"Jaw-dropping" PMW report
presented to Canadian Parliamentarians
PMW presented a new report to MPs and senators in the Canadian Parliament last Wednesday. The Ottawa Citizen Editorial Pages Editor, Leonard Stern, described the "chilling... hallucinatory libels" cited in the PMW report, calling the report "jaw-dropping."
The following is the commentary
by Ottawa Citizen Editorial Pages Editor, Leonard Stern.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Palestinian Media Watch"
by Editorial Pages Editor, Leonard Stern
Yesterday I posted an item about a small ray of sun in the otherwise long and dark night that has been Palestinian-Israeli relations for the past 60 years. Well, for every spark of reconciliation there's a bucket of hate to drown it.
This week Canadian parliamentarians got a glimpse at just how intractable the hatred can be. They had a briefing from Itamar Marcus, an Israeli researcher who specializes in monitoring Arabic media. His website Palestinian Media Watch is an invaluable tool for anyone seeking to understand what many Palestinians really think.
Palestinian clerics and other opinion-makers have long had a tendency of saying one thing to English-speaking audiences but saying something entirely different when speaking in Arabic to domestic audiences. Palestinian Media Watch allows non-Arabic speakers (western journalists and policy-makers, for example) to get an honest and candid sense of Palestinian attitudes.
Itamar Marcus and his North American colleague Barbara Crook - she lives in Ottawa, by the way - have produced a jaw-dropping report on the crazy things that, at this very moment, are being broadcast on Palestinian TV and printed in Palestinian newspapers. Most chilling are the hallucinatory libels that Israel is deliberately spreading AIDS and drug addiction in Palestinian communities, that Israeli soldiers stab "the wombs" of Arab women so they can't reproduce, that Israel conducts Nazi-like experiments on Arabs.
Most bizarre is the libel, in circulation in the mainsteam Palestinian press, that Israel is using a breed of rats immune to poison and have set them loose in Arab neighbourhoods. Seems that the Jews have retained their Biblical power to control the elements and unleash supernatural plagues on their enemies.
Now it's true that if you went into some ultra-nationalist Zionist neighbourhoods, you'd find pretty nasty and, yes, maybe even hallucinatory attitudes about Arabs. But you don't see such ideas promoted in Haaretz or The Jerusalem Post the mass circulation Israeli media. If anything, it's the Israeli media that tries to expose those sentiments in Israeli society.
PMW director Itamar Marcus spoke last week to members of the Canadian Parliament and presented a new PMW report entitled "Canada and the Palestinian Authority." The report shows that the PA has misled Canada, enabling the PA to receive Canadian funding despite its violations of explicit Canadian conditions that it refrain from hate and terror promotion.
The following is the executive summary presented to MPs.
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Palestinian Media Watch
Special Report - March 25, 2009
Canada and the Palestinian Authority
Canada's Foreign Policy Misled by PA:
Canadian funding conditions consistently violated
More than a year after the Annapolis conference,
the Palestinian Authority continues to mislead donor countries.
In English, it talks peace, but in Arabic, it:
· denies Israel's existence
· incites hatred
· promotes terror and glorifies terrorists
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
Executive Summary
The Annapolis Conference in November 2007 created hope for the renewal of a peace process after years of Palestinian Authority (PA)-supported terror. PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas assured Israel and the world in English that there had been a sincere change.
However, in Arabic the Palestinian Authority, Fatah leaders and the Abbas-controlled official PA media are no more peaceful towards Israel than they were during the Arafat era. In fact, during the 12 years of PMW's existence, there has never been a period of such intense demonization of Israel, continuous hate promotion, terror glorification, and open denial of Israel's existence by the PA (Fatah) and the Abbas-controlled media than what we have witnessed in 2008 - 2009.
Canadian Funding of the Palestinian Authority
Canada halted funding for the Palestinian Authority after the January 2006 Palestinian Authority general elections led to the formation of a Hamas government:
"Canada became the first donor to suspend aid to the Palestinian Authority on Wednesday, saying the new Hamas-led government had failed to give assurances that it would recognize Israel's right to exist." [Reuters, March 29, 2006]
Canada reinstituted funding for the PA in July 2007 after the split between Fatah and Hamas. On Dec. 17, 2007, at the Conference of Donors for the Palestinian Territories, Canadian Foreign Minister Bernier announced:
"Canada is increasing support to the peace process through additional assistance to Palestinian reform and development... Canada will commit $300 million over the next five years to build security, governance and prosperity."
