Third Submission of the

Palestine Liberation Organization to the

Sharm El-Sheikh Fact-Finding Committee

APRIL 3, 2001

Excerpts on Incitement

4. Education

With respect to the education of Palestinian children, Israel’s Statement argues that the Palestinian Authority officially sanctioned hostile propaganda directed against Jews and Israelis “of the most insidious kind … particularly so in the case of children.” To support this argument, Israel’s Statement quotes a number of excerpts from Palestinian school textbooks, depicts Palestinian children’s summer camps as sites of military training, and condemns Palestinian television for airing children’s programs that encourage hatred and violence towards Jews.

In the following pages, we will demonstrate how the above claims are based on a selective, inaccurate, and non-contextual reading of the situation, a reading that can be accounted for only as the product of extreme bad faith in authorship. The Palestinian Authority is in full compliance with its obligations under the Interim Agreement, having done its utmost to foster the ideals of mutual understanding and tolerance among

Palestinian children.

Rather, what is truly at fault are Israel’s policies of military occupation and its racially-based educational ideology. As the Israeli writer David Grossman eloquently recounts his conversation at a Palestinian school located in the refugee camp of Dheisha, one teacher told him:

“‘A little while ago the military governor visited the kindergarten and asked if I teach the children bad things, against Israel and the Jews.’

‘And what did you say to him?’

‘I said that I don’t. But that his soldiers do.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘What do I mean? I’ll explain. When a child goes for a walk outside and sees a tree, he knows that the tree bears fruit and leaves, right? When he sees a soldier, he knows very well what the soldier does. Do you understand?’

‘What do soldiers do?’ [Grossman asked a] girl of about four, called Naima, green-eyed, little gold earrings in her ears.

‘Searches and beatings.’

This section is divided into three subsections discussing the questions of (1) Palestinian school textbooks; (2) Palestinian summer camps; and (3) Palestinian children’s television programs.

(i) School Textbooks.

In assessing Palestinian school textbooks, it is important to note:

1. All the “hostile propaganda” quoted in Israel’s Statement were drawn from Egyptian or Jordanian textbooks. Until September 2000, there was no such thing as a Palestinian textbook.

2. In September 2000, the Palestinian Ministry of Education published the first-ever school textbooks produced by Palestinian authors. The textbooks have earned almost unanimous praise for their commitment to encouraging the ideals of peaceful coexistence. Israel’s Statement does not quote any of these textbooks.

(a)   The Fifty-Year Nonexistence of a “Palestinian Textbook”

Nation-states take for granted their right to set a national school curriculum that reflects their identity, narrates their history, and expresses their aspirations. Palestinians do not enjoy this luxury. Since 1948, Palestinians have not been allowed to choose what books to teach their children at school. Instead, between 1948 and 1967, the Gaza Strip was administered by Egypt, while the West Bank came under Jordanian rule. Both regimes were understood as temporary arrangements pending the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Accordingly, in the Gaza Strip, Egyptian textbooks were assigned to Palestinian students enrolled in primary, preparatory and secondary schools. By the same token, Jordanian textbooks were used throughout the West Bank school system.

The above situation did not change following Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 1967. Israel’s colonial policy in the newly occupied territories was founded on denying the very existence of Palestinians as a people with a distinct and legitimate identity, culture, history, and national narrative. As one legendary Prime Minister of Israel infamously declared: “There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed.” Consistent with this policy of denial, the Israeli Ministry of Education has done its best to stifle any opportunity for the development of a national Palestinian consciousness. It did not allow Palestinian schools to develop a national curriculum, and rejected any attempt by Palestinians to draft and publish their own school textbooks. Instead, from 1967 to the present day, the Israeli Ministry of Education has institutionalized the study of Egyptian and Jordanian schoolbooks, assigning the former to Palestinian students in the Gaza Strip, and the latter to their counterparts in West Bank schools.

