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Son: "Okay, one moment and I'm coming."
Father: "Where are you going, my son?"
Son: "I am going to wash." [as Muslims do before prayer]
Father: "You're going to do WHAT?"
Son: "To wash. You said you want us to pray."
Father: "Muslims [do that], not us... We have to wash our hands with the blood of Muslims."
Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas) April 3, 2009
Demonization of Jews like this and Israel is very common among the PA. Israel has been accused by a senior official of the PA of spreading AIDS intentionally among Palestinians, of trying to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque by injecting acid into the foundations, of doing 5,000 medical experiments a year on Palestinian prisoners, and much more. This demonization and the hatred it creates becomes the justification for terror.
I understand that this demonization also goes on in schools and can be found in children's textbooks. So, how does one ever have a hope of overcoming all that hate and propaganda in order to build bridges toward peace?
It cannot be overcome without a total change in direction. That is why it is so urgent that we start now. Borders can be redrawn with one political decision but hatred is embedded. It can only be changed if there is a courageous Palestinian leader who will receive world support only if he replaces the hate promotion with peace education. If this happens it can be turned around. It will take time and that is all the more reason to start ASAP.
PA TV 4/29/10, Qatari Cartoon: Arab world as bottle sucked dry by Israeli baby
Given what you see and do on a daily basis, do you have to drag yourself out of bed every morning? Does it leave you completely pessimistic about chances for peace?
Actually, I have hope for a very specific reason. The Palestinians did not always hate Israelis they were taught to hate. ¨ As recently as 1966 1999, following 28 years of Israeli administration of the West Bank and Gaza which included daily contacts between the populations, the most important Palestinian pollster checked Palestinian attitudes on how they rated the "democracy and human rights" in the Palestinian Authority, France, the US and Israel.
It turned out that, after 28 years of daily contact between Israelis and Palestinians, Israel received the best rating in the world with 78% of Palestinians giving Israel a "positive" rating in democracy and human rights. The US had only 65%, France 55% and the PA 50% of Palestinians giving them positive ratings. The poll was done three more times in the next three years and Israel was always seen as the best in the world by Palestinians, with 77%, 75% and 65% giving Israel positive ratings in democracy and human rights.
So, open borders and contact between the Israelis and Palestinians created healthy attitudes and respect. It was the terror and hate education of that PA that ruined the trust. My hope is that peace education can turn back the clock. The same way the Palestinian Authority poisoned their people with hate education, they can rectify the situation with peace education.
