By: Aaron Lerner Date: 12 July, 1998
The following is IMRA's English translation of excerpts from the programming of Palestinian Authority's Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation Television prepared by the Jerusalem based Palestinian Media Watch [Telephone 972-2-6254140] under the direction of Itamar Marcus. This is part of the material presented by Minister of Communications Limor Livnat at the July 1 cabinet meeting.
#1 Article On Summer Camps In Khan Yunis - 7 July 1998 a. Boy sings: "I came to you; I came to you with sword in hand; I came to you to join and stand strong; so they won't be insolent to me....
"I call for revolution in my land; we will carry it to the quiet sea; your day is near, occupier; and then we will close accounts; our account has no end in rocks and bullets."
b. One of those responsible for the camp on behalf of the "Authority for the Direction of Policy and Concepts" explains that they are training the youngsters in various areas among them "firearms of course."
c. Boy calls out and class responds: "Children are victorious; Training with weapons; Revolution, revolution until the victory"
#2 Children's Club Program - 19 June 1998 a. Girl sings: "Hey hello Jerusalem, I am the salvation...; I will never be silent, never; I will return with tomorrow; And with me my heart and determination for Jihad; And after the religion you are the most important thing to me..."
b. Boy sings: "We are your children Palestine, standing strong, standing strong; Whatever the occupiers do, they continue with their blows; We will learn the religious verses and fight our enemies; We have abandoned the entire world, in the conflict we have abandoned; Standing strong, standing strong, until the liberation of all of Palestine; We will oust the occupiers, we will live in security; No...and no flexibility, until all of Palestine returns to our homeland in peace, flying the flag of victory."
#3 Film clip broadcast scores of times in last months
"My Country Named Palestine"
Children playing and singing: "My box in my room. My room in my house. My house in my neighborhood. My neighborhood in my country. My country is very nice, it has houses and oranges and neighbors and trees..." (In the background are pictures of children playing and a colorful model of hills upon which are being built homes and trees planted. Between frames for a split second the picture of an Israeli soldier advancing with a rifle is shown)
A girl stops the song and says: "You know what happened in 1948? They took everything! They emptied the room, broke the house, burned the city, changed the names, changed the names...They put my heart in a box and closed the box. It is still my country. It is very beautiful. The name of my country is Palestine."
At the end of the clip children present themselves by first name and home, among them, Kfar Kassem, Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa etc.
Dr. Aaron Lerner, Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis) (mail POB 982 Kfar Sava) Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-9-7411645 INTERNET ADDRESS: imra at netvision.net.il