Accordingly, Palestinian schoolchildren living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have studied from textbooks that were authored by non-Palestinians. History was taught from textbooks that, by definition, were not intended to recount Palestinian history. Geography, civics, poetry and literature, were all taught to Palestinian children from textbooks that ignored their national narrative. As a recent article in the Israeli newspaper of Ha’Aretz succinctly put it:

“[T]he Palestinians are punished twice. First, they are criticized for books produced by the education ministries of others. Secondly, their children study from books that ignore their own nation’s narrative.”

Given the above, it becomes understandable why every single schoolbook quote cited in Israel’s Statement was copied from Jordanian or Egyptian textbooks. Israel’s Statement does not include any quotes from Palestinian authored textbooks because until very recently Israel did not allow any such textbooks to exist.

(b) Israeli Praise for the Newly-Published Palestinian Textbooks

Until September 2000, there was no such thing as a “Palestinian school textbook.” Following the signing of the Interim Agreement, a Palestinian Ministry of Education was set up for the first time since 1948. The Palestinian Authority also set up the Center for Developing the Palestinian Curricula (the “Curricula Center”) with the express mandate of drafting Palestinian school textbooks that reflect the Palestinian narrative and promote a spirit of peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding.

Given the enormous task of drafting new school textbooks, the Curricula Center has published only 14 new textbooks to date. In September 2000, the new textbooks were assigned for the first time to students in the first and sixth grades. Palestinian students enrolled in the remaining ten other school grades continue to study from Jordanian and Egyptian textbooks pending the completion of drafting new Palestinian textbooks for all school years.

The newly published 14 textbooks have earned almost unanimous praise for their commitment to fostering mutual understanding and tolerance. Numerous international scholars and non-governmental organizations of various stripes have all commended the Curricula Center’s efforts in this regard. In particular, Israeli scholars from different ends of the political spectrum have come out in support of the new textbooks.

One noteworthy example is the recent finding of the research team from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Led by Dr Ruth Firer from the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, the research team extended considerable praise to the new school textbooks. Over the past five years, the research team examined 20 textbooks from both Israeli and Palestinian curricula. They reviewed history and civics textbooks, as well as some literature books. In particular, their study concentrated on the narrative of the Israeli-Arab conflict from the end of the 19th century until the present day. With respect to how the new Palestinian textbooks compare to previous books used in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Dr. Firer noted how the new books were “freer of negative stereotypes of Jews and Israelis, compared to Jordanian and Egyptian books.” Furthermore, Dr Firer notes how her team was “surprised to find how moderate the anger directed towards Israelis in the Palestinian textbooks is, compared with the Palestinian predicament and suffering . . . This surprise is doubled when you compare the Palestinian books to Israeli ones from the 1950s and 190s, which mentioned gentiles [only] in the context of pogroms and the Holocaust.” Dr Firer’s five-year research, authored in compliance with universal criteria for textbook analysis, is scheduled for publication in the near future.

Another noteworthy example of Israeli praise comes from the unlikely source of the Israeli religious right wing. More specifically, the newly published textbooks received the praise of Mr. Itmar Marcus, a settler who served on the Joint Israeli Palestinian Anti-Incitement Committee, and presently runs the right wing Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace. Known for his extremely critical views of the Palestinian curriculum, Mr. Marcus is reported to have nonetheless conceded that “the open calls for Israel’s destruction found in the previous books are no longer present [in the new Palestinian textbooks]” and that “references defining Jews as ‘treacherous’ or ‘the evil enemy’ common in the previous books, are likewise not present.”

(ii) Summer Camps

Israel’s Statement alleges that during the summer of 2000, “some 2,000 Palestinian children between the ages of 7-18 took part in [summer] camps in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip [where] a common theme was preparation for armed conflict. Amongst other activities, the children were trained in the operation of firearms.”

