Several articles and an excellent ad by the American Jewish Committee have appeared recently, reporting Palestinian Arab willingness to place their youngsters in the line of fire against Israel. Calling their children "martyrs," Arab parents put their injuries and death in the service of their implacable hatred of the Jews. The AJC ad quotes the Mufti of Jerusalem, the influential Moslem cleric: "They willingly sacrifice their offspring for the sake of freedom -- the younger the martyr, the more I respect him."
The most chilling account appeared in the New York Times Magazine of December 24, 2000. The author, Michael Finkel, spent two weeks at Karni, the crossing from Gaza to pre-1967 Israel. Finkel documents the anti-Jewish hatred taught in schools, preached by Islamic clerics, and underlined by ubiquitous graffiti. We learn that summer camp for these Arab children is training in firing machine guns at targets made to look like Israelis. In obeisance to "even handedness," Finkel repeats ad nauseum that Israelis have responded to rock throwing with bullets. He also portrays the squalor of the living conditions of the Arab residents of Gaza, without a hint of a question about their spurious "refugee" status, and who has kept them that way and why.
Nonetheless, the article speaks volumes about the mindset of Israel's enemies and Michael Finkel has performed a great service.
Finkel tells us the story of a youngster named Ahmed who skips school to attend the daily rock throwing at the Karni pass, and is killed in a volley of gunfire from Israeli soldiers. Ahmed immediately becomes a "martyr" and Finkel visits the family. Here is Finkel's account:
"When a Palestinian is martyred in the war, no matter the age, the Palestinian National Authority issues a one time payment of $2000 to his family, followed by monthly payments of $150 that continue until the last child has left the house. The Red Crescent, an Islamic relief organization, contributes an additional $2,500. And the government of Iraq donates $10,000 to every martyr's family. Saddam Hussein has pledged $4.5 million to the Palestinian Authority -- enough to cover 450 martyrs -- and Gaza newspapers frequently run ads from martyrs' families thanking the Iraqi leader for his largesse.* Ahmed's father told me that the Palestinian Authority's payment had already been delivered. The $2,000 came in an envelope, in United States currency. He was expecting the rest of the money in a matter of days."
Finkel adds that Ahmed's father said that he would receive $15,000 for his boy's death and use the funds to buy land and a house for his family. They had lived in a refugee camp all their lives. There was no other way they could leave the camp. His mother, who is pregnant, declared: "I will give all my children, if that's what it takes to get our homeland back. All of them can become martyrs. It will be a dignity to me."
We can't help but wonder how those candidates whose mantra was "putting children first and leaving no child behind" respond to this depravity of putting children first in harm's way. Even the hyenas, the most despised of mammals, protect their litters.
*AFSI note: Those Americans who decry the harshness of economic sanctions against Iraq might be interested in Saddam's largesse.
I just won a bet I would have preferred to have lost. I will add the crisp one hundred-dollar bill to AFSI's coffers. My husband bet me that even a seasoned coward like Barak would not give up Jerusalem, exclaiming, "that would be treason against Judaism, against Zionism, against everything Jews have fought and died for." He lost the bet, but there are no winners.
Barak offers to give Arafat's thugs control of the Temple Mount, asking only for the Western Wall. It is a ludicrous offer, giving the murderers the high ground from which to rain lethal rocks on worshippers below. Nonetheless, at the recent negotiations in Washington, with this offer on the table, the Arabs claimed it was not enough, leading to a dispute which purportedly almost led to a fistfight refereed by the outgoing Albright.
Less than a decade ago, even Israel's
most hardened leftists drew a line on Jerusalem. Even
the formulators of the 1947 partition plan envisioned
"international" status for Jerusalem, not Arab control. In
the 1948 war, the Arabs, specifically Jordan, won control
of Jerusalem and its stewardship of the Jewish capital
was criminal. Shrines, tombs, archives, and religious
articles were desecrated and destroyed. For Jews
throughout the world, the liberation of Jerusalem in 1967,
symbolized by a weeping Moshe Dayan standing before
the Western Wall, was the most inspiring religious
event since the terrible destruction of the Temple. It
galvanized even the most secular Jews. It answered the prayer of
millions at ceremonies marking births, deaths,
weddings and religious holidays. It reinvigorated Jewish life in
every corner of the Diaspora -- even where observance could be punished. Christians all over the world
welcomed Israel's liberation of Jerusalem with its
resulting restoration of Christian shrines and access to tourists
[(Continued on p.11)]
Outpost - 10 - January 2001