This commitment included a clear stipulation of specific expectations:
"Our funding is not unconditional," said Minister Bernier... "This contribution will be conditional on progress in negotiations and Palestinian reforms. In every facet of our work, we will devote special attention to the issues of hatred and incitement of violence."
(News Release, Dec. 17, 2007 Website of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada International.gc.ca)
To this day, Canada continues to fund the Palestinian Authority based on the English- language assurances by PA leader Abbas that he accepts Israel's right to exist, rejects terror, and does not incite to hatred and violence.
This report shows that in its own Arabic media, aimed at a Palestinian audience, the Palestinian Authority violates all these conditions.
1. Denial of Israel's existence, calls for Israel's destruction:
Examples:
a. Muhammad Dahlan, a senior PA official, stated plainly on official PA TV: " I want to say for the thousandth time, in my own name and in the name of all of my fellow members of the Fatah movement: We do not demand that the Hamas movement recognize Israel. On the contrary, we demand of the Hamas movement not to recognize Israel, because the Fatah movement does not recognize Israel, even today." [PA TV March 17, 2009]
b. A PA TV educational geography program has been broadcast regularly since August 2007, and most recently in January 2009, teaching there is no Israel and all of Israel is "Palestine:"
"... another section in Palestine ...Ashkelon in the south, until Haifa, in the Carmel Mountains. Haifa is a well-known Palestinian port... To its north, we find Acre. East of Acre, we reach a city with history and importance, the city of Tiberius, near a famous lake, the lake of Tiberius [Kinneret- Sea of Galilee]. Jaffa, an ancient coastal city, is the bride of the sea, and Palestine's gateway to the world."
Note that all of these are Israeli cities, spread over the entire country.
c. Official PA schoolbooks describe a Middle East without Israel:
"Coastal states differ in terms of their access to water sources, such as...: states located on sea coasts with accesses to two seas, for example: Palestine and Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea."
[Physical Geography and Human Geography, Grade 12, p. 105]
"Palestine has a long coast facing the Mediterranean sea and a short coast on the Gulf of Aqaba."
[Health and Environment Studies, Grade 8 (2003), p. 130]
Note that the Israeli city of Eilat is on the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba).
"... The Tiberias Lake [Sea of Galilee], in Palestine"
[Physical Geography, Grade 5, p. 25]
Israel is painted over in the colors of the PLO flag in PA government Census Bureau announcements. These announcements were aired on PA TV (Fatah) - often several times a day - during and after the Annapolis conference at the end of 2007. Maps similar to this one continue to appear on official web sites in 2009 [see below].
2. Hatred is actively promoted as policy for children and adults. Hate videos, libels and lies remain a backbone of PA TV.
Examples:
a. The official PA newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, has propogated a long-standing blood libel against Israel, falsely accusing Israel of conducting horrific Nazi-like medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners:
"Many of the male and female inmates received injections from needles they had not seen before, and which caused their hair and facial hair to fall out permanently ... others lost their sanity, or their mental condition is constantly deteriorating... and some are suffering from infertility." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 4, 2008]
b. Another wild accusation concerns the deployment of "supernatural rats" against Arab residents of Jerusalem's Old City:
"... [Israeli] settlers have been bringing chests filled with rats and releasing them in the Old City's [Arab] neighborhoods... the [Arab] residents' efforts to counter this infestation have failed, especially since cats run away from these rats because of their size and ferocity... All of the conventional efforts to kill them have not succeeded... which compels Jerusalem's [Arabs] today to face the dangers of settlement and the infestation of rats..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 18, 2008]
c. PA TV has been broadcasting a music video from 2007 to February 2009, with the repeated refrain, "My enemy, my enemy." Israel is called a "snake, coiled around the land." The hate video denies Israel's right to exist and anticipates Israel's destruction: "You have no choice, O enemy, but to leave my country."
3. The PA openly glorifies not only past but current terrorists, venerating terrorist murderers - even those who have murdered since Annapolis.
Examples:
a. The suicide terrorist in the Israeli city of Dimona, the killer of the eight Jerusalem yeshiva students, arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh and other terrorists were all glorified as Palestinian heroes in official PA newspapers and television in 2008.
b. In February 2009 the PA glorified the terrorist who murdered three civilians and seven Israeli soldiers in a 2002 ambush. The terrorist and his action were praised as "the hero of the Intifada... [doing] what tens of brigades and platoons, and hundreds of missiles and heroic stories, failed to do."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 17, 2009]
c. On March 11, 2009, PA TV broadcast a special program commemorating and celebrating the 30th anniversary of the most deadly terror attack ever carried out in Israel - a bus hijacking that left 37 civilians dead. The program opened with the narrator glorifying this attack as "one of the most important and most prominent special operations, executed by the Palestinian revolution by sea, on the coast between Haifa and Tel Aviv. This operation, carried out by a team of heroes and led by the heroic fighter Dalal Mughrabi... ."
