Part 1. Educating Children to Violence
Part 2. Children’s Summer Camps are Military Training Camps
Part 3. Education Children to See Land of the State of Israel as Palestine and Israeli Arabs as Palestinians

1. Introduction

The Palestinian Authority runs official summer programs and activities for children that they publicize daily via their official television and newspaper. The main program is a network of summer camps run under the auspices of the PA. The declared aim of these camps is political education and military training of the children.

The child undergo training in weapons, hand to hand combat, as well as jumping through rings of fire. This training is mixed with open calls to violence, including a chant calling to push Israel into the sea. A clip broadcast tens of times tells that “they” destroyed and “took everything in 1948”. Finally, the map the children are taught has “Palestine” replacing the state of Israel while the children in the camps are divided into platoons named as regions in Israel. Numerous activities are geared to teach them that all the land of Israel is Palestine and they stress joint activities with Arab children in Israel, who are also called Palestinians. The box to the above right lists educational messages from television broadcasts and news articles from the summer camps.

Part 1 – Educating Children to Violence

Introduction:

The Palestinian Authority openly and actively educates to violence through summer camp activities, as broadcast on its daily television program which reviews the camp’s activities.

Education and Activities

* From a report on the Children’s Committee on Education
Girl: “I felt like an adult I held discussions with them and I may do so in the future, until we defeat the Zionist enemy with the help of the children, supervisors, teachers and soldiers “

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 7, 1998)

* On the summer camps broadcast, the announcer says:
“Jihad is the principle belief which will never end regardless of how many fall”

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 12, 1998)

* “The camp theater group is planning to put on a play called “The Land My Land”, a national play which talks about the Palestinian’s devotion to his land even if it costs him his life.”

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 14, 1998)

* Member of Parliament, Jamilla Zidam said: ” These camps are a realization of our determination to mention the “tragedy” [Israel’s creation] in light of our right of return [to land in Israel]. She stressed that “these camps come to emphasize our determined position to continue in the paths of our fallen martyrs”.

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 22, 1998)

Songs

* Han Yunes Summer Camp

Boy sings:
I came to you with my sword in hand we will oust them [Israel] out to the sea. Your day is coming, conqueror, then we will settle accounts. Our accounts are unending in stones and bullets.

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 2, 1998)

Girl in other framework

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 7, 1998)

* In a Han Yunes summer camp a boy calls out and his class shouts after him:

Boy: Youth win!
Class: Youth win!

Boy: Trained with weapons
Class: Trained with weapons

Boy: Revolution
Class: Revolution

Boy: Revolution until victory
Class: Revolution until Victory

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 2, ’97)

* In the program on the summer camps, on the parade grounds, one of the military trainers calls out and the children repeat after him:

“We have an obligation towards our country
We will protect her, both young and old
I am in a group of 500
My children are my redemption
My children, my children, oh, my country
are in the suicide squad

As long as the mine explodes
In a cry: Allah Akbar [battle cry “God is Great”]
I return to you, my country
The beloved land of Jerusalem

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 7, 1998)

* In the program about the summer camps, one trainee recites:

“With stones and bullets I will come to you, my country
Your soldiers and prisoners are guarding you
Young men and women and stones protect you
And where are you my country?”

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 15, 1998)

* In the program about the summer camps, one boy sings:

One day they attacked
Attacked my country,
They killed the old and slaughtered the young
They burned the Koran and destroyed the house
They marched upon my heart
You are my country

Onward, to Jihad
Onward capture my country
Alla Akbar, [God is Great], Ah
Alla Akbar [God is Great], Ah
Alla Akbar, [God is Great] Ah
Alla Akbar, [God is Great] my country

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 19, 1998)

* In the summer camp a boy recites:

“Palestine rebelled
Palestine was devoted
The belief is in its martyr
Blessed is Allah
Rebel, oh Palestine
Be devoted, oh Palestine”

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 9, 1998)

* In the summer camp, and boy sings:

“Long live the intifada,
Long live those who participated
May your father die (Israel)
All who participated in you (in the intifada) are heroes
May your father die

[Later in the song] We will yet show Netanyahu [4x]

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 7, 1998)

Part 2. Children’s Summer Camps are Military Training Camps

Introduction

* The atmosphere in the summer camps is that of a military camp. At the head of the camp staff is a camp commander and: “on the staff there are National Security men, military personnel and National Political Direction figures.”

