In 1970, the PLO’s Bassem Sirhan wrote Palestinian children: “The generation of liberation.” A study of the thoughts, feelings and attitudes of palestinian Arab children of the day, it provides a fascinating and disturbing glimpse into the culture of martyrdom fostered from a young age.
The entire thing is not all that long, so I encourage you to read it here for yourselves. But for me, one part stands out as a huge own goal.
When dealing with the attitudes of palestinian children towards the Jews, Sirhan frames it in a way that attempts to show that the children do not hate Jews, only Zionists, and those who do hate Jews only do so because of they “stole their land.” He mentions how a third of the “indoctrinated” children interviewed could differentiate between a Jew and a Zionist, adding their thoughts that “Judaism is a religion. Zionism is a racist movement to use the Jewish religion for its own interests….Zionists were created by American imperialism.”
Yet on the page before, Sirhan makes a telling statement.
He is basically acknowledging Jewish history and admitting the yearning for a return to Zion is an integral part of Jewish identity (as opposed to being an artificial construct or American imperialism hijacking Judaism).
Of course, we know the PLO and palestinians in general go to great efforts to deny Jewish history. But make no mistake about it – it is a deliberate strategy that suits their agenda. For example, this from the NSU Memo Re: Talking Points on Recognition of Jewish State (2007)
Recognizing the Jewish state implies recognition of a Jewish people and recognition of its right to self-determination. Those who assert this right also assert that the territory historically associated with this right of self-determination (i.e., the self-determination unit) is all of Historic Palestine. Therefore, recognition of the Jewish people and their right of self-determination may lend credence to the Jewish people’s claim to all of Historic Palestine.
But as Sirhan’s slip of the proverbial tongue shows, they know the truth, as inconvenient as it is to their entire cause.