4. Far from distancing itself from earlier Arafat ideologies, the PA leadership continues to advocate Israel's destruction.
Example:
PA Fatah MP: "It doesn't mean that we don't want the 1948 borders [i.e. destroy Israel], but in our current political program, we [Fatah] say we want a state on the 1967 borders..."
[PA TV Aug. 25, 2008]
Contrary to the perception that Hamas alone preaches terror, violence and denial of Israel's right to exist, this PMW Special Report documents that the PA-Fatah leadership and media promote the same message. In contrast to the moderate message that it conveys to the English-speaking world, the Palestinian Authority's Arabic-language world continues to be imbued with hate promotion and promises of Israel's expected destruction.
Canada is directly funding
the responsible government frameworks.
The report
1. Denying Israel's right to exist, rejecting Israel's existence and advocating its destruction
2. Hate promotion and demonization for children and adults - PA Hate Media
2.1 Libels and lies
2.2 Hate through videos and demonization
3. Honoring and glorifying terror
3.1 Murderers since Annapolis deemed heroic
3.2 Other past terrorists - likewise deemed heroic
3.3 PA lauds terrorist-mass murderers as heroes
4. PA Political and Religious Leaders - hatred in Arabic
4.1 PM Mahmoud Abbas - in Arabic
4.2 Other PA political and religious officials (MPs, party leaders, etc.)
5. Conclusions
Video: PA TV celebration
of most murderous terror attack
in Israel's history
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, March 24, 2009
Last week PMW released the transcript of Palestinian Authority television's glorification of the most murderous Palestinian terror attack in Israel's history. Today we are resending this bulletin with the video link to view the program.
The terror attack on March 11, 1978, involved a bus hijacking that left 37 civilians dead. The Palestinian Authority celebrated the 20th anniversary of the attack with an hour-long TV special about the hijacking. The program included file footage of PLO training camps, and interviews with a number of terrorists describing the planning and implementation of the attack.
The program opened with the narrator glorifying the attack as:
"... one of the most important and most prominent special operations, executed by the Palestinian revolution by sea, on the coast between Haifa and Tel Aviv. This operation, carried out by a team of heroes and led by the heroic fighter Dalal Mughrabi, had great impact on continuing events of the Arab-Israeli conflict."
[PA TV (Fatah), March 11, 2009]
Western funders misled:
Fatah still refuses to recognize Israel,
PA's "recognition" only to receive international aid
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, March 17, 2009
When Western countries met last month to pledge billions of dollars in funding to the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority, they stressed that Hamas would not receive funding until it recognized Israel. However, a senior Fatah leader, Muhammad Dahlan, admitted yesterday on Palestinian Authority television that Fatah - just like Hamas - still does not recognize Israel.
Furthermore, he said that the Palestinian Authority's apparent "recognition" is to make the PA "acceptable" to the international community, and therefore allow it to continue to receive international aid:
"I want to say for the thousandth time, in my own name and in the name of all of my fellow members of the Fatah movement: We do not demand that the Hamas movement recognize Israel. On the contrary, we demand of the Hamas movement not to recognize Israel, because the Fatah movement does not recognize Israel even today."
It is only the Palestinian Authority government, Dahlan insisted, that must "recognize" Israel - not out of conviction or sincerity, but in order to receive the needed help of the international community. This help would not come, says Dahlan, if the PA government did not "recognize" Israel.
The inherent contradiction between the Fatah, headed by "Chairman" Mahmoud Abbas, not recognizing Israel, and the Palestinian Authority, headed by "President" Mahmoud Abbas, "recognizing" Israel, was not challenged by the interviewer.
This is not merely Dahlan's opinion but apparently official PA ideology. It is nearly identical to the 2006 declaration made by Mahmoud Abbas himself that while PA ministers have to "recognize" Israeli ministers across a negotiating table, for functional purposes, this does not imply political recognition by Fatah of Israel:
"Hamas is not required to recognize Israel... It is not required of Hamas, or of Fatah, or of the Popular Front to recognize Israel."