(PA TV, July 12, 1998)

Summer Camp Goal Military Training for Children

* “Lieutenant Mahmad Matir of the Presidential Security Forces, who is responsible for the military training in the camp, believed that military training is obligatory for all participants in the struggle of our people, until we arrive at the point where all our people are well versed in military subjects. He added: “we also teach the girls the same military commands that the soldier learns.”

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 12, 1998)

* “The camp commander explained that the program has a number of aspects and among them is the focus on the military side, this is in order to create a generation which will be able to handle all possibilities. According to him: “Our people know the one truth and that is that the past is over, the present is here, and the future is open to all possibilities”

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 12, 1998)

* The camp commander said: “The purpose of the establishment [of these camps] was to promote the coming generations from the cultural, educational, health and military aspects the deputy commander of the camp said that the camps are like a mission under the auspices of the political guidance to build a generation who is capable of shouldering the responsibilities of the present and the past, who can arrive at Jerusalem, fight the settlements and build the independent Palestinian state”

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 19, 1998)

* The camp commander says: “I thank the military supervisor of the summer camps we have 9 military trainers and a training staff that are headed by 2 people holding the military ranks of lieutenant “

(PA TV, July 7, 1998)

* In the program on the summer camps, dedicated to the issue of food supplies to the camp, the narrator says: “There are those who believe that because these young girls and boys are little, they need less food, however, there are orders from the President that the quantity should be like any other soldier”.

(PA TV, July 16 98)

* In the program about the summer camps, the person in charge of supplies says: ” we are coming close to a state under the leadership of Arafat and then we will need all these trained young boys and girls”

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 16, 1998)

Training, Symbols and Texts:

* “Lieutenant Manzar Zwayd held a lecture on the technical and tactical characteristics of the rifle”

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 9, 1998)

* “The military trainer, Lawy Abu, gave a training session alone to children on the subject of the art of battle and self defense using samples made of tires, plaster and nails”

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 12, 1998)

* “Children scream ‘commando’ and jump into a burning ring.”

(Three times on different days – PA TV, July 1998).

* “Mahman Alnamar, the trainer, noted that the young boys are learning many military commands such as those being learned by the soldiers”

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 12, 1998)

* “Hareb Abu Nahel, the trainer, said that he teaches the young boys about all parts of the rifle and about the way to use them militarily”

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 12, 1998)

* A huge picture of the Temple Mount is shown, covered with blood, arms and heads and with Arabian horses going up to the Mount, while the anthem is being played in the background. This picture is hanging on the wall of a school and girls are standing at attention, some of them saluting.

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 19, 1998)

Additional military activities for youth:

* The second training course in memory of the fallen soldier Halil Elwazir began yesterday. This course is military and voluntary, closed [held] in coordination with the Prevention Arm of the Security Staff at Tel Alhu Headquarters. Also, the first volunteer training course, ‘Jerusalem’, for ages 12-16 started yesterday and will continue for one month, in coordination with the Naval Police and with the participation of 80 young men. It has also been decided that a third training course in memory of Halil Elwazir will begin today, with the participation of 100 young men and in coordination with the Military Intelligence Apparatus and it will continue for a full month.

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 19, 1998)

Part 3. The Land of the State of Israel is Palestine. Israel’s Arab are Palestinians.

A prominent message in the summer camps is that the territories of the State of Israel are part of Palestine and that their Arab inhabitants are Palestinians. This idea is expressed through activities, symbols and songs.

Activities:

* Summer camp activities will begin tomorrow with the participation of boys and girls from the West Bank, Gaza and within the Green Line, with the purpose of continuing the integration among the children of our people two camps will be situated in Jaffa and Nazareth [Israeli cities]

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 14, 1998)

* (From occupied Jerusalem) “Under the title ’50 years of Occupation’ and under the slogan: ‘we will not forget and we will not forgive’, the Palestinian Training Center opened the summer camp that will concentrate its activities this year on the subject of 50 years of occupation. The activities will include visits to the destroyed villages in the Jerusalem region: Dir Yassin, Ein Karem, Malha, Amuas, Lifta and the Old City of Jerusalem [all in Israeli]”

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 21, 1998)

* A “Kite Happening” was held in Gaza under the name ‘Kites with No Borders. The kites bore the names of the Arab villages [in Israeli] that were destroyed in 1948. One of the organizers: “This happening is called ‘Kites with No Borders’ so that the names of the villages that were destroyed will reach over the borders to the Palestinian youth.”