The above claim is essentially a colossal distortion of the nature of Palestinian summer camps. The misrepresentation of summer camps as a place where 27,000 Palestinian children receive “military training” is the product of either culpable ignorance or deliberate bad faith on the part of the authors of Israel’s Statement. The simple truth of the matter is that the activities pursued at Palestinian summer camps are no different from those pursued at any other summer camp the world over. To assume otherwise, as Israel’s Statement assumes, risks spiraling down a dangerous path of racist perceptions that de-humanize Palestinian children and collectively reduces their parents into a cruel and callous bloodthirsty gang.

While the exact configuration of summer camp activities differs from one camp to another – depending on the participant’s age-group – education and entertainment remain the backbone of a typical day in a Palestinian summer camp. Education and entertainment cover a variety of fields, from water-coloring to raising national awareness. This is all achieved through a combination of activities that include community services (such as cleaning streets or planting trees at refugee camps); drama classes; art and woodwork; sex education classes; history classes, etc. Typical examples of daily programs at summer camps can be presented to the Committee upon request.

With respect to education about Judaism and Israel, all major summer camps have assigned a textbook entitled Living in the Holy Land: Respecting the Differences. A joint production of Palestinian and Israeli non-governmental organizations, the textbook is designed to foster mutual understanding and tolerance between Muslims, Christians and Jews living everywhere in the Holy Land. With respect to Judaism, the textbook goes to great lengths to explain the basic tenets of the Jewish faith, and the central position which Jerusalem occupies in it. For example, the textbook describes the importance of the Holy Land in Judaism thus:

“The land of Israel always formed an important element in the Jewish personality and represented sacrifice, release from slavery and the highest of Jewish aspirations. Therefore, we consider that living in the holy land, or the promised land as it is called by the Jews, is closely linked to following God’s commandments and rules by the Jewish people.”

Palestinian summer camps are run by a combination of government employees of the Ministry of Youth and Sport, Fateh members, and numerous volunteers, many of whom hail from different countries of the world. One such example of a volunteer is Myrna Schmidt from Canada. Myrna coordinated a program entitled “Hearts and Hands around the World” which ran in 34 schools spread throughout many villages in the West Bank. Following the current violence, Myrna sent a heartfelt e-mail to the organizers of her summer camp to inquire after their safety. Below are some excerpts from Myrna’s e-mail which reflect on her experience at camp she volunteered in last summer:

“[My life] in 1997 changed when World Vision Canada was looking for volunteers to help run a summer day camp in a West Bank village. Much to my surprise, I fell in love with the country and the people and consequently have returned a couple of times, making it my second home … So this is what is being taught in these schools: to be loving, caring, how to democratically work together, to cooperate, and take positive action. It was a heart-warming and inspiring to see the youth develop these attitudes and actions … As a Canadian, I first arrived in Palestine completely neutral to the Arab-Jewish conflicts. We are known primarily as ‘peacekeepers’ and impartial observers. I believe it is impossible to live and work in this conflicted region without seeing the incredible unfairness that is allowed to continue day after day. Both sides are hurting, but one much more than the other … Palestinians are clearly not the terrorists I was once been led to believe. They are simply a people who have had their rights denied and been oppressed for too long. They are sad, they are frustrated, and they are sometimes justifiably angry. They, like all people in the world deserve justice, the truth be known to all, reconciliation, and peace.”11

(iii) TV Programming for Palestinian Children

Israel’s Statement alleges that a child’s program called the “Children’s Club” features a song by children wanting to become “suicide warriors”. A Palestinian investigation of this assertion has not confirmed any such song. Given that Israel did not provide a video of the alleged airing or any information such as the date or time of airing which would allow independent verification, its assertion must be met with skepticism. Israel’s assertion mirrors former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion in 1998 that a “Palestinian Sesame Street encourages preschoolers to embrace terrorism.” In an apology to the director of the Children’s Television Workshop, the producers of a joint Israeli/Palestinian Sesame Street which has received much praise, Netanyahu claimed he was in fact referring to “an official Palestinian TV program for children” but did not provide the program’s name or any other evidence that the alleged program teaches

children to engage in terrorism.

