Bulletin
July 29, 2010
Palestinian Media Watch

Palestinian summer camp for "young leaders"
named after terrorist Dalal Mughrabi
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=2678

by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
p:+972 2 625 4140 e: pmw@palwatch.org

f: +972 2 624 2803 w: www.palwatch.org

A summer camp in Bethlehem is the latest institution in the Palestinian
Authority to be named after the leader of the worst terror attack in
Israel's history.

According to the official PA daily newspaper, the new camp is named after
Dalal Mughrabi, who led a 1978 bus hijacking in which 37 civilians, 12 of
them children, were killed. The newspaper reports that the camp "aims at
training young leaders" in the Bethlehem area:

"The Ministry of Social Affairs in Ramallah opened yesterday in El Bireh the
fourth integration camp for people with special needs, and in Bethlehem the
second Shahida (Martyr) Dalal Mughrabi camp [opened]... The second Dalal
Mughrabi summer camp was opened in the headquarters of Light of Generations'
youth association in Bethlehem, with support from the National Committee for
Summer Camps and the One Voice Palestine organization in Ramallah. It aims
at training young leaders in the eastern countryside of Bethlehem District.
Present [at the opening] were... the Secretary of Fatah's Bethlehem branch,
Yusuf Al-Aref, ..., Chairman of the [Light of Generations' youth]
association, Ibrahim Mubarak, Muhammad Khalil - camp director... 70 young
girls from the Dar Salah village and neighboring villages participated."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 29, 2010]

As PMW has documented, the PA has turned Mughrabi into a celebrated hero and
role model. Schools, summer camps, landmarks and centers for youth and
education have been named after her.

Click here to see the section of PMW's website about Mughrabi's elevation
from terrorist to hero.

The camp has received support from the National Committee for Summer Camps,
which is under the supervision of the PA's Ministry of Youth and Sports,
according to the ministry's website. The general coordinator of the camps
committee, Mousa Abu Zaid, is also the PA's Deputy Minister for Youth and
Sports.

In a recent article, Zaid wrote that Palestinian summer camps teach children
"through precept and example about the importance of dialogue and tolerance
in life."
[http://thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3134&ed=183&edid=183]

The other supporter cited in the article about the Mughrabi camp is One
Voice Palestine. According to its website, the members of this international
movement are "fed up with the ongoing conflict" and "ready and eager to
support a serious process" leading to a peace agreement.
[http://www.onevoice.ps/en/faqdes.php?id=1]

In March this year, the PA and Fatah named a square near Ramallah after
Mughrabi, and her attack has been celebrated by a spokesman for PA Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction as "the most glorified sacrifice action in the
history of the Palestinian-Israeli struggle" [Al-Ayyam, July 13, 2008]. The
PA celebrated the 31st anniversary of her killings with an hour-long TV
special that opened with the narrator glorifying the attack.

Click here to see PMW's report From Terrorists to Role Models on the PA's
policy of glorifying terrorists.

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