--President Bush, April 4, 2002

• "We are all potential martyrs, the whole Palestinian people." Yasir Arafat said. Then, referring to the Netanya suicide bomber, that killed 27 Israelis at a Passover Seder, Arafat added, "Oh God, give me martyrdom like this." (The Washington Post, March 30, 2002)

• It would be unfair to deprive a suicide bomber of the title of shahid, [a martyr who fell in the process of fulfilling a religious command, the "Jihad" or "Holy war"] said Palestinian information minister Yaser Abed Rabbo. (The New York Times, April 4, 2002)

• Friday mosque sermons broadcast on PA controlled TV have called on worshipers to arm themselves or their children with explosives to pursue holy war against the Jews. (The New York Times, Apr. 2, 2002) "They think that they scare our people. We tell them: in as much as you love life, the Muslim loves death and martyrdom. There is a great difference between he who loves the hereafter and he who loves this world. The Muslim loves death and [strives for] martyrdom. He does not fear the oppression of the arrogant or the weapons of the blood-letters. The blessed and sacred soil of Palestine has vomited all the invaders and all the colonialists throughout history and it will soon vomit, with Allahs help, the [present] occupiers." --July 8, 2001, Sheikh Ikrimeh Sabri, the highest-ranking cleric in the PA, in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Children Learn to Laud Palestinian Suicide Bombers

• On the Children's Club (a Sesame Street-like children's program broadcast on PA-controlled TV), a young boy sings: "When I wander into Jerusalem, I will become a suicide bomber." (The Jerusalem Post, Aug. 15, 2001)

• Four summer camps are currently training eight to 12-year-olds for suicide bombings. (The Jerusalem Post, Aug. 15, 2001)

Financial Incentives to Choose "Martyrdom"

• On March 28, leaders of the Arab League met for a summit in Beirut and pledged $330 million over six months to support the Palestinian Authority, plus an additional $150 million to support the Palestinian "uprising." (The Washington Post, March 29, 2002)

• Iraq's Saddam Hussein increased his financial pledge to Palestinian families of suicide bombers from $10,000 to $25,000. (Associated Press, April 3, 2002)

• The Israeli military finds a "terror invoice" signed by Chairman Yasir Arafat authorizing payment for ceremonies honoring suicide bombers, as well as money to support families of the suicide bombers. (The Washington Post, April 3, 2002; MSNBC, April 3, 2002)

Social Incentives to Choose "Martyrdom"

• Far from condemning the Palestinian suicide bombers, the Arab League summit's final communiqué praised Palestinian suicide bombers: "We address a greeting of pride and honor to the & valiant intifada," it said. "We greet with honor and pride the valiant martyrs of the intifada." (The Washington Post, March 29, 20020)

• The suicide bomber improves his or her social status after death as well as that of his or her family. The father of the suicide bomber who killed 21 Israeli teenagers at a Tel-Aviv discothèque said, "I am very happy and proud of what my son did and, frankly, am a bit jealous.& I wish I had done it myself." (The Jerusalem Post, Aug. 15, 2001)

• Palestinian students at al-Najah University in the city of Nablus glorified suicide bombings in an exhibition entitled The Sbarro Cafe Exhibition, celebrating the August 9, 2001, suicide bombing of the Sbarro pizza restaurant in Jerusalem, which killed 15 people and wounded dozens more. (Associated Press, Sept. 23, 2001)

• A street in PA-controlled al-Bireh is named after Abu Iyad, a terrorist responsible for planning numerous attacks, including the Munich Olympics massacre in September 1972. (Jerusalem Times, Sept. 25, 1998)

Additional Incentives

• The suicide bomber is promised some personal benefits in accordance with his beliefs including; eternal life in paradise permission to see the face of Allah, the loving kindness of 72 young virgins who will serve him in heaven, a privilege to promise life in heaven to 70 of his relatives.

• Suicide bombers also become heroic figures once they have committed attacks. Their names and faces appear on posters and in graffiti in the streets of major Palestinian cities. Calendars are illustrated with the "martyr of the month," and paintings glorify the dead bombers in Paradise. A recent invoice, found in Arafat's headquarters, makes it apparent that in the case of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the PA itself pays for this publicity. This publicity not only rewards suicide bombers but it also encourages other men and women to carry out more attacks.

From the American Israel Public Affairs Committee