Media Coverage on Martyrdom in the Middle East

8/8/2019 Media Coverage on Martyrdom in the Middle East

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/media-coverage-on-martyrdom-in-the-middle-east 1/17

Media Coverage on Palestinian Martyrdom

Supervisor: Lina ZhengKarin vd Ven I6022285

Pigeonhole 988Date: 29-10-10Version: final draft



2

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. How do Media construct a Certain Image of Palestinian Martyrdom?

2.1 What is Martyrdom and what are the Different Perspectives on Martyrdom?

2.2 How do the Western Media cover Palestinian Martyrdom?

2.3 How do the Middle East Media cover Palestinian Martyrdom?

3. Analysis of the Western and Middle East Media Coverage on Palestinian

Martyrdom

4. Conclusion

5. References



3

1. Introduction

Over the last decades, terrorism has been increasingly used as a political tool, generating

publicity and disrupting public life to sustain power (Wright, 2009, p.1). In Israel, suicide bombings have led to the majority of fatalities due to terrorism. These suicide attacks are

often launched by Palestinians against Israelis. They are so called martyrs, who justify their

violent actions in the name of their god, Allah. A martyr¶s main aim is to defend his or her

homeland, despite the fact that it involves injuring or killing people, in order to gain

independence. Drawing on personal experience Lori A. Allen (2009, p.170) describes how

martyrs dominate the news in Palestine; every radio news broadcast starts with a list of people

martyred the previous day.

We were provided with a general theme: journalism and media images of the Middle East.This paper answers the following research question: How do media construct a certain image

of martyrdom in the Middle East? This question is of great significance to the topic since

martyrs rely on media coverage to evoke interest and sympathy for their actions. In order to

answer my research question I have divided it into three sub questions. First I will define

martyrdom, afterwards I¶m going to have a look in the wider debate, in other words, what are

the different perspectives on martyrdom? Finally, I¶m going to discuss the Western and the

Middle East media coverage on martyrdom. I¶ll manage this by examining different news

frames in both media, such as the Jordanian Islamic newspaper Al-Sabil, CNN, BBC and the

Israeli daily. To get different perspectives on martyrs, I¶m going to use secondary literature in

which people interpret news written in primary sources. The majority of the sources, which

are significant for my paper, can be placed in a timeframe of approximately six years. The

ideal audience would be the writers and readers of Western media, considering that many of

them are unaware of the situation in the Middle East. This paper aims to inform the audience

and to give them a better view on the media coverage concerning martyrdom in the Middle

East.

My insight claim or hypothesis is that media create a distorted image of martyrdom in the

Middle East. We first of all cannot capture all the things which are essential to understand the

situation in the Middle East, because the majority of the countries live in a dictatorship in

which they do not feel free to express their feelings or opinions. Furthermore the media is

under state control, thus propaganda plays a major role in manipulating the media.



4

2. How do Media construct a Certain Image of Martyrdom in the Middle East?

2.1 What is Martyrdom and what are the Different Perspectives on Martyrdom?

Martyr, also referred to as µ al-shahid¶ , is a term used by Palestinians for those who havechosen death in order to defend one¶s homeland. These people are fanatic followers of Jihad,

a holy war against infidels, and are strongly convinced that they have to struggle to achieve

independence (Abdel-Khalek, 2004, p.100).

Brian Keith Axel (2008, p.1154) explains the etymology and origin of the word martyr. As I

stated above, Palestinians refer to martyr as µal-shahid¶. The Punjabi µ shahid¶ is derived from

the Arabic shahad, which are both translated as µwitness¶. We can interpret this in the

following way: the martyr which has passed away becomes a witness of that which cannot be

imagined, and functions as a connection between the world we all live in and theunimaginable, sublime world.

There are different point of views on martyrdom, Abdel-Khalek (2004, p.100) points out that

many Western writers see martyrdom as suicide, while he states that there are major

differences between the two. The desire of committing suicide is often the result of a

psychological disorder, while the majority of the martyrs are not suffering from any mental

illness (Khan,Goldney,Hassan, 2010). Another difference between suicide and martyrdom is

that suicide is a personal matter, the decision to commit suicide is based on self-interest.

