Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin

November 15, 2005

PA libel: Israel deliberately
addicts PA kids to drugs
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
Palestinian Media Watch
p:+972 2 625 4140
e: pmw@pmw.org.il
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The head of a Palestinian Authority drug prevention program accused Israel
this week of intentionally "conquering the youth" by supplying drugs to
Palestinian Authority areas.

This is not an isolated example of hate speech, but part of an ongoing drug
libel that has been promoted by the PA leadership for more than six years.
The accusations have included the lies that "there is a unit in the Israeli
intelligence that specializes in drug distribution among teenagers," and
that Israelis confessed to distributing "perfumes that cause their inhalers
to become addicted to drugs."

"Israeli drug smuggling network." Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 5, 2000. The PA
drug libel has been used for six years.

A Palestinian official has even stated that Israelis "encourage the
addiction to drugs by a payment of 4,500 shekels to he who proves he's
addicted to drugs."

Participating in the drug libel are senior PA officials, including the
Minister for Social Affairs, the Director-General of War on Drugs, head of
the Professional Program of the Supreme National Council for Preventing Drug
Distribution, Fatah leaders and others.

Libels like these are not harmless insults. They follow a long dark history
of anti-Semitic libels, which range from the myth that Jews poisoned wells
in the Middle Ages to the infamous 'blood libel,' that Jews used the blood
of Christians to make the unleavened Matzah bread for Passover - all of
which were used successfully in Europe to arouse hatred of Jews and incite
murder.

Whereas the PA leadership is telling its people to curb terror for now
because "it damages Palestinian interests," Palestinian Media Watch has
documented in previous bulletins that the PA's many-faceted hate campaign
continues unabated.

These drug libels are just one component of this PA campaign to keep hatred
simmering. This campaign is indeed disturbing, as it indicates the PA is
still stockpiling hatred for some future time, for if and when it decides
that another terror war is in its interest.

Palestinian Media Watch has found dozens of examples of the drug libel over
the years.

The following is a limited selection of such libels, beginning with the most
recent examples and going back to 1999.

1. "It is known that drugs are an imperialist weapon. The Occupation is not
interested in conquering the land alone; it is interested in conquering the
youth... The easiest way for the Occupation to control the youth is .
through drugs. You can see for yourself that a drug user is a man who does
not oppose the Occupation, will not throw a stone and will not do a thing."
[Issam Jwichan, Head of the Professional Program of the National Supreme
Council for Preventing the Distribution of Drugs, PA TV, November 7, 2005.
"The Occupation" is a term frequently used by the PA to represent all of
Israel - Ed.]

2. "Drugs, they fight us with drugs. They choose various means to fight us.
At times by planes and at times by drugs."
[PA TV Fictional series for Ramadan, The Canaanite, October 2005]

3. "There is a unit in the Israeli intelligence that specializes in drug
distribution among the teenagers and the youth in our society."
[Dr. Ahmad Faras, Director-General, Palestinian Human Rights Association,
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 28, 2004]

4. "The Palestinian nation is under a savage attack by the Occupation in all
areas. Among them, the role of the Occupation in distributing drugs in the
Palestinian territories."
[Director-General, War on Drugs, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 26, 2004]

5. "...The confessions of an Israeli espionage network who were arrested in
Lebanon...

They weren't satisfied in the planning of the [Hizbullah leader Sheikh
Hassan] Nasrallah assassination, but also distributed harmful Israeli
merchandise ... including sport shoes that cause the person wearing it to
suffer paralysis, skin disease and perfumes that cause their inhaler to
become addicted to drugs..."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 17, 2004]

6. "...In addition to encouraging drug dealing, Israelis welcome and
encourage the addiction to drugs by a payment of 4,500 shekels to he who
proves he's addicted to drugs..."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 18, 2003]

7. "... There is a clear Israeli plan to cause many civilians to fall by
drug spreading and distribution among the young... They have become a victim
of the Occupation... They aspire to distribute the disease in the broadest
way by lowering prices, so they can be afforded by the majority of the
young..."
[Al-Ayyam, May 25, 2001]

8. "The Occupation Authority - by inserting and distributing them [the
drugs] in our districts - wishes to destroy our ability, and to weaken our
beliefs in the resistance against the occupier."
[Um Jihad, Minister for Social Affairs, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 29, 2001]

9. "Since the '67 occupation, there has been an Israeli attack against the
Palestinian youth in Jerusalem. This attack has many faces with the
objective of emptying the youth of its national values and stripping it of
its identity and Arab-Palestinian belonging, by the distribution of drugs
and feeding the society with bad phenomenon. We have documents proving that
the police and the Shabakh [Israel's internal intelligence service] plan to
splinter the Palestinian youth in the holy city."
[Hatem Abed Al-Qader, a senior Fatah leader in Jerusalem, Al-Hayat
Al-Jadida, June 12, 2000]

10. "The [current] stage of the Israeli occupation is the stage of the rapid
spreading of drugs ... in our country... The goal of the Israeli occupation
is to destroy the national wealth that manifests itself in our youth."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, September 2, 1999]

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