5. Israeli Failure to Prevent Incitement

Pursuant to the Interim Agreement, Israel is committed to “foster mutual understanding and tolerance and … accordingly abstain from incitement, including hostile propaganda.” Furthermore, Israel is required to “take legal measures to prevent such incitement by any organizations, groups or individuals within [its] jurisdiction.”

In the following pages, we will demonstrate that Israel has violated the above obligations. Israel has either actively participated in, or failed to curb, hostile propaganda against the Palestinian people and the Islamic religion, and the very existence of Al-Aqsa mosque.

(a) Israel’s Failure to Amend its School Textbooks

For over thirty years of Israeli occupation, the Palestinian people were not allowed to decide on what to include in their school textbooks. Israel, by contrast, has enjoyed full control over what to teach its children at school. The Israeli school system was created by the State Education Law of 1953 which created an Israeli curriculum with an overriding message: to present the history and culture of the Jewish people as a distinct and unique nation which, despite centuries of exile and persecution, remained united in the belief that it would one day be restored to its national homeland of Israel.

This narrative obfuscates the incontrovertible fact that Israel’s establishment came at the price of dispossessing another nation, taking away its homeland, and creating one of the longest refugee tragedies the world has witnessed to this day. More specifically, Israeli school textbooks include the following:

1. Maps that give the impression that Mandate Palestine was empty of Arabs before the establishment of the State of Israel.

2. Maps that deny the very presence of Israeli occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

3. Accounts of the Israeli-Arab conflict in terms of a primordial hatred between Jew and Arab.

4. Texts that use derogatory terms to describe Arabs racially.

5. Stories whose overriding message is never to trust an Arab.

1. Maps

First, geographical maps included in numerous Israeli textbooks are in keeping with classic Zionist ideology that conceives of Mandate Palestine as a “Land without people for a people without land.” Various maps effectively give students the false impression that Mandate Palestine was empty of any Arab inhabitants. For example, one such map presents cities of Mandate Palestine, with not one mention of the approximate 400 Palestinian villages that existed during the Mandate period but were later destroyed by Israel:

The map is a gross misrepresentation of the historical fact that the Palestinian population remained the majority of inhabitants in historical Palestine throughout the mandate period, while Jewish inhabitants were a minority. By denying the very existence of Palestinians before the establishment of the State Israel, the map obfuscates the fact that Israel’s establishment came at the price of dispossessing approximately 750,000 Palestinians (approximately 75% of the entire Palestinian population) of their homeland and creating one of the most tragically enduring refugee problems this world has witnessed – indeed the map denies the very place from which the refugees originated. Even the right wing Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace admits in a study of Israeli curricula that in this map “the student gets the impression that the country was empty of Arabs”. Similar maps abound in several other Israeli textbooks, assigned to students at both secular and religious schools.

Second, the most commonly used “current map” of the region draws the borders of Israel to include the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The map fails to delineate the borders of the West bank and the Gaza Strip. Instead, as is shown below, the Occupied Palestinian Territories are collapsed into Israeli territory:

Students viewing the above map are thus effectively indoctrinated to believe that the natural borders of Israel include the West Bank and the Gaza Strip (and the Golan Heights). The map thus delicately, and most insidiously, glosses over the historical fact that Israel has occupied another people’s land for over 33 years.

2. Conflict Portrayed as Religious

The Israeli-Arab conflict is explained religiously in terms of a primordial hatred that the Arabs have always harbored for the Jews. For example, the expression that “Esav soneh L Ya’akov” (literally: “Esav hates yakov”) is a common article of faith in religious school textbooks. Esav is portrayed as the forefather of the Arabs, while Yakov is commonly portrayed as the father of the Jews. Students are taught biblical episodes in which Esav’s hatred for Yakov is presented as foreshadowing the ever-present and historical hatred that all Arabs today feel towards Jews.

