Learning how to use an assault rifle as part of the Al-Futuwwa ("youth," "courage") program.
The opening ceremony of Al-Futuwwa camps in the Gaza Strip
Ismail Haniya attends a graduation ceremony (Palinfo website, January 14, 2014).
Weapons training. The lessons are given in the school yard by members of the Hamas security apparatuses (Palinfo website, January 7, 2014).
Al-Futuwwa boys in Rafah receive military training from members of Hamas' security forces (Palinfo website, January 10, 2014).
The Second Round of the Al-Futuwwa Program
1. On January 7, 2014, the ministry of the education of the de-facto Hamas administration, in collaboration with the ministry of the interior, announced the opening of the training camps of the second round of the Al-Futuwwa military training program. The camps, which last for about a week and were held last year for the first time, are part of the. Al-Futuwwa includes theoretical military topics and practical military training. According to the organizers, this year the program was expanded to 49 high schools throughout the Gaza Strip, with 13,000 students participating, as opposed to 5,000 who participated last year (Al-Aqsa TV, January 9, 2014).
2. Osama al-Muzeini, Hamas minister of education, held a press conference at one of the high schools, where he said that the ministry of education had decided to expand the program in light of its great success the previous year. He called it a "national project" whose objective was to raise a generation of Palestinian youths capable of liberating and defending their country. He added that the program would train the students in combat skills and make them familiar with weapons so that they would be able to resist the "occupation." He condemned those who criticized the camps and claimed they were educating for violence and terrorism, saying that "the program instills good social values"[1] (Al-Ra'I and Filastin Al-'Aan, January 7, 2014). Fathi Hamad, Hamas minister of the interior, said that the students participating in the camps will have "the main role in liberating Al-Aqsa mosque from the pollution of the occupation." He said that it was worth their while to train and prepare to participate in "the liberation of Ashdod, Yavne, Jaffa, Acre, Lod, Ramla and all the villages in Palestine," i.e., Israel Al-Ra'I and Filastin Al-'Aan, January 7, 2014).
Al-Futuwwa
3. Hamas began integrating the Al-Futuwwa program into high schools in the Gaza Strip in September 2012.[2] It provides thousands of high school boys with theoretical military studies and practical military training. Last year 5,000 students participated, and this year 13,000 are expected to take part in the course.
4. The program has three main components:
1) Weekly military studies taught to students on school grounds throughout the school year. Some of the lessons are taught by operatives of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas military-terrorist wing) or by Hamas security force personnel.
2) Concentrated practical training in camps, each round lasting for six days. The training camps are held given during school vacations, sometimes in the school itself. On January 7, 2014, it was announced that training camp would be held during the half-year break (Al-Aqsa TV, January 7, 2014).
3) Practical military activity, including having the students participate in the operational activity of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades (Hamas' military-terrorist wing), such as night patrols, security missions and manning roadblocks.
5. Muhammad al-Nakhaleh, Hamas ministry of the interior director of Al-Futuwwa, described the program and said the students would undergo physical training, learn basic military and field skills, have commando and urban warfare training, and learn self defense and civil defense. They would also be lectured on security issues, which, he said, would warn them about "Israeli intelligence traps" (Al-Aqsa TV, January 7, 2014). According to one of the instructors, in addition to rifles they are also trained in the use of machine guns and RPGs (Ma'an News Agency, January 15, 2014).
6. The website of the Hamas administration's ministry of the interior posted an interview with a boy named Mahmoud Ghanem, who was currently participating in the program. He said that what had motivated him to join it was his "strong longing to live in the time [in the future] when he will be an important operative in the future campaign against the Zionist occupation." He said he and his friends had entered the program, despite their young age, to learn the art of military warfare and become the generation that would "liberate the land and its holy places" (Website of the Hamas ministry of the interior, January 13, 2014).
Al-Futuwwa's Place in Hamas' Activity with Youth
7. Senior Hamas figures regard fostering Al-Futuwwa as very important. They often visit the training camps and schools where the program is taught and speak before the students. Generally speaking government ministers and even Ismail Haniya, head of the de-facto Hamas administration, attend the various ceremonies and activities connected with the program. For example, on January 14, 2014, Ismail Haniya, Osama al-Muzeini and Fathi Hamad all attended the graduation ceremony of one of the courses held in the Gaza City (Ma'an News Agency, January 15, 2014). Ismail Haniya gave a speech in which called the participants "the stone generation, the rocket generation, the tunnel generation, the suicide bombing attack generation" (Al-Aqsa TV, January 16, 2014).
8. Al-Futuwwa is one aspect of Hamas' comprehensive policy of practical activities combined with indoctrination for the youth of the Gaza Strip. It begins in kindergarten and continues through university, and its objective is to foster a new cadre of military-terrorist operatives and political activists inculcated with Hamas' ideology (such as the "liberation of Palestine," refusal to recognize of the State of Israel, the culture of jihad and self-sacrifice for its sake, radical Islam, etc.)
9. The youth, according to Hamas strategy, are expected to join the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades and participate in the military campaign against Israel, join the Hamas movement and integrate into governmental activities ensuring Hamas rule over the Gaza Strip. Another goal is to reinforce the image Hamas' military-terrorist wing as a "popular army" operating in the service of the Palestinian people, as opposed to the other organizations.
Military Instruction and Training in Gaza Strip Schools
Weapons training. The lessons are given in the school yard by members of the Hamas security apparatuses (Palinfo website, January 7, 2014).
Training Camp Graduation Ceremony
10. On January 14, 2014, an Al-Futuwwa training camp graduation ceremony was held in Gaza City, attended by senior figures in the Hamas administration. The students, dressed in full military uniform, demonstrated the martial skills they had learned, such as firing machine guns and RPGs (Ma'an News Agency and the Palinfo website, January 15, 2014). The following pictures are from the ceremony:
[1]The program has been met with mixed reactions by the Gazan population. It has been received negatively by some people and by human rights organizations, and viewed as a tool for militarizing the next generation and encouraging violence. Others consider it an important tool in the struggle against the so-called Israeli "occupation," and a way of preventing the moral deterioration of the youth. Sources within Hamas claim that the program is no different from the Israeli Gadna, the program (within the Israeli educational system) that prepares young people to serve in the IDF.
[2]For further information about Al-Futuwwa see the May 8, 2013 bulletin “Hamas has introduced a program in Gaza Strip schools called Al-Futuwwa, which provides military training for tens of thousands of adolescent boys. Its objective is to raise a new generation of Hamas operatives and supporters, and to ensure Hamas' future control of the Gaza Strip."
