the other hand, rises straight to heaven in the stomach of a green bird. It then descends to the earth and reenters the corpse, then rises again heavenward forever. From that moment on, the corpse has no importance.
Participation in a funeral, whether of a man or woman, but especially of a shaheed, is a profound emotional experience, which sometimes makes participants feel they must touch the corpse. That happens when the dead person was of high status, such as a leader considered a shaheed at his death, or a shaheed who fell in battle. However, as noted, touching the corpse is not quoted in Islamic tradition. (http://www.terrorism-info.org.il)

The same article published photographs of children playing. Instead of backyard games of hide-and-seek, baseball, or basketball, these very young children were handcuffed and blindfolded, pretending to be Palestinian terrorists caught by Israel security. One child was chained. These dramatic events exploit children to be an active part of the terrorists’ message of hatred towards Israel. It promotes violence and murder as acts of heroism. It lays the seeds of ambition for the next generation to continue acts of violence and bloodshed despite international agreements and peace treaties.

Cartoon Terrorism

Cartoons are a prime source of terrorism’s propaganda. Popular cartoonist Omayya Joha is at the forefront of the process. Her cartoons highlight a hatred of Israel and lampoons suggested negotiations with the Jews. In a TV segment called “Daily Cartoon,” just days after the Annapolis Conference in November 2007, cartoons appeared that continue the same old theme.

Cartoon A: A crying child dressed in rags looks at a well-dressed Palestinian child crossing the road with his father. The sad child says, “Mom told me that when Dad gets out of the Jews’ jail, he will take me to school, and I’ll be wearing nicer, more expensive clothes.”

Cartoon B: A Palestinian boy writes a letter to his father in jail, while his sister holds the father’s photograph. Both appear sad. The child writes, “Dear Dad, it makes me sad that you’re on a hunger strike in jail the way our teachers are striking…when will you come back to us, dad? When will you come back?”

Schoolbook Indoctrination

The education of children in the Palestinian territories has been a cause for concern for a long time. Certainly schoolbook anomalies were frequent when former PLO leader Yasser Arafat was alive. Research by the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) shows how the campaign continues.

“Palestine’s war ended with a catastrophe that is unprecedented in history, when the Zionist gangs stole Palestine and expelled its people from their cities, their villages, their lands, and their houses and established the State of Israel.” (Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and Criticism, Grade 12, p.104)

The latest schoolbooks on geography teach Israel does not exist at all. “Palestine” is described as a special state with water access to both the Mediterranean and Red Seas, a situation possible if Israel is removed (Physical and Human Geography, grade 12. p. 105). Likewise, the size of the “state of Palestine” is said to be more than 10,000 sq. km. [3,861 sq. mi.], which can only be true if Israel does not exist. The full West Bank and Gaza Strip, totals 6,220 sq. km. [2,401 sq. mi.]. (Physical Geography and Human Geography, grade 12, p. 107). This teaching lays the foundation for a continued effort “to wipe Israel off the map.”

Palestinian educators define all of Israel’s cities, regions, and natural resources as part of “Palestine.”

a) “There are holy sites to Islam and Christianity in Jerusalem…Nazareth, and in other Palestinian cities.” (Physical Geography and Human Geography, grade 12, p.143)

b) An Israeli Arab poet and former member of the Knesset (parliament), Tawfiq Ziyad, wrote a poem about his pride in remaining in the Israeli cities of Lod, Ramle, and the Galilee region; yet, the schoolbook cites him as having lived in “Palestine.” (Arabic Language and the Science of Language, grade 12, p. 77)

c) Israeli cities are presented as Palestinian cities suffering under Israel and longing for “return” of Palestinians. Haifa and Jaffa are Israeli cities seen as part of Tel Aviv. The Palestinian demand that Israel accept millions of residents of refugee camps as part of a settlement is one of the chief obstacles to peace.

PMW analysts made this alarming comment: “Based on previous reports, not a single map in the entire Palestinian Authority educational system labels any territory as ‘Israel,’ even in the pre-1967 armistice lines.” In an educational sense, Israel has already been “wiped off the map.”

Youth are taught Zionism is imperialism. The plan of the Zionist is to “expel” and “exterminate” the Arabs according to Palestinian textbooks. One quoted text reads: “In July 1922, the League of Nations established the British Mandate, which stole from the Palestinian inhabitants their right to manage their country’s matters…From then, the immigration of Jews to Palestine was made easier, in order to turn it into a Jewish state, following the expulsion of its inhabitants or their extermination. Faced with this Zionist Imperialist plan, Palestine’s residents decided to initiate struggle and Jihad with their money, their lives, and their pens…The struggle against the Mandate’s government and against Zionism lasted until the Nakba [literally “The Catastrophe”] on May 15, 1948 [Israeli statehood].” (Arabic Language, Analysis, Literature and Criticism, grade 12., pp 103–104)

Just to confirm the premeditated misinformation being planted into the leaders of tomorrow, Israel is compared to South Africa and Zimbabwe where the latest textbooks claim white rule still exists. “Colonial Imperialism in modern times is centered in Palestine, South Africa and Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). Their existence presents a fateful challenge to the peoples, upon who they (the imperialists) impose themselves, in order to gain land through every means, since land represents the physical base for settlements, just as the settlers are their human base.” (History of the Arabs and the World in the 20th Century, grade 12., p. 6)

“Palestine will be liberated by its men and women, its young one and its elderly” (Arabic Language and the Science of Language, grade 12, p. 44). The conflict with Israel is defined in religious terms as “ribat for Allah”–one of the actions related to jihad for Allah, and it means: being found in areas where there is a struggle between Muslims and their enemies” (Islamic Education, grade 12, p.86). Ribat requires the act of defending the borders of Islam. By using ribat, children are being primed to maintain violent contact with Israel and the Jewish people.

PMW explains: “Beyond teaching that Islam glorifies their continuous ribat, the (school) books teach that international law determines that fighting ‘colonial rule, foreign rule, and racist regimes…is a legitimate struggle.’” These three categories to be fought are all terms used in the schoolbooks to define Israel (History of the Arabs and the World in the 20th Century, Grade 12, p. 6). PMW provides another quote: ”Any attempt to suppress the struggle against colonial and foreign rule and racist regimes is considered as contrary to the UN convention and the declaration of principles of international law.” PMW comments, “According to this, any country fighting Palestine terror would be violating international law.

Well-meaning nations provide large amounts of money to provide the children in the Palestinian territories with a worthwhile education. Hopefully, Tony Blair, the envoy to the Middle East and others appointed to assist the Arabs with their infrastructure program will go beyond rhetoric and reveal and confront the truth easily discovered by reading the latest textbooks provided for the children.

By Ron Ross, BFP Israel Mosaic Radio Host

Photo Credit: www.terrorism-info.org.il