Martyrs, on the contrary, are politically motivated by the Jihad to defend and liberate one¶s

homeland to achieve independence. Furthermore committing suicide is strictly forbidden in

Islam and is considered as an enormous sin, though Muslims are told that their path to heaven

will be shortened they you die as a martyr (Ibid).

Joris Luyendijk (2006, p.131) shows the two opposite perspectives of martyrdom very clearly.

You might say that the lives of those freedom fighters were obviously so devoid of hope that they were prepared to die for their cause; it must be terrible to live under occupation. You might also say that these terrorists clearly hated Israelis more than

they loved their own lives; ergo, Palestians must be terrible people.

Although this paper primarily concerns martyrdom in Islam, it has also played an important

role in the Christian concept. A Christian martyr is someone who, for his or her faith and

beliefs, is confronted with violence and death. In fact, Jesus Christ was a martyr himself, he

was crucified by the Romans. According to the Bible he could die to pay for the sins of

mankind because he was the Messiah of God.



5

I assume we all know Martin Luther King Junior, he was a baptist, a civil rights activist and a

martyr.

His goal was to improve the social circumstances in America with religion as its foundation.

He was assassinated in 1969, and died as a martyr. He had a few great quotes which can be

linked to martyrdom:³It may get me crucified. I may even die. But even if I die in the struggle I want people to say,

³He died to make me free´. ́

³ The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important. If you are cut down in a

moment that is designed to save the soul of a nation, then no other death could be more

redemptive.´

³A man who won't die for something is not fit to live.´

The similarity between Martin Luther King Junior and for example the Hamas is that they

both want to realize their own ideal perception of society and the world. A great difference between those two is that one is prepared to use violence to create the µperfect¶ society, while

the other wants to achieve the same goal in a non-violent way. Although Martin Luther King

Junior wasn¶t a violent martyr, the Christians used a lot of violence to recapture Jerusalem

and the Holy Land during the Crusades.

I¶m certain that the majority of Westerners belief that martyrdom is linked to Islam and do not

know that martyrdom is also an aspect of Christianity.

2.3 How do the Western Media cover Palestinian Martyrdom?

The 9/11 terrorist attacks committed by Al-Qaeda have had great impact on the perception we

have of the Middle East. Many of us still remember the vivid image of two airliners crashing

into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, though it has been nine years ago. From this

moment on terrorism has become an extremely sensitive subject in the Western world. Since

the events of 9/11, the Western media have been increasingly inciting fear and hatred towards

Muslims. As a result, people have developed misinterpertations on Islam and Muslim society;Islam teaches Muslims to kill innocents, therefore all Muslims are terrorists.

These misinterpertations play a major role in our attitude towards Palestinian martyrdom.



6

http://www.adl.org/israel/media_bias_oped.asp

de Volkskrant

25 september 2010 zaterdag

Oplossing Palestijnse kwestie brengt echt geen vrede in het Midden-OostenBYLINE: Josef Joffe

SECTION: OPINIE EN DEBAT; Blz. 28

LENGTH: 1196 woorden

De hardnekkigste mythe in het Midden-Oosten luidt: It's Palestine, stupid. Ze ligt tengrondslag aan de Midden-Oostendiplomatie van president Obama en is de reden dat hijalmaar druk uitoefent op de Israëliërs en de Palestijnen om de vredesgesprekken tehervatten.

Nee, drie dunne stroken land, bekend als Israël, Gaza en de Westoever, gelden als hétgrote probleem op een geostrategisch podium dat zich uitstrekt van Turkije totAfghanistan. Ruim die kwestie uit de weg, en al het andere zal als sneeuw voor de zonverdwijnen.

Een goed voorbeeld van deze denktrant leverde eerder dit jaar de Jordaanse koningAbdullah in een interview met CNN. 'Alle conflicten leiden naar Jeruzalem', zei hij.Moeten we ons zorgen maken over de Iraanse nucleaire plannen? Beslist niet, want'waarom zouden de Iraniërs zoveel geld stoppen in een militair programma, als we hetIsraëlisch-Palestijnse probleem oplossen? Dat zou onzinnig zijn.'