3. Derogatory References to Arabs

Arabs continue to be referred to in Israeli textbooks are “Ishmaelite” an effectively derogatory term. While Israelis are accounted for as descendants of Sarah, the free wife of the prophet Abraham, Arabs, by contrast, are the descendents of Ishmael, the son of Hagar, a slave of the prophet Abraham. The term “Ishmaelite” effectively denotes the lowly social status of a slave’s offspring. The present document remains fully respectful of the term as long as it is used religiously in the context of biblical texts. Today, however, the term has been offensively transformed into modern derogatory speech. The term smacks of barely concealed racism. This is particularly the case when Arab villagers are described as the “Ishmaelites” who “stabbed suckling-babies.” For example, in describing the tragic events that took place at the Palestinian village of Safad in the late nineteenth century, the Israeli fourth grade text book states that:

“…the Ishmaelites broke into the houses, penetrated everywhere with no mercy on any one’s self or property. With axes, they tore down houses, and with their swords they stabbed suckling babies. They left behind them death and destruction. The Ishmaelites gathered in the narrow alleys and their hands were drenched in Jewish blood.”

4. “Never Trust an Arab”

Israeli textbooks include stories whose overriding morale can only be understood as a warning to Israeli schoolchildren to never trust an Arab. One such example can be found in a fifth grade textbook which portrays Israeli soldiers as gallant and chivalrous gentlemen who extend a courteous hand to an elderly Arab man during the 1948 War. After arguing between them whether to hurt the man or not, “the majority were in opinion that they shouldn’t hurt the Arab and they continued in their way.” That very same evening, the elderly man effectively has the Arab armies kill the gallant soldiers – such was his payback for their chivalry.

It is worth noting that the Palestinian Authority continues to look favorably on the so-called “post-Zionist” debates recently taking place in Israeli academic circles with respect to amending the Israeli school curriculum. The debates constitute a potentially promising step in the direction of mutual understanding and tolerance. Nonetheless, the Palestinian Authority remains disturbed by the current state of the Israeli school curriculum.

(b) Israel’s Failure to Take any Legal Measures to Prevent Incitement

Under Article XXII (1) of the Interim Agreement, the government of Israel is required to “take legal measures to prevent … incitement by any organizations, groups or individuals within its jurisdiction.” With respect to media, Israel has failed to observe this obligation, effectively fostering an environment in which blatantly racist incitement against the Palestinian people and their religious beliefs takes place without censure. What is considered as actionable “hate-speech” under most Western legal systems, takes place daily in the Israeli media without any questioning. This covers Israeli TV and radio, as well as internet websites using Israeli servers.

1. Rabbi Yosef

One such typical example is the case of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of the political party “Shas” – the third largest Israeli party and a regular coalition member of the cabinet. Even before the present crisis, Rabbi Yosef was commonly reported to use racist hate-speech against the Palestinians. Naturally, none of his speeches have been censured by the Israeli government. In a public Saturday night sermon following the failure of the Camp David talks, Rabbi Yosef asked:

“Where are this man’s [Barak’s] brains? He runs after them [the Palestinians] like someone running amok… Why are you bringing them close to us? You bring snakes next to us. How can you make peace with a snake?” Rabbi Yosef went on to term the Palestinians “Ishmaelites” and describe them as follows:

“They are all accursed, wicked ones. They are all haters of Israel. It says in the Gemara [religious text] that the Holy One, blessed be He, is sorry he created these Ishmaelites.”

2. Television and Radio

Examples of incitement on Israeli television abound. One such example which took place at the very beginning of the current crisis is the news program “Seven Thirty”. On October 31, 2000, the program host, Yaacov Akhi Meir interviewed journalist Uri Dan and telephoned Ghanim Hamdi, an IDF officer in the Gaza Strip about the confrontations of the day. Dan asked the Hamdi “can you tell us how the Palestinian Authority uses children in the fight and where did the police stand? Palestinian journalists told me that Arafat has 60,000 armed police officers and he uses children as if they were Arafat-jugend?” The latter term is based on the Nazi Hitlerjugend, or Hitler’s Youth, and draws a vilifying and morally repugnant analogy between Arafat and Hitler and the children who participate in the demonstrations with Hitler’s youth. This disturbing analogy was made on Israeli official television by an Israeli journalist, who must have been fully aware of the reverberations such a statement would make with the Israeli public.

