ARTelevision

Palestinian students recreate paradise to show what awaits ``martyrs''

MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, Associated Press Writer Friday, May 9, 2003

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(05-09) 09:58 PDT NABLUS, West Bank (AP) --

Plastic trees, goldfish swimming in a generator-powered fountain, posters of the dead on the wall: This is a model of the paradise Islamic militants say awaits those killed in fighting with Israel, including suicide bombers.

The display at the West Bank's largest university, An Najah, was assembled by supporters of the violent Hamas group who said they wanted to raise students' morale after 31 months of fighting with Israel.

The university -- a hotbed of Palestinian nationalism and a Hamas stronghold -- said it officially opposes bombings but didn't want to stifle the students' views.

Israel complains that the Palestinian Authority and many Palestinian institutions systematically incite violence against the Jewish state. Stopping incitement is one of the Palestinian Authority's obligations in a U.S.-backed peace plan presented last week.

As part of the so-called "road map" to peace, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas also would have to crack down on militant groups, including Hamas, that have carried out scores of suicide bombings in recent years, killing hundreds of Israelis.

However, support for militants is still running high among ordinary Palestinians embittered by Israel's tough measures, including travel bans and military strikes, in the current round of fighting.

Palestinian Muslims widely believe that suicide bombers and others killed fighting Israel will spend eternity in paradise, in the company of 72 virgins. That promise has been used as a recruiting tool, relatives of some of the bombers have said.

The model paradise on display at An Najah, which has 10,000 students, was titled "The Victory of the Just." Organizers said it was meant to illustrate the rewards for carrying out attacks on Israel.

The display, which closed Thursday after a weeklong run, did not ignore the fact that death precedes paradise.

Those wishing to enter the room housing paradise had to walk through a candlelit passage with 26 mock graves. Each "grave" contained a green shroud and a photo of one of 26 An Najah students killed in the conflict with Israel, including six suicide bombers.

Stairs from the open graves led down into the paradise section. A small generator pumped water through a fountain into a channel where goldfish swim. Brightly plumed green and yellow birds chirped in cages suspended from plastic trees. The floor was strewn with soft sand and plastic flowers. Pictures of the bombers and quotes from the Quran, the Islamic holy book, covered the wall.

Paradise also was air-conditioned, a telling contrast to the sweltering summertime West Bank.

Hundreds of students filed through the exhibit, some returning again and again. An Najah University would not permit the exhibition to be photographed.

"I have never seen anything like this in all my life," said Abdel Aziz Mohammed, a third-year Arabic studies major. Mohammed said that the exhibit helped him realize "the fate of the fighters" after they blow themselves up among Israelis. "I looked at their pictures, I felt them talking and smiling. They really are in their heaven," he said.

Missing from the display of heaven were the 72 virgins. Organizers said they weren't sure how to depict them. "We don't know what (heavenly) virgins look like," said one of the organizers, a Hamas member and engineering student who only gave his first name, Ahmed.

Also, he said, "We don't want people to think we are dying for women. We are dying for God."

Mustafa Abu Sway, an Islamic scholar at Al Quds University in the West Bank, said the Quran is intentionally vague about paradise because it is impossible to grasp its infinite nature.

"Paradise is usually described as something the eye has never seen. It is the same and not the same," Abu Sway said.

Ahmad said exhibit organizers had consulted with Islamic authorities, who said it was "legitimate to represent heaven in a way that shows people what awaits them at the end of life."

University official Sami Keilani said An Najah opposes suicide bombings but did not oppose the exhibition.

"As an institution we believe in pluralism," he said. "We give the students a wide room for theoretical pluralism and we take a neutral position toward the debate among the students."

Ahmad said the display was meant as a response to those criticizing the armed uprising against Israel. "We tell them that they are not wasting their lives. Even if they do not achieve victory in their lives, they gain paradise," he said.

He denied that the exhibition was an incitement to violence.

"We are students, not part of the military wing (of Hamas)," he said. "We ... want to raise morale."

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I'm not really interested in the "political" aspects of this.
To me it's more of a wacky psychology and "religion" story.
But I guess it has a political charge to it.
Too bad.
Everything in here seems so uselessly polarized anymore.