Zouden Hamas en Fatah de strijdbijl begraven zodra de Palestijnen een eigen staathebben? Laten we onszelf niet voor de gek houden: zij voeren een strijd om de macht,niet om Palestina. De Palestijnen hebben recht op een eigen staat, maar die zal beslistgeen baken van stabiliteit zijn.

Laat er vooral een Palestijnse staat komen. Maar laten we ons ontdoen van de mythe datzo'n staat 'alle lastige knopen zal ontwarren'. Ondeugdelijke mythes zijn een kweekgrondvoor verkeerd beleid.



7

De auteur maakt deel uit van de hoofdredactie van het Duitse weekblad Die Zeit endoceert aan de Stanford University.

Analysis: Palestinian suicide attacksPalestinian suicide bomb attacks against Israelis aim to kill and injure as many people aspossible, and create the greatest amount of fear. The victims are, most often, civiliansgoing about their daily life.In the early years of the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, such attacks became one of the hallmarksof the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - although their frequency fell after an unofficial ceasefire by someof the most powerful Palestinian militant groups in 2005.

Across the world, the bombings have been widely condemned as brutal acts of terrorism - thoughthe attacks are pointedly not condemned by some Arab or Islamic governments.

Palestinian officials have routinely condemned suicide attacks, though they tend to phrase this interms of condemnation of the killings of all civilians on both side.

They have also often been accused by Israel of not doing enough to stop the attackers and of celebrating their "martyrdom".

Israel has accused the Palestinian Authority of funding some suicide attacks and rewarding thefamilies of attackers. Evidence for this has been sketchy.

Suicide attacks routinely draw a severe military response from the Israeli army ranging from direct

attacks against alleged militants or the planners of attacks to 24-hour curfews in urban areas.

'Bringing the war to Israel'

For the attackers and the organisations that send them on their missions, the horror, death anddestruction is precisely the point.

SUICIDE BOMBING FACTSy First suicide attack: Hamas kills eight people in Afula in April 1994y 120 Israelis die in attacks between 1994 and Sept 2000

y 2000-2005: Hundreds of Israelis are killed in dozens of attacks each year

y Spring 2005: Main Palestinian factions declare unofficial ceasefire Source: Human Rights Watch

and Israel MFA

Yahya Ayyash, a leading Hamas bomb maker who was killed by Israel in 1996, was quoted assaying that the use of "human bombs" was a way to "make the [Israeli] occupation that muchmore expensive in human lives, that much more unbearable".

Many Palestinians see suicide attacks as the only form of armed resistance to occupation availableto them, given the vast superiority of the Israeli army.

Palestinians often attempt to explain the attacks as desperate acts or revenge born of theirsuffering under occupation. They point to the large number of Palestinian civilian deaths as a resultof actions by the Israeli army.

Polls taken in the West Bank and Gaza have in recent years suggested that about 60% of Palestinians support suicide attacks to some degree.



8

At the beginning of 2005, when the Palestinian and Israeli leaders declared a ceasefire after fouryears of the Palestinian intifada or uprising, the leading Palestinian militant group Hamas declaredit would "respect calm" - though it reserved the right to respond to Israeli attacks. Other groupsfollowed suite.

History of attacks

The first Palestinian suicide attack in Israel killed eight people in April 1994 in the centre of Afula.

Hamas said it carried out the attack in response to the killing of 29 praying Muslims in February of that year by Jewish settler Baruch Goldstein in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Between 1994 and September 2000, the beginning of the Palestinian intifada or uprising, some 120Israelis were killed in suicide attacks.

The number of attacks greatly increased during the intifada.

In the first three years, the Israeli foreign ministry counted 73 "mass murder attacks" (including

suicide and car bombings) which killed about 300 people.

The number of attacks fell as Israel besieged Palestinian towns and pressed ahead with its barrier

in and around the occupied West Bank.

