Nothing helps the PA spin doctors like dead kids: In a bulletin issued today, Palestinian Media Watch (www.pmw.org.il) describes renewed PA efforts to recruit children for Shahid (martyrdom) operations, and then exploting the dead children in their international PR campaign against Israel. Here is the text of the bulletin:

PMW has documented in the past the Palestinian Authority's [PA's] tactic of encouraging children to seek heroic Shahada - death for Allah, and then using the numbers of dead children in their PR war against Israel.

A PMW bulletin last week noted the PA's recent attempts to brings crowds of violent demonstrators into the streets, in an attempt to change the image of the terrorist war to that of a popular uprising.

Now the PA has combined the two tactics, once again encouraging children to die as part of the "popular uprising", as they have renewed the broadcasting of one of the most odious PA video clips, the "Farewell letter" clip. In the clip a child writes a farewell letter to his parents, glorifying his desire to die, and then places himself in front of Israeli soldiers during a violent riot where he is shot and dies, achieving his goal. As he falls his words are sung: "How sweet is Shahada [death for Allah] when I embrace you my land."

The renewal of this clip now is an indication that the PA, after having their image destroyed worldwide due to their backing of suicide bombers, wants to portray themselves and their children as victims, by having large numbers of dead children to report to the press.

[As a post script it should be noted that the PA seems to be accomplishing its goal already, as in today's papers the PA announced the death "as Shahids" of 2 children, aged 10 and 13, which they described as cold blooded intentional murder, as they always do in their PR conscious press releases.]

The following is the text of the farewell letter sung during the clip.

"Do not be sad, my dear,
And do not cry over my parting,
my dear father,

For my country, Shahada [death for Allah].
"Do not be sad, my dear
And do not cry over my parting,
my dear father,
For my country, I shall sacrifice myself!"

[Scenes of children rioting against soldiers, the boy running with his friends, throwing stones.]

The letter continues:
"With determination and desire
I long to approach."

[The boy is shot in his chest and falls to the ground.]the letter continues:

"How sweet is Shahada [death for Allah]
When I embrace you, my land!"

Here the boy's mother is seen crying. The letter continues:

"My beloved, my mother, My most dear,
Be joyous over my blood and do not cry for me."

The message of this song to Palestinian children is clear: It should be a child's wish and goal to die in confrontations with Israel.