Columnist Yuval Rotem: Anti-Israel hatred fuels Mideast violence

Yuval Rotem

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2000 | 9:37 a.m.

Yuval Rotem is consul general of Israel for the southwestern region of the United States.

The recent waves of violence engulfing the Middle East have claimed many lives. While every death is an immeasurable tragedy, the loss of children's lives is especially grave. Both the international and Palestinian media have exploited these deaths by plastering images of these young victims on the front pages of newspapers and on television screens.

Yet have the same media outlets given pause to examine why children were exposed to life-threatening dangers in the first place? Have we given sufficient thought as to why these youngsters are often right in the crossfire at the front lines of confrontations, instead of being safe at home or in school?

These questions seem to speak to a broader phenomenon.

Even since the onset of the Oslo Accords in 1993, Palestinian children continue to be indoctrinated into a culture of anti-Israel hatred from their earliest days. Palestinian youth camps teach small children how to use machine guns and launch Molotov cocktails. Palestinian schools still preach a hatred of Israel and the Jewish people. Their history books continue to deny the legitimate existence of the state of Israel. Children perform on television shows, reciting memorized slogans which call for jihad -- holy war. In these performances, the youngsters offer praise to those suicide bombers who "struggle against the Zionist oppressor."

In contrast, Israel has made a concerted effort to expose its children to a different reality, one of peace and reconciliation with its Palestinian neighbors. Israeli children are taught the Arabic language, and are taught to sing for peace, not jihad. Israeli children are instilled with the moral imperative to respect the religion and holy sites of other faiths. Israel has understood that the culture of peace is ingrained through education.

Arafat has chosen a different tactic, sending Palestinian children to fight in the streets.

The deliberate use of children in armed conflict contravenes all norms of morality and international law. Even the voluntary enrollment of youngsters into a conflict is prohibited, given the extent to which impressionable minors can be influenced by the adults around them.

Since the recent explosion of violence, Israel has done everything in its power to prevent children from sustaining injuries. However, Palestinian militia forces blatantly mask their gunmen, bomb-throwers and lynch mobs by placing youngsters armed with stones in their midst. This decision leads directly and unavoidably to harm coming to at least some children.

Palestinian children should be in the classroom learning, not on the streets serving as a political tool. There is no need for it. There is no justification for it. The past seven years have shown that the differences between Palestinians and Israelis can be bridged, but only in the framework of dialogue and negotiation. Such is the only path to offer both Palestinian and Israeli children a brighter horizon than the one we have known.

This is the time to learn from Abraham, the common ancestor of both Palestinians and Israelis. From him, we must internalize the lesson that our sons are not to be sacrificed for any reason whatsoever.

By perpetuating the prejudice and incitement of the past, the Palestinian Authority will only ensure that the next generation be held hostage to the same needless cycle of violence that has plagued our small corner of the Middle East for far too long.