JERUSALEM – A song entitled “Pull the Trigger” was the soundtrack to the winning performance at a recent children’s dance competition at a community center in the West Bank city of Nablus, containing lyrics calling for “jihad” and “attacking Zionists.”
The Yafa Cultural Center in the Balata refugee camp posted photos to its website from the first Yafa Folk Dance Competition, Israeli monitoring group Palestinian Media Watch reported. Ru’a Ahmed Sa’id Hamdan, 14, bagged the gold prize for performing a dance set to a song glorifying violence against Israelis.
PMW translated the song’s lyrics as follows:
The Zionists coveted [our] homeland,
Compounding damage and enmity
But the popular revolution awaits [them]
The orchard called us to the struggle
We replaced bracelets with weapons
We attacked the despicable [Zionists]
We do not want [internal] strife or disputes
While this invading enemy is on the battlefield
This is the day that jihad is needed
Pull the trigger.
We shall redeem Jerusalem, Nablus and the country.
The Yafa Cultural Center’s Facebook page describes itself as a cultural NGO formed by the Committee for the Defense of Palestinian Refugee Rights with the aim of improving “the cultural and intellectual condition of Palestinians by providing them with a space to develop their talents and skills and to enrich their awareness of their national rights through civic education particularly on democracy and human rights.”
Through a variety of activities the center hopes to “empower Palestinians in fostering a strong and independent identity … while escaping the negative effects of the on-going Israeli occupation.”
Official Palestinian Authority television broadcast a performance of the same song in 2010.
The three top scoring dancers at the Yafa dance competition were awarded maps of “Palestine” replacing all of Israel’s territory, in gold, silver, and bronze respectively.