Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin
August 21, 2002

PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
phone: 972- 2- 625-4140 fax: 972-2- 624-2803
visit our website, click here: http://www.pmw.org.il
for further information, contact PMW Director, Itamar Marcus
material may be quoted, citing PMW as the source

Arafat tells young children to be Shahids ["Martyrs"]
By Itamar Marcus

Introduction:
PMW has repeatedly documented that the Palestinian Authority [PA] has been
pushing their children to see Shahada - Death for Allah - as something
expected of them. In a televised gathering on Sunday, Yasser Arafat himself
clearly encouraged young children to seek death, as he glorified a famous
child Shahid ["Martyr"].

In addition, he addressed the cheering and chanting auditorium full of
children as "colleagues, friends, brothers and sisters of Faris Ouda" - a 14
year old child who died in the conflict, who has been turned into a heroic
symbol by the PA. One of those children, he said, would raise the
Palestinian flag over Jerusalem. The children responded to him by combining
the Jerusalem and Shahid messages, by chanting: "Millions of Shahid's
marching to Jerusalem!"

The following is the main text of the exchange:

Arafat to children:
"Oh, children of Palestine! The colleagues, friends, brothers and sisters of
Faris Ouda [14 year old who died in the conflict]. The colleagues of this
hero represent this immense and fundamental power that is within, and it
shall be victorious, with Allah's will! One of you, a boy or a girl, shall
raise the [Palestinian] flag over the walls of Jerusalem, its mosques and
its churches...
"Onward together to Jerusalem!"
Children respond, cheering and chanting:
"Millions of Shahids marching to Jerusalem!"
[PATV August 18, 2002]

This is not the first time Arafat has expressed support for child Shahids.
He has previously made clear the importance he attaches to having dead
Palestinian children to show the world, saying the "greatest message to the
world" was child Shahids ["Martyrs"]. The following is from an interview on
PA TV in January, 2002:

Hostess:
"Mr. President, what message would you like to send to the Palestinian
people in general and, particularly, to the Palestinian children?"
Arafat:
"...The child who is grasping the stone, facing the tank; is it not the
greatest message to the world when that hero becomes a Shahid [dies for
Allah]? We are proud of them."