The following are the two declarations - yesterday's by Dahlan and the earlier one by Abbas - that Fatah does not recognize Israel.
Interview with Muhammad Dahlan, PA TV March 16, 2009:
Dahlan: "There are many distortions that the Hamas movement tries to attribute to us [Fatah]. For instance, they always say that the Fatah movement wants Hamas to recognize Israel. This is a gross deception. And I want to say for the thousandth time, in my own name and in the name of all of my fellow members of the Fatah movement: We do not demand that the Hamas movement recognize Israel. On the contrary, we demand of the Hamas movement not to recognize Israel, because the Fatah movement does not recognize Israel, even today. [...] Therefore, no one can compete with us. We of the Fatah do not recognize Israel; we recognized [corrects himself] recognize that which the PLO recognized, but that does not obligate us as a Palestinian resistance faction."
It is not being demanded of Hamas that it recognize Israel. The government must deal with people's problems... The entire Palestinian economy is dependent on Israel. The government's role is to manage the day-to-day life of the Palestinian people. I cannot force my thinking and my position [non-recognition of Israel] on the government, and then [were I to do so] - should the Palestinian people pay the price for this position? No. I maintain the position of the Hamas and of the Fatah not to recognize Israel, but the government is required to offer medical treatment, to make education easier and take care of it. It must carry out reconstruction. Do you imagine that Gaza's reconstruction is possible under the shadow of this political bickering between us and the international community?
Moderator: Why must the new government recognize the PLO's commitments?
Dahlan: It's not the political parties [that must recognize]; it's required of the government and not of the parties. It's required of the government but not of Hamas; it's required of the government but not of the Fatah, so that this government will be able to offer the necessary assistance, to carry out the necessary reconstruction, to offer assistance to the sick, to bring relief to needy families... This can be dealt with [only] by a government that has relations with the international community, one that is acceptable to the international community, in order that we can work together and benefit from the international community."
The following interview with Mahmoud Abbas was broadcast on Al-Arabiya [based in Dubai] and Palestinian TV on Oct. 3, 2006:
The host is discussing with Mahmoud Abbas the difference between Hamas and Fatah preventing the establishing of a Palestinian unity government.
Host: "But maybe Hamas is right regarding the fact that it does not want to recognize Israel."
Abbas [snaps]: "Hamas is not required, Hamas is not required to recognize Israel... It is not required of Hamas, or of Fatah, or of the Popular Front to recognize Israel, all right?
"The PLO, in 1993, recognized Israel. As Israel recognized the PLO. Every person has the right to say 'I do not recognize,' okay? It's your right. It is the right of every organization. But the government which will be formed, and which will function opposite the Israelis on a daily basis... every hour and perhaps every second, there will be contact between Palestinian ministers and Israeli ministers. And I ask - how can this government, or these ministers, not recognize their counterparts, and then solve people's problems?" [Abbas then gives an example of $500 million in taxes intended for the Palestinians, but put on hold by Israelis. The Palestinian finance minister has to come to an agreement with the Israeli finance minister regarding the transfer of that money.] "So how can he make an agreement with him if he does not recognize him?"
"So I do not demand of Hamas nor any other [organizations] to recognize Israel. But from the government that works with Israelis in day to day life, yes."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton interview
Ali-Soutak, Palestinian teen show, PA TV, March 8, 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was interviewed today live on a PA TV program for teenagers. The following is a transcript of the interview:
Boy host:
"You have just finished meeting with the Palestinian children in the Access program. Can you tell us, what do you think of such a program and of the students involved?"
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
"First of all, I am delighted to be on your program and I thank you for giving me the opportunity. I think it is very important to have a program run by young people about speaking about speaking out and I just saw some very impressive people. The students in this Access program that I visited were incredibly smart, asked great questions, their English was really good and I am proud to say that we are expanding on the Access programs..." [talks more about being happy to be on show].
Girl host:
"The Access program is an exchange program funded by the American government. What role do such programs play in bridging the gap between cultures and what can be done to make them two-way exchange programs?"
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
"I am hoping to play a big role in working to connect the Palestinian people and American people more closely. As you know, we have many Palestinian Americans, we have very successful Palestinians in every walk of life; in business, in academia, you name it, in every walk of life. And I want to do more to connect up our two countries: our people, having the Palestinian people feel that they have a better understanding of the United States and having the American people feel like they have a better understanding of the Palestinian people."