In 2003, there were 26 attacks leaving 144 dead. In 2004, there were 15 attacks and 55 dead.

With the unofficial ceasefire, the number of attacks in 2005 fell to just seven, claiming the lives of

23 Israelis. And in 2006 there were just two attacks, one of which killed nine people.

Militant groups

Until February 2005, the main organisations behind the suicide attacks were Hamas, Islamic Jihad,the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade - which is linked to the mainstream Fatah movement - and the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Of these, Hamas attacks appeared to have been characterised by the most careful planning,rigorous training and ruthless execution.

The bloodiest such attack occurred on 27 March 2002, when Abdelbasset Odeh blew up a Passover

holiday dinner at the Park Hotel in Netanya.

Thirty diners - many of them elderly - died in the attack. More than 100 people were injured,including 20 seriously.

The last Hamas attack was a double suicide bombing on two buses in the southern Israeli town of

Beersheba in August 2004 that left 16 dead.

Unlike Hamas, Islamic Jihad rejected the 2005 ceasefire and has kept sending suicide bombers toattack Israel, in keeping with its ideology that the Arab-Israeli conflict will only be resolved through

violence and armed confrontation.

The attackers

Suicide bombers are typically unmarried men in their 20s - though there have been a number of attacks by women.

The individual bombers do not necessarily have a background of being religiously devout, but theiractions are almost always framed as acts of self-martyrdom.



9

For the attackers and the groups that send them, this gives their deaths religious sanction andmeans their suicide can be celebrated.

The attackers, who are often recorded on video declaring their intentions to murder Israelis, mostoften cast their attacks as acts of revenge and seem to believe that they will go straight toparadise.

Part of the pact between a bomber and the group that sends him is that the attacker's death will becelebrated and his family provided for.

Suicide attacks are often launched at short notice.

The group behind the attack will usually select a target, arrange for the transport of the bomberinto Israel and supply the explosive device.

Explosives are usually wrapped closely around the attacker or sewn into clothing.

Countering the bombers

Israel has adopted a range of military measures in the age of suicide bombing - none of which havebeen entirely successful and several of which are criticised by human rights groups as collective

punishment.

One tactic has been the widescale re-occupation of the West Bank and blockading Palestinian

towns.

Israel has also executed many "targeted assassinations" of militants, an approach it has employedsince the 1970s.

The Israeli authorities say the tactic is a legitimate one because those killed by their security forcesare directly involved in the planning and execution of attacks on Israeli civilians.

Opponents say the assassinations are extra-judicial killings which often have civilian victims andappear actually to provoke violence rather than prevent suicide attacks.

Other staple measures are raids against suspected militants plotting attacks, mass arrests,curfews, and stringent travel restrictions.

In the past, Israeli forces usually demolished the home of the suicide bomber's family. However,this policy was curtailed in 2005 after an army committee said it had little deterrent effect andinflamed Palestinian hatred.

Israel's leaders appear to have ultimately come to the conclusion that only physical separation with

the Palestinians can solve the problem of human bombs.

In 2003, Israel started work on its 650-km (400-mile) security barrier in and around the WestBank.

Palestinians and their supporters claim the structure is a prelude to annexation of the parts of theoccupied land which lie on the western, "Israeli" side of the barrier route.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/3256858.stm

Published: 2007/01/29 10:27:08 GMT

© BBC MMX



10

GlobalPost

April 23, 2010 Friday 7:43 AM EST

Opinion: Media bias and Israel-Palestine

BYLINE: Tom Fenton

LENGTH: 820 words

Apr. 23, 2010 (GlobalPost delivered by Newstex) -- paging_filter LONDON, U.K. ´ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to stop buildingJewish homes in Arab east Jerusalem and the West Bank has become a major obstacle to

peace talks with the Palestinians and severely strains relations with President Barack Obama's administration. That's a simple statement of fact.

But depending on which country you live in, the way the news media present these factscan make them seem quite different.

Most American newspapers and broadcasters refer to the Jews who build and inhabitthese homes as settlers, a term usually used to describe hardy folk who are creatinghomesteads on virgin land.

