Palestinian School Writing Competition

The following is from Mark Steyn's article "Phoney friends are a big step up from real suicide bombers" opinion.telegraph.co.uk 7/6/03

Palestinian schools were in the midst of a national letter-writing competition. Among the education ministry's first-prize winners was 12-year-old Mahmoud Naji Chalilah for his effortless mastery of West Bank death-cultism:

"My heart has turned into a sad block of pain. One day I will buy a weapon and I will blow away the fetters. I will propel my living-dead body into your arms…"...

Last Sunday, ol' Yasser met up with a bunch of photogenic little tykes in Ramallah to mark International Children's Day and told them he hoped they'd become shahid and die for the cause, because every one who dies to liberate Jerusalem is equivalent to 40 dead among the enemy. About the only aesthetically pleasing sight on the West Bank is the Palestinian kids, who must be among the cutest looking in the world. But I guess nothing swells the parental breast like the sound of Junior self-detonating.