Posted on 06/28/2002 1:10:36 PM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
When Palestinian terrorists blow themselves up in order to murder as many Israelis as possible, are they acting out of despair or out of hope?
A new Palestinian movie video, which aired today (June 27) on Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation gives an inside view into Palestinian thinking that may supply the answers.
A dark-haired and good-looking 35-year-old Arab man is seen walking with an attractive woman of about the same age.
It is clear that she is his wife or his girl-friend and that he loves her, but the movie has no dialogue or written on-screen text, only background music and some very clear and heavy suggestions.
The movie clip, which preceded and introduced the 3PM afternoon news, is about Palestinian 'martyrdom' its causes and its rewards.
The man and his wife see Israeli army (IDF) soldiers, and frowns darken their features, and the music is very morose.
The young man clearly starts thinking about how to strike out at the Israeli soldiers.
Almost immediately, the music changes to a more optimistic tone as, out of a kind of mist, stunningly beautiful young women, between 18 and 22 years of age begin to beckon to him.
The gorgeous women, who are younger than his wife, are all clad in billowy white robes. They are all smiling fetchingly as they call to him, making motions with their hands as if to say "come-here" and "join us".
We next see the man after he is captured by the IDF following an apparent attack on them.
But, as the music takes on another sinister twist, the Israelis deliberately release the Palestinian man.
Their plan is clear: they are going to kill the handsome Arab man "while trying to escape"
He appears as a target in the cross-hairs of an Israeli automatic rifle.
His wife cries, her face screwed up in agony, but the end is not sad.
The camera moves quickly from the bereaved widow to the new Palestinian martyr who is smiling in paradise.
One of the gorgeous women in white greets him and pulls him into the mist where she and seven or eight beautiful women begin to surround him and gently caress him.
The video ends on a happy note without a word having been said, but the message is clear: here is the Islamic tradition of a martyr being welcomed into paradise where he will be ministered by 72 beautiful virgins.
But is this movie clip a message of hope or despair?
Israeli intelligence and psychological experts --inside the IDF as well as Israeli universities-- have been forming their conclusions, without the benefit of this latest video, but the movie clip seems to reinforce their general conclusion.
The suicide bombers act out of a combination of despair and hope. Israeli experts and outside observers have seen the despair which is clear, the product of war, economic deprivation and daily frictions and furstrations.
In addition, several of the human bombers who have attacked Israeli troops and Israeli civilians (as well as some who were captured before they could attack) fit a clear psychological pattern:
Wafa Idris, who blew herself up on Jaffa Road several months ago, was a woman divorced and thrown out by her husband after she had a miscarriage and was told by doctors she could never give birth.
Other women bombers have had similar desperate personal problems, while many of the male suicide bombers were men who were infected with hepatitis, cancer and AIDS.
Their actions obviously had a strong background of personal desperation and despair, but those who gave them bombs and strapped the explosives to their bodies gave them something else: hope, hope for a better life in the world to come.
The new Palestinian television video --aired in the afternoon for maximum viewing by Palestinian children-- underscores the message of hope.
It is a hope for a better world, but not in this world, not in this lifetime.
© 2002 Michael Widlanski
Michael Widlanski is senior analyst at The Media Line and lecturer at The Rothberg School of the Hebrew University
Hmmmmmm....seems homicide bomber recruiting is going up a notch!!!
Ara-O-Fatslob pluked their flower a long time ago, sorry about the mistake guess you will have to look elseware.
The Greeks had names for these chicks....Scylla and Caribdis. Perhaps they are serving drinks too! Inspired by the Greeks, the newest creation called "Pali-on-the-rocks".
You'll note that note mention is made of the hope of paradise motivating these women. There is none. After all, they're just women, a step below camels and goats.
L
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