Anyway, here's where I'm posting it - FYI

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maximusveritas

I guess when you have nothing, you have to believe in something. Kind of sad really.

reconmike

Kill them all send them to allah.

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MSD

"Paradise also was air-conditioned"

That cracked me up.

Lebell

I think this is sad and sick at the same time. These guys really believe this.

Of course, I've had a friend pose the same question to me regarding my beliefs in the afterlife.

Since then, I've had to acknowledge that while I still believe there is more to life than what we can see, what is after is unknowable and very likely much different from what anyone imagines.

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Nad Adam

Why not just join a country club?

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The_Dude

religious fanaticism

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Macheath

I thought the air conditioning part was interesting. They weren't just creating a visual representation of paradise; plastic flowers would not do for such a task. They were also engaging all the other senses. Coming into a perfectly airconditioned room from the sweltering heat outside would have a real impact in itself. Add to that the sound of birds and trickling water and the scene would become very enticing for many people.

This is perhaps why they didn't want pictures taken, the room was not just for looking at, but designed to engage all of the senses in order to get people to feel a certain way about the bombers and their fate.

ARTelevision

oh, always a good opportunity to mention in this context:

multimedia manipulation.

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Sun Tzu

Im not writing this to insult any muslims out there; its a true question I have. I know there have been female bombers and Im assuming that being a lesbian is shunned by the Koran, so how do the virgins apply to them? I've never heard that theres going to be a bunch of virign males waiting.

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guthmund

I've never heard it specified "female" virgins.

Maybe the term virgins applies to both the males and females.

While this is certainly in the extreme what with the assault on "all" the senses, it is no different than recreating the nativity scene every December. It's no different than when we describe what Heaven will be to our children and it's no different than passion plays or church productions.

It's about capturing a moment of time, or a place. It seems they put a lot of work into physically replicating what they think Heaven is like. It's not religious fanaticism; It's only weird because we see they're "different."

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Sun Tzu

good point guthmund I havent heard it referred to any specific gender; I guess I was being sexest.

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The_Dude

hmmm freedom of expression?

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XenuHubbard

All suicide bombers haven't been religious. The past two years has also seen outspoken atheists do the same thing. 10000 US$ is a lot of money for a Palestinian family.

As for the virgins; there are only supposed to be 2 of them. The other 70 are supposed to be a bonus.

Personally, I think 72 is just way too many. And I don't want virgins, either. As for the people putting up this kind of crap in an University; they're not going to blow themselves up. They're looking for people to do so.

I also think that no matter what shape or form, any martyr is a sucker.

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Charlatan

The implied incitement to kill Israelis aside, how does a vision of paradise like this differ from the Heaven that Christian's believe in?

The Christian heaven is held up as a reward for behaving as the doctrines of the religion would have you behave.

Ultimately I'm with Art on this. This is an example of how religion is used to motivate people into doing things (at least I think that was what Art was suggesting).

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guthmund

Sometimes it's hard to wrap your mind around what Art suggests....

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Macheath

I'm taking another look at this symboism issue and I'm starting to wonder whether the symbolism of Christianity is the most perverse of all.

I mean their main symbol depicts a guy being tortured. All the Christian churches I've ever been in invariably have a life sized cross with a life sized jesus on it...with blood, and wounds. I was driving the other day, looking up at an apartment complex, and I noticed someone had put up a life sized Jesus-on-the-cross in their front room. I hope they never have kids, they'll have nightmares.

Sure Hinduism has Kali and one of the Buddhas is pretty emaciated, but you can't beat JC for the 'house-of-horrors' look.

XenuHubbard

It's pretty bizarre that Christians have adopted a Roman instrument of torture/execution as their universal symbol.

Or as Bill Hicks put it;

"No dad, I'm not going down there again! They're still wearing those things around their necks!"

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ARTelevision

Macheath,
That's a very excellent point.
Having attended a catholic elementary school, I consider it mental abuse to have been exposed to the hignly realistic depictions of the torture and murder of that character as if they had some "redeeming" value.

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Charlatan

Of course it needs to be horrible as it needs to generate the greatest amount of pity... He went through all of this for us... so we'd better do as the institution suggests. To not do so in the face of that selfless suffering "should" make one writhe in guilt.

I've never been able to follow a God that a) I should fear and that b) would do this to his "only son" so that we can feel better about ourselves...

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