Israeli radio is no different. The most popular radio programs often involve listener participation. Most participants on live radio programs make racially discriminatory comments about Arabs. Quite often, these radio programs degenerate into an open forum for Arab-bashing where the program’s host and participants can freely express racist remarks on air. One such example is the popular program “Night Talk,” hosted by Jojo Abutbul, on Israeli State Radio “Reshet Beth”. On the program of October 30, 2000, Abutbul summed up the evening program’s mood by commenting:

“If I were in charge of gunhips, I would bomb Ramallah for 48 hours and let as many people as possible die.”

The statement came during a dialogue with three Jewish listeners in which one of them described Arabs as “animals”. There are numerous other examples of hate-speech on state-run Israeli television and radio stations. The Palestinian Authority is willing to provide a much more expanded list of documents upon request.

3. The Israeli Right

Stronger forms of racist incitement against Palestinians can be found in the religious and right wing media such as the daily paper Haztofe affiliated with the National Religious Party and Ultra Orthodox daily Yated Ne’eman. Perhaps the most pervasive form of racist media is the settler Radio station Arutz 7. A typical example of the incitement on Arutz was aired on the 10th of October, 2000 at 1:15 p.m. in which the program host, Efi Meir, explicitly engaged in a campaign encouraging settlers to participate in anti-Arab sabotage plans waiting to be executed. He concluded the program by stating:

“[the settler audience] claim they want to take Jaffa on, but at the moment they don’t dare because of the huge supply of weapons in the hands of the Arabs. Therefore, the coming assaults, if they come, will be against well-targeted spots in Jaffa.”

Furthermore, since the signing of the Interim Agreement, the State of Israel has done nothing to stop anti-Arab incitement – even in very extreme cases such as that of the Kach, Kahane Khai and Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg. Both Kach and Kahane Khai were declared “illegal” organizations after Baruch Goldstein, a member of Kach, massacred dozens of Muslim worshipers at the Ibrahimi mosque in Hebron. Yet, these organizations continue to operate openly and their publications are distributed publicly in synagogues throughout Israel.

The racist comments and publications of Rabbi Yitzak Ginzburg is a case at point. In 1994, Rabbi Ginzburg wrote a pamphlet entitled “Baruch the Man,” praising the murderer responsible for the Ibrahimi mosque massacre. In the pamphlet, Ginzburg used biblical sources to justify the murder of Muslims during their time of prayer. In December 1994, Ginzburg was called for questioning by the Israeli Department of Justice, but a month later the Department decided to close the case against him. To date, the Israeli Department of Justice refuses to reveal the reasons why its former Attorney General and former State Attorney, after accusing Rabbi Ginzburg of incitement to racism, have then decided not to pursue criminal proceedings against him. Two Jerusalem lawyers – David Shonberg and Moshe Frankfurter petitioned to the High Court in October 1998 to counter the decision that Ginzburg should not be put on trial. The two lawyers argued that the Department of Justice’s reluctance to publicize the reasons raises suspicions that it is trying to encumber due process. In October 1999, a few days before the hearing in the High Court, the Israeli State simply claimed that “the case file and the legal opinion it contained have not been found.”

