From the PMW site
Palestinian Children
Ages 10-13: Expressing the Wish to Die
1. 11 Year-Olds: Shahada (Islamic martyrdom) is Preferable to Peace
In July 2002, two articulate 11-year-old girls were interviewed in the studio of official Palestinian Authority TV. Among other topics, they spoke of their personal yearning to achieve death through Shahada - Death for Allah - and of a similar desire they said exists in "every Palestinian child." It is striking that their desire for death was expressed as a personal goal, not related to the conflict with Israel, having been convinced that dying for Allah is preferable to life. Their goal in living is not to experience a good life, but to achieve the proper death - Shahada.
The following are portions from the TV discussion:
Host: "You described Shahada as something beautiful. Do you think it is beautiful?"
Walla: "Shahada is very, very beautiful. Everyone yearns for Shahada. What could be better than going to Paradise?"
Host: "What is better, peace and full rights for the Palestinian people, or Shahada?"
Walla: "Shahada. I will achieve my rights after becoming a Shahida. We won't stay children forever."
Host: "OK. Yussra, would you agree with that?"
Yussra: "Of course Shahada is a good thing. We don't want this world, we want the Afterlife. We benefit not from this life, but from the Afterlife. And so all young Palestinians are not like other youth, they are hot tempered. Of course they prefer Shahada; since they are Palestinian."
Host: "I want to ask you, do you actually love death?"
Yussra: "There's a difference between death and Shahada."
Host: "No, I mean the absence that is in death, the physical absence. Do you love death?"
Yussra: "No child loves death. The children of Palestine have accepted the concept that this is Shahada, and that death by Shahada is very good. Every Palestinian child aged, say 12, says 'Oh Lord, I would like to become a Shahid." ['Letter of the People', PA TV, June 9, 2002]
2. Public Opinion Polls
"72% of the children sampled from all the districts of Gaza expressed the hope of becoming Shahids in the confrontations..."
[’Sout Al-Nissa’-Voice of the Women, Al-Ayyam, January. 24, 2002]
"...79-80% of the children expressed willingness to be Shahids."
[PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 18, 2002] 3. Children's Poetry
"I swear to you by all that I hold dear that I will purify your land… For your land we will die, we shall advance to Shahada in groups!" [10th grade boy reads a poem, PATV, August 23, 2002]
4. Three Girls go to Seek Shahada
"The residents of the village Yassid…found the 3 girls who had disappeared two days ago, following a full day of extensive, strenuous searching. Yassid residents said that the three girls, aged 10,11 and 12, packed clothes, food and some money, and left eastward, looking for the way to Jerusalem, in order to achieve Shahada there. The girls got as far as a PA checkpoint, and there the officer on duty convinced them to go back. The children said they had wanted to get weapons and to go to Jerusalem in order to achieve Shahada there, and that the Israeli Army checkpoint would not have prevented them from their aspiration to achieve Shahada."
Ages 14-17: Embarking on Suicide Attacks
The PA indoctrination has already led to the death of Palestinian children. Young chlidren have written "farewell letters" to their parents in which they express pride in their desire to die, and have set out on suicide terrorist attacks. These children’s farewell letters included phrases identical to "farewell" phrases from the propaganda films produced by the PA: "Mother, don't cry for me," indicating a direct link between the PA propaganda and the children's desire for heroic death.
In addition, a 17-year-old girl blew herself up in a suicide terrorist attack in Jerusalem.
Following are the stories from the press:
1. Leaving Farewell Letters: "Do Not Cry for Me"
Three 14-year old boys set out to attack an Israeli village, hoping to be killed. They left farewell letters which included phrases from the TV clip "Farewell Letter" which was broadcast hundreds of times on PA TV: "The child Yussouf Zaakut wrote: '...Don't cry for me. Bury me with my brothers and with the Shahids..."" [The New York Times, April 25, 2002]
2. Brothers Leave Farewell Letters: "Don't Cry for Me, My Mother"
Two brothers who took part in the confrontations left farewell letters to their parents expressing their hope of being killed:
"He wrote phrases of love of the counrty and love of Al-Aqsa and becoming a Shahid, for liberty and independence. He referred to himself as a Shahid. On one of his notebooks he wrote: 'The hero Shahid, Yasser Sami Al-Koussba died as a Shahid on the land of Palestine...'"
"Sammer wrote the following phrase on one of his notebooks, a few days before he became a Shahid: 'Mother! Don't cry over me if I am killed. Death does not scare me, my aspiration is to be a Shahid'" ['Sout Al-Nissa-Voice of the Women', Al-Ayyam, Feb. 28, 2002]
3. 17-year-old Girl commits Suicide Terrorist Bombing in Jerusalem
Ayyat Al Achris, wearing a belt of explosives, walked into a supermarket in Jerusalem's Kiryat Yovel neighborhood, on March 29, 2002. She was 17 years old. The security guard at the door, suspecting she was a terrorist, pushed her outside, and she detonated her explosives, killing the security guard and a 17-year-old Israeli girl.
Part III: Findings and Conclusions
The Palestinian Authority has created a violent, death seeking reality for their young children, having taught them to see death for Allah - Shahada - as an ideal, which they are expected to achieve. As Arafat said in his message to children: "Is it not the greatest message to the world when that hero becomes a Shahid?"
The examples presented in this report are a representative selection, demonstrating the comprehensive campaign waged by the Palestinian Authority. If just 1% of the children attempt to fulfill their "duty" and seek Shahada through suicide terrorism, the ramifications will be cataclysmic. The targets of the future Palestinian terror wave will be Israel, and in all likelihood, other Western democracies, as well.
Today an entire generation of Palestinian children, victims of the PA's indoctrination and propaganda, believe that their death for Allah in war is the highest achievement attainable in life. This education is an indelible stain on Palestinian society, and places the Palestinian Authority among the greatest child abusers in history.
ShahadaCan't trust the PMW? Then check the source references they have in Arabic...
The two polls listed above are Palestinian sources, but those sources might be inflating the numbers themselves for the sake of their intifada. In any case, the dates are given so you can prove PMW wrong. Go for it.