Boy host:
"Both you and President Obama have spoken about your interest in bringing about a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinian people. What are the concrete steps that you are planning to take to bring out such an agreement?"
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
"Well, we already have taken some. One of my first recommendations to president Obama was to appoint Senator Mitchell as our Middle East Envoy, to do it immediately, and to send him to the region to begin his work, and the president and I were able to make that announcement on the second day of the administration. Senator Mitchell left on one of the first few days. We wanted to send a very clear message to the Palestinian people, to the Israeli people, to the region, that this administration is dedicated to working towards a two-state solution. My appearance at Sharm El Sheikh at the Gaza reconstruction conference hosted by the Egyptians, was intended to send another message: that the United States will commit nine hundred million dollars to the people of Gaza because we want to alleviate humanitarian suffering in Gaza, but some of that money will also go to the West Bank because the work being done by President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayad is very effective and successful and we want to support that. Of course once an Israeli government is formed, Senator Mitchell will go back and talk with them."
Girl host:
"Before becoming the Secretary of State you were the senator, governor, and first lady and first woman candidate for presidency. What would be your added value as a woman to such a position?"
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
"I have had an extraordinary experience.
I have been so honored to hold these positions in my country, to work with my husband Bill Clinton who as you know was very committed to bringing about a two-state solution with Palestinian and Israeli people. I have been the senator in New York and I will continue my work on children's rights and women's rights to better economic opportunity, to better understanding around the world, and now as Secretary of State I feel very privileged to represent President Obama who is reaching out to the world, making it clear that the United States wants people to have a better future."
Girl host:
"We have taken our cameras to the streets and asked many young Palestinians about questions they want to ask you. A little young girl from a village in Ramallah wants to know what you would do if your daughter Chelsea was unfortunate enough to have been born under occupation, to be born deprived of freedom and liberty?"
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
"Well, I would do what so many parents here in the West Bank and in Gaza do. I would love her, I would take care of her, I would get the best education I could for her, and I would never lose hope, I would never give up on the dream of a Palestinian State. No matter what happens, no matter what people do to try and derail that dream. I would tell my daughter and I would hope my daughter would believe with all of her heart that she has the same opportunities for the best future that any child anywhere in the world does, and that's what my goal will be."
Boy host:
"Many of our viewers are young Palestinians. What message would you deliver to young Palestinians, many of whom have lost hope in justice and can no longer see the light at the end of the tunnel?"
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
"I understand the frustration and sense of hopelessness that can sometimes affect people's thinking and feeling but I believe that with all my heart that there is no excuse for hopelessness. There is always the possibility of the human spirit that can overcome any barrier. Not violence, not rejectionism and despair but constantly making it clear that human beings deserve the same rights no matter who you are and what you are and where you live; that's why getting an education is so important. That's why meeting these young students in Access and talking to the two of you fills me with hope. Now there have to be changes, and the United States is committed to a two-state solution. I met with Palestinian leaders, I met with Israeli leaders, I have delivered the same message to everyone I met with. We are committed to working towards a two-state solution and I have to say that the work that President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayad have done have given every young Palestinian not just hope, but conviction that it is possible, because you should have seen the presentation that President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayad gave in Sharm El Sheikh; among the best I have ever seen from anyone. The written materials, the specifics. People came to Sharem El Sheikh willing to give money to help the people in Gaza. But after hearing that they nearly doubled their commitment. Because it is not just a question of hope. You have to have a clear program. You can't just say, "Here I am, help me." You have to say "Here's what I'm doing to help myself, here's what I've accomplished, now it's your turn." You shift the burden and that's what president Abbas and Prime Minister Fayad have done and that is what the United States is committed to doing. Both Israelis and Palestinians are looking towards the day when Israelis can live in security, because that's of course a very legitimate concern, and the Palestinian people can live in security in their own state and shape their own destiny."
Boy host:
"The 8th of March is international women's day. Your Excellency has become a role model for many women around the world. Do you have any plan to empower women on the level of political participation, negotiations, and peace making? "
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton:
"Yes, I am all of that. I am committed to the rights of girls and women to live up to their God given potential. When I see a young woman like you sitting next to an impressive young man, I see the future and I see that we are using the talents of everyone. Any country that does not utilize the talents of half the population will never be as successful as they could be, and that's just I think an obvious fact. So I am going to do as Secretary of State what I have done all my life. I will stand up for women's rights. Stand up for women to have the same chances as boys, for daughters to have the same support as sons, because we all have different talents, we have all been endowed with different talents and society must recognize that so that's my goal. I will work very very hard towards that." [Expresses thanks for being invited.]
