When the Alternatives Fail Mark Silverberg

Inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters in Gaza, Saraa Barhoum, 11, the sweet face of ''Tomorrow's Pioneers,'' an immensely popular hour-long Hamas television children's show, says she wants to be a doctor. If she can't, she'd be proud to become a martyr. ''Of course,'' Saraa says, ''it's something to be proud of. Every Palestinian hopes to be a martyr.'' One can, of course, dismiss this as the ranting of an unfortunate brainwashed child, but how does one dismiss the fact that this is the most popular children's TV show in Gaza? How does one dismiss Hamas sending nine year-old children to retrieve Kassam rocket launchers knowing they will be targeted by an Israeli retaliatory response? How does one dismiss "martyrdom" classes for children?

When “martyrdom” in the name of Allah is taught to children with government consent, the culture that permits it is attempting to revive the pagan ritual of human sacrifice on a modern day scale. It is therefore not rocket science to realize that such actions suggest a serious pathology in Palestinian society – one that cannot be negotiated away.

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