From the Santa Barbara News, by Dion Nissenbaum, August 14, 2007 ....
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Saraa Barhoum picked at the buttons on her pink bellbottom jeans as she twisted on a chair inside the bustling new Hamas television headquarters. The afternoon light bounced off the sparkly outlines of butterflies on her frilly top, and a colorful hijab framed her 11-year-old face.
Saraa wants to be a doctor. If she can't, the young star of Hamas television's best-known children's show said, she'd be proud to become a martyr. Saraa says little Jewish girls should be forced from their homes in Israel so that Palestinians can return to their land.
With the show's producer helpfully offering written tips during an interview, Saraa didn't get into how she hopes to die for her cause, be it suicide bombing, fighting the Israeli military or some other way. She carefully sidestepped any suggestion that she's subtly calling for the destruction of Israel....
....Saraa is the sweet face of ''Tomorrow's Pioneers,'' a weekly, hour-long Hamas television children's show best known for bringing the world a militant Mickey Mouse look-alike and then having him killed off by an Israeli interrogator. With her jarring mix of innocent charm and militant rhetoric, Saraa is at the center of the militant Islamist group's increasingly sophisticated campaign to become the dominant force in Palestinian politics.
....Since it went on the air last year in the Gaza Strip, the Hamas-funded al-Aqsa television has gained momentum and expanded its audience to include the West Bank. Taking a lead from Hezbollah's al-Manar television station in Beirut, Hamas is using al-Aqsa to promote its agenda and challenge its rivals, in this case Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and his fractured Fatah allies....
....''Tomorrow's Pioneers'' sparked an international furor in April when it began featuring Farfour, the Mickey Mouse look-alike who sounded more like Iran's firebrand President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than a Disney character.
...The Israeli government and activists who monitor Palestinian programming accused Hamas of poisoning the minds of young children with the show. After two months, Farfour was beaten to death on the show by an Israeli interrogator. Nahoul, a larger-than-life bee, is now carrying his message. ''A lot of people in Palestine have died as martyrs, and lots of Palestinians hope to be martyrs,'' Saraa said of Farfour's demise. ''This is one of the ends.''
Asked if she hoped one day to be a martyr, Saraa instinctively nodded her head. ''Of course,'' Saraa said. ''It's something to be proud of. Every Palestinian citizen hopes to be a martyr.''
Saraa helps deliver similar messages to Palestinian children from a Hamas TV set filled with colorful numbers and pictures of kittens. During the show, Saraa fields calls from Palestinian children who warble songs about Islam, liberating Jerusalem and finding answers in the barrel of a machine gun.
... Saraa is the true face of Hamas, an extremist group that's using an innocent front to conceal its real agenda.
...On the show, Saraa offers moral lessons to viewers and urges them to do what they can to fight Israeli occupation. After some prodding in an interview, Saraa offered a personal message for Israeli girls her age. ''They have to leave,'' she said. ''This is our country. They kicked us out and stole our happiness. This is a natural result.''......
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Follow the links below to see exerpts from the Hamas TV show ''Tomorrow's Pioneers,'' featuring Saraa Barhoum and Farfour:
Farfour's first shows with Saraa
Farfour is killed by Israeli interrogator
Farfour is replaced by Nahoul the bee
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