At the other end of the spectrum, Arab media in the Middle East often call themcolonists, which implies that they are foreigners taking over other people's land.

Both terms reflect biases that distort almost all reporting on the Israeli-Palestinianconflict. But between the two extremes, there are gradations of bias as you travel fromWest to East.

I currently live in middle-of-the-road Britain, which by American standards seems pro-Palestinian, even though there is still some affection for Israel here.

Across the English Channel, the French press seems more stridently pro-Palestinian, perhaps a reflection of the country's large Muslim community and the fact the Frenchgovernment, which was once Israel's most enthusiastic supporter and arms supplier,

abruptly turned its back on the Jewish state in 1967.

Germany's media are more nuanced. The history of the Holocaust has made Germanscareful about what they say about Israel. But much of the Italian press, on the other hand,strongly supports the Palestinian cause. And the bias becomes stronger in countries thatare closer to the Middle East.

Jewish organizations in America often see blatant anti-Semitism in European mediacoverage of Israel, and also spend considerable time and effort trying to maintain Israel's



11

image in the American media. That effort pays off and affects the terminology used byAmerican journalists.

I was once told by the person who was editing a piece I wrote about Israel that the uglything Israel was erecting between the Israeli and Palestinian populations should be calleda security barrier and not a wall (which it obviously is).

In fact, most American and British media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict usesloaded words that reflect a distinctly anti-Arab bias.

A detailed study conducted in 2002 by Glasgow University showed that in Britishtelevision news, Palestinians are called activists, militants, extremists, assailants,gunmen, bombers, terrorists, killers, assassins, fundamentalist groups,attackers, self-styled Palestinian martyrs and fanatics.

Israelis are soldiers or troops and even when an Israeli group tried to bomb aPalestinian school, thery were not terrorists but vigilantes.

The Glasgow study of media coverage also showed a high degree of ignorance andmisunderstanding about the Israeli-Palestinian issue. A group of American collegestudents was asked, Who is occupying the occupied territories and what nationality arethe settlers? Fairly simple questions, but only 29 percent knew the correct answers. TheIsraelis are both the occupiers and the settlers.

Some thought the Palestinians occupy the occupied territories, but the Israelis are thesettlers. Others thought the Israelis occupy the occupied territories but the Palestiniansare the settlers. A smaller number thought the Palestinians were both the settlers and theoccupiers. The rest simply could not answer.

The study pointed out that the Americans questioned were journalism and media studentsand some had even done projects on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. So their answers clearlyoverstated the public's level of knowledge about the Middle East.

In Britain and America, television news is still the main source of information on worldaffairs for most of the public. The authors of the study noted that television coverage of the Middle East usually depicts violence and provides very little context.

Events in the Middle East since the study ´ especially the 2008 Israeli assault on thePalestinian residents of the Gaza Strip ´ may have hurt Israel's image in both Americaand Britain, but I doubt that the public is now any better informed.

The study concluded that the lack of understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflictleads to a lack of interest. One British television viewer complained, Every time it comeson, it never actually explains it so I don't see the point in watching it. I just turn it off andgo and make a cup of tea or something.

Tom Fenton is GlobalPost's media correspondent.



12

Mideast Mirror ("Mideast Mirror" is a digest of news and editorial comment in the Arab, Persian, Turkishand Hebrew media, compiled by correspondents stationed in 11 countries. The service is edited and published in

London by a highly-qualified team of professional editors and journalists with a long experience in MiddleEastern affairs and knowledge of the region's workings, resources, problems and concerns.)

October 20, 2010 Wednesday

15 years

SECTION: ISRAEL

LENGTH: 5214 words

Israel is today marking the 15th anniversary, according to the Hebrew date, of theassassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and the front pages of all of the newspapers are dominated bythe event. Alongside personal recollections of Rabin the man, there are opinion pieces abouthow Israel should best memorialize his life and what lessons the country should learn from hismurder.

