During his May 3, 2017 meeting with U.S. President Trump, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas said: "Mr. President, I affirm to you that we are raising our youth, our children, our grandchildren on a culture of peace."[1] The following are excerpts from reports published by MEMRI in recent years reflecting the indoctrination of children by the Palestinian Authority and Fatah in armed resistance, jihad and martyrdom. This includes glorification of terrorists, and the promotion of the refugees' right of return to their original homes in Israel "under the banner of glory, jihad and struggle."
'Abbas Meets 14-Year-Old Who Attempted To Stab Civilians
On March 8, 2017, MEMRI reported that Mahmoud 'Abbas had met with Palestinians who carried out terrorist attacks as part of the wave of Palestinian terror that took place between October, 2015 and mid-2016, and which included many attacks carried out by teenagers. Among those he met was 14-year-old Osama Zaidat, who was shot while attempting to stab civilians in Kiryat Arba on September 20, 2016. Below is a photo of the meeting posted on 'Abbas's Facebook page:
From 'Abbas's Facebook page: meeting with the boy Osama Zaidat, who attempted to stab civilians in Kiryat Arba (Facebook.com/President.Mahmoud.Abbas/photos, March 5, 2017)
Children March With Mock RPG Rockets, Suicide Belts In Fatah Day Parade
On January 10, 2016, MEMRI reported on PA events marking Fatah Day, the 51st anniversary of the Fatah movement's establishment in January 1, 1965, which took place that year under the impact of the 2015-2016 Palestinian terror wave. The Fatah Day events included a parade in the Deheishe refugee camp, attended by senior PA and Fatah officials, featuring children armed with mock RPG rockets and suicide belts.
Child wearing a suicide belt carries Fatah flag
Child with mock RPG launcher
Children carrying a mock handgun and Molotov cocktail
Youths with M-16 assault rifles
Girl Scouts Participate In Fatah Ceremony In Memory Of Female Terrorist Dalal Al-Mughrabi
On March 17, 2016, MEMRI reported on a Fatah ceremony in Ramallah in memory of female terrorist Dalal Al-Mughrabi. Al-Mughrabi was deputy commander of Fatah's March 1978 Coastal Road terror attack, in which 35 Israeli civilians, among them 13 children, were killed. During the artistic part of the ceremony, a little girl named Majd Abu Rmeileh recited a poem, and a Scout troop gave a musical performance.
Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governor Laila Ghanam and girl scouts, at the ceremony (Facebook.com/R.b.Governorate, March 12, 2016)
Ceremony participants included Ramallah and Al-Bireh governor Laila Ghanam, as well as members of the PLO Executive Committee and Fatah's Central Committee. Ghanam praised Al-Mughrabi and said: "The nickname 'Dalal's Sisters' is the pride of all Palestinian women. Dalal insisted on bearing arms alongside her male counterparts and be with them in the field."
PA Press Glorifies High School Students Who Died While Carrying Out Stabbing Attacks
On July 13, MEMRI reviewed articles in the PA press glorifying high school students who had died carrying out stabbing attacks on Israelis during the 2015-2016 terror wave. The articles, published following the release of high school seniors' final exam results by the Palestinian Authority (PA) Ministry of Education, praised the dead students, calling them a source of pride for their families and for the entire Palestinian people. They quoted their relatives' and friends' expressions of praise for them and yearning for them, and referred to the teen attackers as martyred by "the bullets of the occupation" while omitting mention of the attacks they had carried out.
A front-page article in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida stated: "The places of 16 students was not missing from yesterday's announcement of the general high school [exam] results. This is despite the fact that the occupation's bullets ended their lives and prevented them from taking their final exams, as they became martyrs in Paradise. Sixteen [students] passed the difficult [test] of dying as martyrs for the homeland, since dying as a martyr is the path of excellence and supremacy."
PLO Executive Committee member Ahmed Al-Majdalani also mentioned the martyred students, saying: "In these moments, we feel the absence of 16 students, the martyrs who should have taken the high school finals but who were prevented from taking them by the violent and aggressive occupation forces, who denied joy to their families..."
An article by the Palestinian news agency WAFA focused on honor students who dedicated their success to the martyrs of the Palestinian people. Muhammad Abu Nahla, an honors student majoring in industry, dedicated his success to the martyr 'Adnan Al-Mashni, killed while attempting to carry out a stabbing attack. Abu Nahla said: "I dedicate my success to the Palestinian leadership and its head President Mahmoud 'Abbas; to the educational and pedagogical family; to my family and our people; and especially to my friend, the 17-year-old martyr 'Adnan 'Aaid Hamed Al-Mashni Al-Halaiqa, from the town of Al-Shayoukh, who was martyred at Beit 'Einun Junction east of Hebron on January 12, 2016... How I wish that he could have celebrated his success today - but the bullets of the occupation stole him, denying us and his parents of this joy. But we are all proud of the martyr's death he attained."
PA Education Minister Attends Rally Of Solidarity With 13-Year-Old 'Hero' Ahmad Manasra, Who Stabbed A Boy In Jerusalem
A December 30, 2015 report by MEMRI reviewed the PA's commemoration of terrorists who had been killed in the prior months while carrying out attacks on Israelis. The report reviewed ceremonies, events and rallies held in their honor, including several that were held in schools or involved children and youths.