Israel’s failure to bring any charges against Rabbi Ginzburg, despite its obligations under the Interim Agreement, is all the more poignant if we keep some of the Rabbi’s views in mind. In a recent interview, Rabbi Ginzburg reiterated the basic tenets of his racist doctrines. Asked to share his recommendations for future actions by the Israeli Government, Rabbi Ginzburg responded:

“First of all, I would suggest that we target Arab property. Rather than saying ‘lets throw all the Arabs out of Israel,’ we should say ‘lets take their work from them and do it ourselves. Next, I would suggest wiping out all the terrorists. Anyone who has blood on his hands, must be killed immediately rather than waiting while he sits in jail and then gets released. It’s possible to get rid of a terrorist cell in less than an hour. Yamit, which was a city in Israel was dismantled in an hour, one hour! So, it’s possible to do the same thing with Beit Jala… Soldiers shooting at Arabs by mistake is a good thing… It’s what the Torah says. Simple logic says that straight away, one must target the closest Arab village and destroy it to its very foundations. Afterwards one needs to do a good deed and immediately establish a Jewish settlement next to

the destroyed Arab village.”

His assessment of Arabs as a race was as follows:

“The Arabs who hate us don’t have the right to live in our country. They endanger our lives. They want to take land that doesn’t belong to them and therefore they are also robbers. The concept of the third world, which is the most primitive on the scale of nations, refers to the Arabs who are on the lowest rung in the scale… According to Kabbalah, the Jewish people are the most advanced people in mind and spirit, but Yishmael is a nation of slaves and the character of a slave is licentious and undisciplined.”

With respect to Baruch Goldstein, the man who murdered Muslim worshipers during prayers at the Ibrahimi mosque, Rabbi Ginzburg had the following to say:

“Dr. Baruch Goldstein was a Jew with a warm heart, a doctor who saved lives. What he did was against his character, but he believed he was saving the Jewish community in Hebron. In the pamphlet that I wrote about him, I explained the complexity of his action and I came to the conclusion that we can learn a lesson from him. He was one hundred percent sane, so sane that he could overcome his fear of the Arabs and give up his life for Israel. This is what makes me feel

that he gave his life for the Name of God.”

4. Internet

Finally, the internet has become an increasingly popular forum for hate-speech. Websites using Israeli servers provide an arena for different Israeli groups to propagate racist views freely and without censure, often becoming a site of virulent expressions of incitement against Palestinians. The so-called “Illegal organizations” such as Kach and Kahane Chai all have free reign on the internet to espouse their call to “transfer” all non-Jews from the “Land of Israel”. They rewrite history, employ abusive and derogatory terms against Arafat and Arab political figures, propagate negative, racist representations of Arabs and Arab culture and use inflammatory material to discredit the peace process.

One representative example of inciteful websites is www.masada2000.org where Palestinian citizens of Israel are referred to as a “growing cancer,” which “must go.” The Web site claims that “the cancer has been left to fester much too long already. That is the problem and there is no other solution except for the immediate removal of the Arab stranger” The measures which the site claims must be taken are as follows:

“All Arab-Israeli villages must be dismantled and their inhabitants removed to any one of the 24 Arab countries.

The repeal of citizenship of all non-Jews.

The immediate expulsion of all agitators or inciters.

The immediate and swift execution of all Arab terrorists. Zero tolerance of any Intifada by a swift military take-down. The Israeli Army should not waste rubber bullets unless rubber rocks are thrown at them!”

Another representative website is that of the Kahane movement. It offers internet users computer games which target Arafat, Ehud Barak and others associated with the peace process. Clicking on “cool games” at the site’s home page enables surfers to play games such as “Barakula” (an amalgamation of Dracula and Barak), “Whack a Barak,” which tells surfers to “knock some sense into the prime minister”; and a reported favorite, “Welcome Arafat to Kahane Land” – with a picture of a revolver pointed at Arafat, and a bullet hitting him in the eye. Kahane supporters have argued that given the state of security affairs in Israel the games are both legitimate and natural, and “a good educational tool for youth.”

The websites include cross-links to a tight network of other extremist organization called “allies,” enforcing the view that they are in a holy war with the Arab world, Palestinians and any supporter of the peace process. Since Israel is a highly computerized society, these sites are unfortunately very accessible and popular with Israeli youth. Racist remarks and incitements can be frequently found in chat groups also in mainstream and commercial websites.