Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin
March 4, 2004
PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
phone: 972- 2- 625-4140 fax: 972-2- 624-2803
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PA Minister Saeb Erekat's Duplicity:
Glorify Suicide Terrorism in Arabic,Condemn it in English
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

The Palestinian Authority's (PA) chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, is the
latest PA official to demonstrate that PA leaders send one message to their
people in Arabic and an entirely different message to the world media in
English.

This week's news includes a striking example of this duplicity. Upon
hearing that three Palestinian children, aged 13, 14 and 16, were caught by
Israel on the way to a suicide mission, Erekat was quick to create the
impression for the English media that the PA opposes such actions.

"That´s absolutely unacceptable," Erekat told the Associated Press. "Our
children should have hope and a future and should not be suicide bombers.
We want them to be doctors and engineers."

The great hypocrisy of Erekat's statement is that he and the PA leadership
have been the driving force indoctrinating PA children to aspire to Shahada
- Death for Allah. As PMW has reported, it was only a few months ago that
Erekat and other top PA leaders, including Yasser Arafat, sponsored a
soccer tournament honoring 24 Shahids ("Islamic Martyrs"), including such
arch-terrorists as Yechya Ayash, the first Hamas suicide-bomb maker, who
masterminded the Palestinian suicide bombings; Adin Al Kassam, the name of
the suicide terrorist wing of the Hamas; Raid Carmi, a regional head of a
suicide terrorist unit; Jamal Mansour of Hamas; and Salah Drowza of Hamas.

As a sponsor, Saeb Erekat was present at the tournament honoring the
terrorists, and personally distributed the trophies. [Al Ayyam, Sept. 21,
2003, Al Quds, Sept. 29, 2003]

The coverage by the PA media of the foiled suicide mission is also telling.
Although all three PA dailies -- Al Hayat Al Jadida, Al Ayyam and Al Quds
-- covered the capture of the teenagers, there were no reports in these
papers or in other PA Arabic media of any comments by Erekat opposing the
idea of teenagers as suicide bombers.

So while in English, Erekat's diversion for the media is, "We want them to
be doctors and engineers," in their real world, Palestinian children see
suicide terrorists as the role models created for them by Erekat and the PA
leadership. We have yet to read that Erekat or the PA has sponsored a
tournament named for doctors and engineers.

Finally, two additional PA reactions to the capture of the three teenagers
are noteworthy:
1. "The Prisoner's Club called on all the legal institutions to act to stop
[Israel's] policy of arresting children and minors... which is a violation
of all conventions and international humanitarian
agreements." [Al Ayyam March 3, 2004]

2. The parents of the three "called for legal and humanitarian
organizations to intervene for their release so that they could continue
their education."
[Al Ayyam March 3, 2004]

Instead of focusing on why the teenagers were arrested, they present these
would-be assassins as victims -- just as Palestinian society, at the same
time that it promotes and glorifies terror, continues to present itself as
the victim.

*********************************************************

PMW has extensively documented the ways in which the PA and PA-controlled
media have consistently motivated Palestinian children to seek Shahada. For
more information, check out the following links:
1. www.pmw.org.il/new/tv%20part11.htm
MUSIC VIDEOS the PA produced and broadcast hundreds of times defining
Shahada death for Allah as
"sweet".
2. PMW bulletin on a www.pmw.org.il/new/murderF.htm#murder1
soccer tournament for 12- year- old boys named for the suicide terrorist
who killed 31 at Passover Seder
3. PMW bulletins on summer camps named for woman suicide terrorists
www.pmw.org.il/new/wafa%20erase.htm Wafa
www.pmw.org.il/new/wafa%20erase.htm Idris and
www.pmw.org.il/new/wafa%20erase.htm Ayyat
www.pmw.org.il/new/wafa%20erase.htm Al Akhras

4. PMW site -www.pmw.org.il/new HOME PAGE

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