On November 29, 2015, a high school in the Hebron governorate held a rally of solidarity with Ahmad Manasra, a 13-year-old Palestinian boy who stabbed a boy his own age on October 12, 2015 in Jerusalem. The rally, held under the heading "Arresting Children Kills Childhood. Give Them the Time to Study and Play," was sponsored by the Palestinian Prisoners Commission, the PA Education Ministry and the Fatah movement, and was attended by Hebron governor Kamel Hmeid, PA Education Minister Sabri Saidam, Palestinian Prisoners Club chairman Qaddoura Fares, Fatah Revolutionary Council member Fahmi Al-Za'arir, Fatah secretary Kamal Makhamra, a delegation on behalf of the Prisoners Commission, members of Manasra's family and members of the family of Hassan Manasra, who also took part in the stabbing and was killed.
Education Minister Sabri Saidam spoke to the pupils about the meaning of loyalty and devotion to the martyrs, and added: "The object of [this] campaign is to direct world attention to the problems of the imprisoned children by encouraging students to send letters to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon headed 'The Hero Ahmad Manasra.'" Saidam also paid a condolence call on the family of Muhammad Al-Shubaki from the Al-Fawar refugee camp, who was killed after stabbing a soldier.
Elementary School Students In Hebron Observe Moment Of Silence In Memory Of 18-Year-Old Stabber
Also mentioned in this report is another Education Ministry initiative, involving a ceremony held at the Huda 'Abd Al-Nabi boy's elementary school in Hebron, in which a moment of silence was observed in memory of 18-year-old Mustafa Fanoun who was killed trying to stab a soldier at the Tel Rumeida checkpoint. The ceremony was attended by Education Bureau head Bassam Tahboub, representatives of the Teachers' Union and members of the Fanoun family.
West Bank Sports Competitions In Honor Of Muhannad Al-Halabi
As mentioned in the report, the PA and Fatah also held sports competitions in honor of attackers who were killed. In mid-December, the "Martyr Muhannad Al-Halabi table tennis tournament" was held, sponsored by Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub, in which 14 teams participated.
The Martyr Muhannad Al-Halabi tournament, sponsored by "General Jibril Rajoub" (Image: Maannews.net December 19, 2015)
On October 30, 2015, the Martyr Yasser Arafat Youth Center held the "Muhannad Al-Halabi football tournament" in Ramallah governorate. The notice announcing the tournament bore the emblem of the "Palestinian State's Supreme Youth and Sports Council - the Martyr Yasser Arafat Youth Center," and the tournament was covered by the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida.
The announcement of the tournament and a photo from the games (Images: Alwatanvoice.com, November 1, 2015)
A November, 2015 football championship in Hebron was held in honor the Palestinian people's martyrs, especially those of the "National Awakening" (the PA's name for the 2015-2016 wave of violence), and in memory of Basel Sidr, who was killed on October 14, 2015 trying to stab an Israeli soldier near Jerusalem's Damascus Gate.
In Palestinian Textbooks, Narrative Of Return "Under The Banner Of Glory, Jihad And Struggle"
On March 20, 2013, MEMRI published a report on the narrative of return on Palestinian textbooks. A fifth grade Arabic textbook made extensive reference to the issue of return, dedicating two units – 9 and 10 – to the refugees and displaced persons, and to their return. Unit 10 began with the poem, "We Are Returning", by Haroun Hashem Rashid, which includes the following lines:
"Returning to the homes, to the planes and the mountains,
Under the banners of glory, jihad and struggle.
With our blood and self-sacrifice, brotherhood and loyalty,
We are returning.
Returning, o hills, returning, o planes,
Returning to our childhood and youth.
To wage jihad with a drawn sword and to reap in our land.
We are returning" (p. 88)."
Unit 10 in a second grade textbook on homeland studies defined the refugee camps as "the camps are where the Palestinian refugees were settled after they were forced to leave their towns and villages in Palestine, and they are determined to return to them" (p. 36).
Textbooks often mentioned cities in Israel as places for which the Palestinians yearn or as destination to which they will return. A first grade book included a text in which a little boy vows: "We will return to Jaffa"; a fifth grade Arabic textbook included the poem "Whispering to a Dove" by Rashid Hussein, which speaks of Jaffa and Safed; a ninth grade textbook included a poem about Bisan (Beit Shean), by "a poet from Palestine," Ahmad Al-Muflih, which said: "Separation from you [Bisan] is tragedy and reunion is paradise. Life without your eyes is hell."
Host On PA TV Children’s Show: "I Am Certain That Jaffa... Haifa, Acre, Nazareth, And All The Palestinian Cities Occupied In 1948 Will Return To Us One Day"
A May 21, 2015 MEMRI TV clip shows an excerpt from a PA TV children’s show in a puppet called Marwan is filmed visiting Tel Aviv, where he says: "It used to be Jaffa, and it became Tell Al-Rabi'." The studio host then says: "I am certain that Jaffa - and not only Jaffa, but also Haifa, Acre, Nazareth, and all the Palestinian cities occupied in 1948 - will return to us one day."
[1] Nytimes.com, May 3, 2017.