(Palestinian Authority TV, June 27, 1998).

* “A delegation from the program: ‘Children with No Borders’ from the Alfuar Refugee Camp concluded its visit in the city of the fallen soldiers Sachnin [in Israel] at the request of the new party, in Lod [Israeli city] the delegation visited the mayor, the monument for the martyrs of Land Day and the villages from which they were banished the delegation also accepted an invitation to participate in the summer camps in Acre and Nazareth [Israeli cities]…

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 21, 1998)

* The directors of the program ‘Children with No Borders, which belongs to the Palestinian Child Cultural Center in the Alfuar Refugee Camp, received an invitation from the Arab Academicians Institute in Acre [in Israel] to participate in a meeting in order to coordinate the participation of the [children of] the program ‘Children with No Borders’ – within the camp program ‘Connection with No borders’, which will take place at Acre Beach [in Israel]

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 22, 1998)

Symbols:

Group names:

The Children in the summer camps are divided into brigades. The brigades are named after areas in the State of Israel.

* “Abed El Aziz Abu Hatmah, the Political Coordinator gave a lecture to the “Safed” brigade, and the Political Guide Fuzy Braha gave a lecture to the Dir Yassin and Tiberias brigades on the subject of the geography of Palestine”.

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 11, 1998)

* “The commander [of the camp] said they were divided into four brigades, which carry the names of the Palestinian cities that were destroyed by the occupation in 1948.”

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 21, 1998)

* The commander of the ‘Scientists” summer camp: “the names of the children’s groups are the names of the villages and cities of before such as Dir Yassin, Dir Snin, Almajdal, etc.”

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 17, 1998)

* “[The camp commander said] The directorship for political and national guidance has taken upon itself to inform the camp participants that Palestine and all its cities and villages are our property and we are hers He added that there is a committee that deals with the preparation of maps which display our Palestinian villages and cities that the occupation destroyed in the process of conquering our land.”

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 12, 1998)

The map of Palestine includes all of the State of Israel:

* On a report from the summer camps displays a giant map of “Palestine”, which erases all of the State of Israel. The reporter, standing next to the map, describes the self-sacrifice needed for Palestine.

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 19, 1998)

* In a report on the Children’s Conference on Education, the participants wore shirts with the map of “Palestine” erasing all of the State of Israel.

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 7, 1998)

Songs and Training

Four girls sing and dance:

“My country, I love her
My home is Gaza
My roots are in Haifa”

In a report on the summer camps:

Reporter: Where are you from?
Girl: From Beer Sheva
Reporter: Beer Sheva is one of the Palestinian cities now occupied

(Palestinian Authority TV, July 7, 1998)

* Vice General Abu Salam [The General Supervisor of the summer camps] said that we will not forget the names of our cities and the villages that were destroyed by the occupation, and we say to Netanyahu and his party that we will always work for the liberation…

(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 12, 1998)

* A children’s television clip which was aired tens of times in the last months, depicts all of the country as Palestine and the Israelis as those who “took everything in 1948.”

The following is the some of the main text:

“My Country Her Name is Palestine” (children play and sing:)

“My box in my room, the room of my house, the house of my neighborhood, the neighborhood of my country and my country is very beautiful, there are houses and oranges and neighbors and trees ” [In the background there are children playing, and a multi colored model of the hills on which the children are “building” houses and “planting” trees]

One girl stops the singing and says: “Do you know what happened in 1948? They took everything! They emptied our room, they broke the house, they burned the forest, they changed the names, changed the names….

“This is still my country, she is very beautiful, the name of my country is Palestine”.

At the end of the clip, the children introduce themselves by first name and city, identifying their homes as places in Israel: a boy from Kfar Kassem, Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa and others.

(Palestinian Authority TV, June 4, 19, 25, 29, and July 2, 7, 10, 12, 20, 27, 28, 1998)

Palestinian Media Watch
59 King George St. Jerusalem
Phone: (+972-2) 625-4140

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