ARAFAT KILLED THE PEACE: Writing in Maariv, Ben-Dror Yemini says that Yigal Amir did not kill the peace process when he assassinated Yitzhak Rabin 15 years ago; rather, heargues, Yasser Arafat did that, by ordering and supporting a wave of terrorist attacks beforethe 1996 election that saw the right return to power.

But the opposite is true. The assassination of Rabin saved the Israeli left the old-fashionedleft, that is, which believed in the State of Israel and in Zionism. Before the murder, the leftwas in turmoil. There were terror attacks almost every day, which created the phrase thevictims of peace.' Polls predicted that Labor and its left-wing partners would suffer ahumiliating election defeat and that the right would increase its strength significantly. Theright was not just visible in the sometimes violent demonstrations on the streets, but also in

the hearts of a growing number of Israelis.

This was not the case when the Oslo Accords were launched. On the contrary: All of the pollsin the first months after the secret talks were revealed indicated that many Likud voters had

been swept along by the euphoria and were considering voting Labor. They were hopeful,they were optimistic and they believed in the chance for peace. Then reality turned round and

bit them, long before the name of Yigal Amir went down in infamy.

A terrible series of suicide attacks rocked Israel. Arafat slowly began to reveal his trueintentions. Not only was he leading Israel on a merry dance, he also gave his backing and his

practical support to terrorism. He sent suicide bombers to the Gaza Strip. He continued toincite against Israel. He adopted the revolving door policy, whereby the Palestinian Authority

would arrest terrorists and then free them days, or sometimes hours, later. Israeli publicopinion began to shift. The right grew stronger. Polls showed that Labor was heading for electoral defeat.

In the two years before the assassination, there were horrific terror attacks in Afula, Hadera,Tel Aviv, Neztarim Junction, Beit Lid, Kfar Darom, Ramat Gan and Jerusalem. Close to 100Israelis were murdered. It was the biggest terror wave in the history of the State of Israel. Thatwas the background to the fall of the left and the disappointment in the Oslo process. The

public wanted peace, but got terror.



13

And then the murder happened, and there was another turnaround in public opinion. If this isthe right and this is the result of its incitement, many people said to themselves, we do notwant any part of it. The pendulum of the polls swung again to the left. The murder, it must besaid, gave the left a new lease of life not the right. Because of the murder, it appeared that theleft was once again on top and was going to win the election. Shimon Peres, the labor partycandidate for prime minister, led Binyamin Netanyahu by 30 percent and it seemed that he

was sure to become our next leader.

Arafat had other plans. He did not want Peres in power, because he did not want peace and hedid not want a new Middle East and he did not want a Palestinian state. He wanted conflict.

The election was held at the end of May 1996. Just look at what happened in the months before the election: There was a terror attack on a bus in Jerusalem, in which 28 people werekilled; a week later, another attack aboard another bus; this time, with 19 fatalities. The verynext day, on March 4, 13 people were killed in a suicide bombing in central Tel Aviv.

That was all that it took to tip the scale back in the favor of the right. Even the internationalcondemnation of the terror attacks, at a peace conference in Sharm al-Sheikh, came too late.

So please don't blame Yigal Amir. The legend that says that he single-handedly dealt a mortal blow to the peace camp is a fallacy. Arafat killed off the Israeli peace camp and he did sodeliberately and knowingly. Make no mistake about it.

HAMAS'S BANKER: Writing on the Ynet website, Orna Shimoni says that Bank of Israelgovernor Stanley Fischer is responsible for transferring billions of dollars to Hamas, which isnot using the money for welfare projects, but to fund its terrorist activities against the State of Israel.

Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer, who recently won not one, but two prizes as the bestcentral banker in the world, is the main source of pressure calling on the government totransfer funds to Hamas. He has already saved this terrorist organization from economic ruinand he continues to help revive it and to stop the banks in the Gaza Strip from collapsing.

Hamas uses the dollars that Fischer sends to Gaza to kill us. Since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, more than NIS 5 billion has been transferred there via the banking system, inaddition to the billions of shekels and $500 million in cash that was transferred via the banksunder Hamas's control.