Mahmoud Abbas at start of Gaza War:
Hamas is responsible for violence
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, Feb. 25, 2009
On the second day of the Gaza War, PMW released the text of the speech by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, in which he blamed Hamas for the start of the hostilities. He lamented that the violence in the Gaza Strip could have been avoided had Hamas not broken the ceasefire. Due to its importance PMW has subtitled the speech and made it available for viewing.
Following is the transcript of the speech given at a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minster Ahmad Abu al-Gheit:
"I say in all honesty, we made contact with leaders in Hamas in the Gaza Strip. We spoke with them in all honesty and directly, and after that we spoke with them indirectly, through more than one Arab and non-Arab side... We spoke with them on the telephone and we said: 'We beg of you, we hope that you won't break [the ceasefire.] As the [Egyptian foreign] Minister said: "Don't break the ceasefire, the ceasefire must continue and not stop." In order to avoid [violence] that has happened. If only we had avoided it."
[Palestinian Authority TV, Dec. 28, 2008]
PA continues to glorify terrorist murderers
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, Feb. 18, 2009
The official Palestinian Authority daily has praised and glorified the terrorist who murdered three civilians and seven Israeli soldiers in a 2002 ambush. The terrorist was praised for entering "the history of the Intifada as having carried out the most successful military action, alone... he is the hero of the Intifada... [doing] what tens of brigades and platoons, and hundreds of missiles and heroic stories, failed to do."
The killer, Thaer Hamed, hid on a hill and shot and killed the seven Israeli soldiers, one after the other, as they emerged from a building below. He also shot and killed an Israeli paramedic and two civilians in the area.
The article, in the official newspaper of Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, also praises the Hamas kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit as "a military action that was successful by any military yardstick." It says that the sniper Hamed is "made of the same stuff as those who carried out the capture of Shalit."
Glorifying terrorists is a regular practice in Palestinian society, by both the Fatah and Hamas leadership. The PA regularly honors terrorists as role models for children and youth by naming schools, summer camps and athletic facilities after some of the most heinous killers.
Hafez Barghouti, editor of PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, wrote the yesterday's article glorifying the killings, inflating the number of his victims and praising Hamed. He called on Palestinians to view Hamed as a top priority for release in any future prisoner exchange.
The following is the text from the official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, by editor-in-chief, Hafez Barghouti:
"There is still some chance to carry out a deal [to free jailed Palestinians], since the present [Israeli] government wants last-minute achievements to bolster the Kadima and Labor parties... But what pains us is that at the top of the list of senior prisoners whose liberty is being sought, one non-political name is missing, that of the young sniper Thaer Hamed, who carried out the operation at Wadi Al-Haramiyye... [he] belonged to no faction when he carried out his action... which killed nine [Israeli] soldiers and three settlers. [Actual figure was seven soldiers and three civilians - Ed.]...
This young man should be our top priority, since he entered the history of the Intifada as having carried out the most successful military action, alone...
Thaer Hamed deserves freedom because he is the hero of the Intifada, and he is the only Palestinian resistance fighter who belongs to his people and to his land, spurning the factions, for had he been factional, he would not have succeeded in his action. He acted alone, going out to play solo on the M-1 [carbine], and did what tens of brigades and platoons, and hundreds of missiles and heroic stories, failed to do.
He is made of the same stuff as those who carried out the capture of Shalit, a military action that was successful by any military yardstick, and now he [Thaer Hamed] should be freed."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 17, 2009]
Hamas puppet: I declare war on the Zionists
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, Feb. 15, 2009
After having three puppet hosts, the Mickey Mouse look-alike, the bee and the rabbit, all die on TV, Hamas children's television has introduced a fourth puppet host. The new one, a bear named Nassur, appeared Friday on Hamas TV promising to be a Jihad fighter, and declaring war on the Zionists.
Nassur: "I will join the ranks of the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam [Hamas'] Brigades. I will be a Jihad fighter with them and I will carry a rifle. Do you know why, Saraa?"
Saraa: "Why?"
Nassur: "To defend the children of Palestine, the children who were killed, the children who were wounded, the orphaned children. That's why, from this moment, I declare war on the criminal Zionists. Not only me, me and you. You are ready, right, Saraa?"
Saraa: "We are all ready to sacrifice ourselves for our homeland!"
[Al-Aqsa TV, Feb. 13, 2009]
To see other examples
from PMW's archives click
here