In his June 4, 2003 speech at the Aqaba summit, Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) said, “We will also act vigorously against incitement and violence and hatred, whatever their form or forum may be. We will take measures to ensure that there is not incitement emanating from Palestinian institutions.”[1] It was in a meeting following that speech that PA Information Minister Nabil Amr and Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom decided to establish two joint committees to examine Palestinian and Israeli incitement in the media and in school curricula.[2]

Since that meeting, the PA has taken a number of steps to stop incitement in the media and in mosques. Concurrently, however, incitement by bodies and institutions belonging to the PA or under its supervision continues. Thus, for example, Jihad and Shahada [martyrdom] are still glorified in the PA media, mosques and schoolbooks. They are also celebrated in summer camps that are named for suicide bombers and their dispatchers. Palestinian textbooks containing messages extolling Jihad and Shahada have not been changed.[3]

It should be noted that the media – newspapers, radio, and television – are still controlled by PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, who himself relies on incitement to bolster his public status against that of Abu Mazen. For instance, Palestinian Television did not air any of the Aqaba summit, showing instead archive footage of Arafat.

This paper reviews both attempts to halt incitement and evidence of its continuation from the June 4, 2003 Aqaba summit up to the August 19 bus suicide bombing in Jerusalem. These are measured against limited criteria: only glorification of martyrdom or incitement to violence, only against targets inside the Green Line, and only since the Aqaba summit. Incitement occurring after the release of the Road Map and up to the Aqaba summit was not included in the paper, but two examples can be seen in Appendix I.

Table of Contents

I. Calls for Ending Incitement To Violence

A. Calls for Ending Incitement

1. A Demand to End Incitement in the Media
2. ‘Song of Peace’ Broadcast on Palestinian Television
3. An Order to End Incitement in the Mosques
4. Actions to Remove Incitement Graffiti in Gaza City
B. Calls Against Violence
C. Summer Camps to Encourage Peace

II. Incitement To and Encouragement Of Violence

A. PA TV Broadcasts (Video Clips Encouraging Shahada)
B. Friday Sermon on PA TV (Praising Shahids)
C. Glorification of Shahids in the Press
1. Obituaries for the Bus Bomber in Jerusalem and the Kfar Yabetz (Near Tel Aviv) Bomber
2. Poems Glorifying Shahids in the Palestinian Press
3. Reports and Articles Glorifying Shahids
4.Cartoons: Anti-Israel (and Anti-American), and Encouraging Suicide Operations
D. Other Ways of Glorifying Shahids
1. Summer Camps Educating to Shahada
2. Naming Streets and Facilities After Shahids
E. Palestinian Officials Encourage Violence and Shahada
F. Anti-American Incitement

Appendices

Appendix I: Palestinian Incitement from the Release of the Road Map to the Aqaba Summit

A. Arafat‘ s Speech Marking International Day of the Child 2003, to Children of Palestinian Prisoners and Detainees Held by Israel, The Muqata‘a, Ramallah

B. Friday Sermon by Sheikh Ibrahim Mudeiris, Gaza Mosque – May 5, 2003

Appendix II: A Palestinian Peace Song

Appendix III: Cartoons

Appendix IV: Photos of Children Carrying Weapons and of Armed ‘Resisters to the Occupation’ Posted on the Palestinian National Authority State Information Service Website http://www.ipc.gov.ps

I. Calls for Ending Incitement To Violence

A. Calls for Ending Incitement

1. A Demand to End Incitement in the Media

The PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida quoted a Reuters report that the PA had ordered the local media to reduce “the combative tone against Israel,” and called on Israeli media to “use restraint” in their reports.The paper said that Al-Hayat Al-Jadida editor-in-chief Hafez Al-Barghouti told Reuters that “the newspaper was asked by the PA to cease the incitement against Israel and similar demands were directed toward Palestinian Television and a number of West Bank radio stations.” PA Information Minister Nabil Amr said, “Every day, the Information Ministry sends the media letters containing guidance on political and information [matters].” An Information Ministry communiqué stated that Arafat had in the past, following the Wye Memorandum, issued an order calling for the prevention of incitement;[4] this was a reference to an order published January 19, 1998.[5]

2. ‘Song of Peace’ Broadcast on Palestinian Television

During PA Prime Minister Abu Mazen’s July 2003 visit to Washington D.C., Palestinian Television broadcast a video clip, subtitled in Arabic and English, of children singing in Arabic, English, French, and Hebrew about their longing for peace and brotherhood among Muslim, Christian, and Jewish children. The child representing the Jew in the clip is in ultra-Orthodox garb, with side-curls and a hat of the kind commonly worn by ultra-Orthodox Jews, and it is notable that there is no mention of Israel or Israelis. The following is an excerpt from the song (see Appendix II for full version):

“Fly with the birds
It doesn’t matter whatever your name is,
or who you are
Don’t cry, thousands love you
Sing with me for peace…”

“My homeland, my mother
The people’s suffering is mine
My heart is a little angel
Dreaming of peace
The pigeon’s song…”

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