Around 80 percent of this money is transferred to Hamas's leadership, and is used to fundarms smuggling. Some of this money is used to pay the salaries of those Gazans employed by

the Hamas-run government. After all, it's not cheap to train and educate potential martyrs, tooperate the Qassam rocket production lines or to bankroll test runs of long-range missiles andGod only knows what else Hamas has stockpiled in its arsenal.

Under pressure from Fischer, the State of Israel is allowing Hamas to continue funding itscampaign against Israel.

As usual, Fischer has a plethora of excuses at the ready: It's not our money, he says, since it ismerely passing through the Israeli banking system. But the most-often repeated excuse is also



14

the most dangerous: It would be illegal for us to stop the transfer of these funds, since we areobligated by international law to transfer them.

My questions to Fischer are as follows: Is it legal that Hamas has been shelling the Israelicommunities adjacent to the Gaza Strip for the past 11 years? Is it legal to impose a reign of terror on the people of Sderot and to fire Qassam rockets at children playing in their

schoolyards? Is it legal to ignore the fact that the money from UNRWA which Israel transfersto Gaza is supposed to be used for welfare projects, but is actually used to provide Hamaswith weapons? Does international law really obligate Israel to transfer these funds toterrorists?

The World Bank has reported that the Bank of Israel, under Fischer's leadership, is activelytrying to make it easier to transfer funds to Gaza and that it wants to lift any limitations on theamount of money. If Israel has defined Gaza as a terrorist entity, why does it continue to havea working relationship with the banking system there? Is Gaza a friendly country?

Back in 2006, Fischer announced that Israel would only transfer funds to Gaza if Hamasabides by the agreements it has signed. So why does he continue to allow money to be

transferred, when he must surely know that the money is turned into rockets which aresubsequently used to attack us?

Is it legal for the governor to exchange shekels into dollars and to send them unsupervised toGaza? After all, we know that a large proportion of this money is then used to purchase armsand the dollars we send go straight back to arms dealers in the Muslim world.

Every month, UNRWA sends $13 million into Gaza. I fail to understand how the people of Israel are not up in arms at the fact that the Israeli banking system is being used to bankrollthe Hamas-run terrorist entity. Fischer must stop these transfers.Ó

The New Zealand Herald

August 3, 2010 Tuesday

Children's group to glorify 'martyrdom' in Gaza concert

SECTION: NEWS; General

LENGTH: 427 words

A Jordanian children's musical troupe well-known for songs that glorify "martyrdom" in battle with Israel was to perform a rare outdoor concert in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip onTuesday.

The group, known as The Birds of Paradise, recently produced a music video circulated on theInternet in which a young girl sings, "When we die as martyrs we will go to heaven."



15

On a stage made to look like a Palestinian village children dressed as Israeli soldiers"massacre" civilians before the camera switches to a grown man singing, "Children you havefulfilled your religious obligation... You have taught us the meaning of manhood."

Thousands were expected to attend the concert at 9:00 pm (1800 GMT), and another performance was scheduled for Wednesday.

The group was founded in 1994 and launched a channel in January 2008 on Egypt's Nilesat.The three-day visit to Gaza is part of a regional tour.

Khaled Muqdad, the founder of the 12-member troupe, told AFP they had come "to put smileson the faces of children who have suffered from the Israeli war and the (internal) politicaltroubles."

And at a formal welcoming ceremony with Hamas MPs, he said the concert would "affirm tothe entire world the right of the children of Palestine to live in freedom and dignity."

There have been few public cultural events in Gaza since Hamas seized power in June 2007,

and earlier this year the Islamist movement broke up the concert of a local hip-hop group itsaid did not have the proper permits.

Hamas has taken few steps to impose Islamic law in Gaza's historically conservative society but it has promoted its Islamist ideology and armed struggle against Israel through its Al-Aqsatelevision station.

The channel shows music videos and cartoons glorifying the killing of Israeli soldiers, as wellas a children's show with a Mickey Mouse-like character that encourages martyrdom andarmed struggle leading to the destruction of Israel.

