Appendix B
 

  The key role played by Palestinian children and teenagers in the
Palestinian “armed struggle consensus”
 
Since early childhood, young Palestinians are imbued with the ideals of the “armed struggle consensus” and the “suicide bombing culture”. Whether at home, at school, during informal educational activities, or in their surroundings, Palestinian children and teenagers are brainwashed with the ideals of deep-rooted hatred and incessant violent struggle against Israel and especially with death for the sake of Allah (in order to become a shahid , or martyr).

The brainwashing that the younger generation of Palestinians undergoes has various manifestations. Examples include the current trend, prevalent in the Palestinian Authority administered territories, of children and teenagers being photographed dressed in uniforms and equipped with arms; the glorification of youngsters who confront IDF troops and die during such actions, a phenomenon that is widely spread in the Palestinian media (mostly on the Palestinian Authority controlled television); ceremonies staged in (formal and informal) educational institutions, from pre-schools (and summer camps) to universities, that include displays of armed and uniformed children and teenagers; toys that indoctrinate the youth with the culture of deep-rooted hatred and incessant violent struggle against Israel; demonstrations attended by children and teenagers equipped with imitation explosive belts and inscriptions stating their willingness to become martyrs; symbolic images of infants wearing headbands inscribed with the names of terrorist organizations or infants equipped with explosive belts, demonstrating their parents' willingness to dedicate their children to the continuation of the Palestinian violent confrontation with Israel.

Examples follow:
 


The results of the brainwashing: victory for terrorism.
A Palestinian teenager gesturing victory, with the ruins of an Israeli bus in the background
(a suicide bombing attack on bus no. 14, in which 8 passengers were killed and 72 were wounded)
(The Jerusalem Post, February 24, 2004)
 
Photographs and a poster of armed children and teenagers found in the course of Operation Defensive Shield.
Most likely, the photographs originated in the Gaza Strip.

A poster of an armed Palestinian
teenager found in the course of Operation Defensive Shield


 

Photographs found in the Fatah offices in Tubas (a town to the north-west of Nablus) in May 2002

 
Photographs found in Bethlehem in the course of Operation Defensive Shield

 
Indoctrinating pre-school children with hatred of and terrorism against Israel
“The Jews stand behind every civil war ever to devastate the face of the Earth…” (a quote reminiscent of the negative image of the Jews as portrayed in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion). Incitement to violence, killing, terrorism, and launching a holy war to annihilate Israel, as demonstrated in the 2001 graduation ceremony of those pre-school children in Gaza, controlled by the Hamas-affiliated Islamic Association (as published on the Islamic Association's website; the red sign behind the children reads: “The kindergartens of the Islamic Association”)
 

Palestinian Infants equipped with explosive belts (Hamas), wearing headbands (Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Palestinian Islamic Jihad), and carrying arms (the Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades)

Raed Karmi, head of the Fatah in Tulkarm (who died in an IDF targeted killing operation on January 14, 2002), equipped with a weapon and carrying a female (?) baby (as her earrings imply) with a yellow headband bearing the inscription: “ Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades ” (photograph seized in the course of Operation Defensive Shield)
 
The back cover of a booklet commemorating the dead of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Jenin area; the inscription on the black headband of the baby on the right reads: “ The Islamic Jihad Movement ”. The booklet is dedicated to Mahmud Tawalbeh, a senior operative and leading figure in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, who holds a young girl (his daughter?). A much admired figure, he sent many Palestinian youngsters to perpetrate suicide bombing attacks against Israel. He died during Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin (April 10, 2002). The yellow bottom line of the back cover describes the last telephone message of Tawalbeh to his superior, the Secretary General of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (Ramadan Shalah): “My brothers, we will meet in heaven, God willing”


A photograph of a baby armed with an explosive belt found in the house of a Hamas operative in Hebron in the course of an IDF operation on June 27, 2002 (IDF Spokesperson's website


In the course of an operation in Rafiah (October 23, 2002), IDF forces discovered a Fatah poster featuring a “martyr” infant in the midst of a chain of bullets. The poster was found in the house of a wanted terrorist; the house was subsequently demolished (communicated by the IDF Spokesperson's unit)


Palestinian father and son carrying weapons as featured on a photograph published on the Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades website (IDF Spokesperson's website, December 16, 2002)

A masked child armed with a gun; in the background is a verse from the
Quran encouraging terrorist attacks

Photograph taken from the Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades' website,
as appeared on IDF Spokesperson's website, December 26, 2002

Following is a translation of the Quranic verse that appears on the poster in the background:

“Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands, cover them with shame [and disgrace], and help you to victory over them. [Allah will also] heal the breasts of [Muslim] believers [should they be wounded in battle with the enemy]” ( Quran, Surah [chapter] 9 [Al-Tawbah], verse 14).

This verse, clearly militant in nature, appears on posters of the Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades as part of its official emblem. It is aimed to encourage the Palestinian military struggle against Israel while promising to all those involved in it that Allah will heal the wounded and assist them to defeat the (Israeli) enemy.


Female suicide bomber Reem al-Riyashi (Hamas) seen with a child holding a shell and wearing a Hamas headband (taken from Filasteen al-Muslimah , a most prominent Hamas monthly publication distributed from London, the UK; February, 2004).
 
Military training for Palestinian children and teenagers in summer camp programs organized (separately) by both the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian terrorist organizations
Every year, the Palestinian Authority and the various Palestinian terrorist organizations organize (separately) summer camp programs for children and teenagers during the summer vacation. The main purpose of these summer camps is to indoctrinate the young participants with incitement against Israel and provide them with basic military training. The following photographs, taken at a Fatah summer camp, were seized in the course of Operation Defensive Shield.
 
Armed teenagers on discipline drills

Stripping and assembling rifles


Palestinian children carrying posters of Yasser Arafat. A ribbon on the shirt of the boy on the right reads,
“ I am a Fatah soldier ”; his headband reads, “ Fatah soldier ”.
   
Messages of violence and armed displays in Balata refugee camp (near Nablus)
On July 17, 2003, children at the summer camp in Balata refugee camp took part in a “show”. Its theme was familiar from previous years: the continuation of the armed struggle against Israel, in a stark contrast to the positive messages about the summer camp curricula that appeared on the Palestinian media at the same time.
A Reuters photographer captured a display in Balata refugee camp in which Palestinian children were crawling with rifles while armed operatives of the military wing of the Fatah were shooting into the air, and children carrying photographs of martyrs in the background (yahoonews.com website):
 

 
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