Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin
Sept. 5, 2004
PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
phone: 972- 2- 625-4140 fax: 972-2- 624-2803
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PA boosts promotion of child Martyrs
Child Martyrdom promotion clip
returns to PA TV after year's absence
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
* Clip was removed from PA TV after PMW exposed it at a US Senate
hearing in October 2003.
* Clip brought outraged reaction from US senators, and extensive media
coverage, including CNN, FOX, BBC, MS NBC, and tens of European stations.
* Clip presents a child's death in combat as "sweet," because it was
Death for Allah -Shahada.
* Clip was broadcast at least three times in the last 2 weeks after
nearly a year's absence.

At a US Senate Hearing in October 2003, PMW director Itamar Marcus
presented evidence of PA indoctrination of children to aspire to heroic
death as Shahids - Martyrs for Allah. Since then, many PA TV clips that
encouraged children to seek heroic Shahada (Death for Allah) were removed,
apparently due to the inability of the PA representative at the Senate
hearing to defend this PA practice, together with widespread media
condemnation both in print and on television.

Now, after nearly a year, the PA has suddenly renewed the broadcast of the
"Farewell Letter" clip, in which a child writes a farewell letter to his
parents, glorifying his desire to die, and then goes out to the combat
zone, where he is shot and achieves his death wish. As he falls in death,
the words of his letter are sung twice: "How sweet is Shahada [Death for
Allah] when I embrace you my land."

The revival of this clip now may be an indication that the PA, after having
its image blackened due to its involvement in suicide terror, wants to
portray itself as the victim by having large numbers of dead and injured
children to report to the press.

www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part1.html
to see the clip on PMW's web site.

The following is the text of the farewell letter sung during the clip.
"Do not be sad, my dear,
And do not cry over my parting,
My dear father,
For my country, Shahada [Death for Allah].
Do not be sad, my dear
And do not cry over my parting,
My dear father,
For my country, I will sacrifice myself!"
[Scenes of children joining violence against soldiers, the boy running with
his friends, throwing stones ...]
The letter continues:
"With determination and desire
I long to approach...."

[The boy is shot in his chest and falls to the ground.]
The letter continues:
"How sweet is Shahada [death for Allah]
When I embrace you, my land!"

[Here the boy's mother is seen crying.]
The letter continues:
"My beloved, my mother, My most dear,
Be joyous over my blood and do not cry for me."
[Aug. 23, 26, 31, 2004]
The message of this song to Palestinian children is clear: It should be a
child's wish and goal to die in confrontations with Israel, as this death
is "sweet".

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