Hamas, which won Palestinian legislative elections in 2006 and violently seized power inGaza the following year, is sworn to the destruction of Israel and has launched scores of deadly attacks since it was founded in 1987.

<object width="420" height="300"><param name="movie"value="http://www.youtube.com/v/illF1vt5g1Q&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><paramname="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess"value="always"></param><embedsrc="http://www.youtube.com/v/illF1vt5g1Q&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="420"height="300"></embed></object>

-AFP

21 0 HIT_0 false

GNBFI 21_T104232647



16

2.4 How do the Middle East Media cover Palestinian Martyrdom?

PALESTINIAN:http://pdfserve.informaworld.com.ezproxy.ub.unimaas.nl/30881_918460932_757745438.pdf To cit

this Articl

¡

¢

shh¢

sh, M¢

hmoud Abu(£ ¤ ¤ ¥

) 'On th¦

Visu¢

l R¦

pr ¦

s¦

nt¢

tion of M¢

rtyrdom inP

¢

l¦

stin¦

', Third T¦

xt,£ ¤

:§

,§

9 ̈ ²©

¤ §

To link to this Articl

: DOI: ̈

¤

. ̈

¤

8¤

/¤

95£

88£ ¤ ¥ ¤ ¤

9¤

̈

¤ ¤

8URL: http://dx.doi.org/̈

¤

. ̈

¤

8¤

/¤

95£

88£ ¤ ¥ ¤ ¤

9¤

̈

¤ ¤

8

ISRAELIA : mor w st rn Luy ndijk.Pl y innoc nt occup tion.

3. Analysis of the Western and Middle East Media Coverage on Palestinian

Martyrdom

Luyendijk using different words ³security reasons´.

http://rspas.anu.edu.au/papers/sdsc/viewpo int/paper_030818.pdf language and terminology

4. Conclusion

5. References

BBC

ws (

, ov

mb

r) Gunman kills Dutch film director. R

tri

v

d

Octob

r

,

8, from http://n

ws.bbc.uk/go/pr/fr/-/

/hi/

urop

/

9

!

9.stmBerndt, U. (

, October). Das strenge Gesicht der Frau Antje: Die Niederlande alsVorbild für hiesige Integrationskonzepte?. Deutsches Institut für Erw

"

chsenenbildung,Retrieved October 8,

8, from htttp://www.diezeitschrift.de/!

/position .htm

Block, S. (

) Wher e the # eart is: On the European Identity of Intr a-EU Migr ants.

Maastricht European Studies Paper.Election Profil , Retrieved October

,

8, fromhttp://www.electionguide.org/election.php?ID=

Ersanili, E (

, $ ovember) Niederlande , % ocus Migr ation, Retrieved October

,

8from http://www.focus-migr ation.de/uploads/tx

&

wilpubdb/LP

&

$ iederlande.pdf $

ana, C. K. (

, April) With Strict Policies in Place, Dutch Discourse onIntegration Becomes More Inclusive, Retrieved October

,

8, fromhttp://www.migr ationinformation.org/USfocus/display.cfm?id=59

'

Penninx, R. (

5) Dutch integration policies after the Van Gogh murder, RetrievedOctober

,

8 fromhttp://canada.metropolis.net/events/metropolis

&

pr esents/Social&

integr ation/Penninx&

Lectur e_January _2005.pdf

Schneider, A. (2004,$

ovember 9) Das Scheitern der niederländischenEinwanderungspolitik,Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , 262,

http://www.f az.net/s/RubDDBDABB945

A437B AA85A49C26FB23 A0/Doc~EB1BB39



17

E38B9E49E0B0 AC2 ABFE24988D6~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.htmlVogel, D. (2004) Migrations- und Integrationspolitik der Niederlande ± vorbildlich?,Bundeszentr ale für politische Bildung(bpb), Retrieved October 23, 2008, fromhttp://www.bpb.de/themen/LZ8( J4,1,0,Migr ations _ und _ Integr ationspolitik _ der _Niederla nde_ vorbildlich.html

Media Coverage on Martyrdom in the Middle East

Documents

Transcript of Media Coverage on Martyrdom in the Middle East