00.01.00

Mosque at night

01.02

(v/o)

Camera zooms in

Beneath the minarets of the Gaza strip, a new Palestinian movement has been readying for jihad, or holy war, with Israel. Uncompromising fundamentalists, the Hamas movement fights only for God.

01.20

Man with face covered speaks (dubbed)

Hamas is the tip of the dagger which will penetrate the heart of Israel. Holding the dagger is the hand of God, which will never tire or weaken.

01.36

Men practicing martial arts

In the relative safety of a mosque, Hamas members train secretly at night. In Gaza, karate has come to symbolise the discipline and spiritual dedication of Hamas. With roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas springs from a movement which traditionally had an important place in Gaza.

02.00

Grubby construction site/urban area in Gaza

Overcrowding and poverty make the Gaza strip more tense than the other places in the occupied territory. On the street, the ancient religious roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict dominate, their contempt for each other almost instinctual. Today Gaza's overpowered youth look to no one for help. Hamas calls for patience rather than compromise.

02.28

Interview with man (dubbed)

Palestine is an Islamic land. Small or large, it is part of the greater Islamic lands. We will never give it up. We accept what Islam says and reject what it rejects. Islam says these are not our borders; we must eliminate them and establish an independent state.

02.48

Radical with face covered shouts into megaphone

March of youths with faces covered

With brief and dangerous demonstrations, Hamas activists take to the streets. Their slogans call for a return to Islam, and the intensification of their struggle against Israel. Belief in their power is absolute, and it is what attracts Gazan youth. In God they have a friend more powerful than any Israeli.

03.14

Young boy speaks (dubbed)

We fight for Hamas, because if we get martyred we will go to heaven. If we have sinned we will be forgiven. They teach us to pray, to fast, and to worship God.

03.25

Asmi climbing over rubble

Youngsters like Asmi reject talk of peace. The Intifada has robbed them of their education, and peace is not a word they learn in the mosque.

03.40

Boys throwing stones to one another, Asmi v/o dubbed

Each time someone throws stones, they close the schools. They do it to make us ignorant, but we go to the mosques to learn instead. We will carry on throwing stones until our land is returned.

04.00

Asmi speaks (dubbed)

It is our land. We must have it all given back or none at all. All of it or rather none.

04.15

Israeli soldiers in the distance, watching

Today the Israelis avoid the boys' taunts, anxious not to generate publicity. The soldiers fire the occasional percussion grenade but otherwise ignore the young cries of Allahu Ackbar- "God is great". None of these young Gazans would speak against Hamas and Islam.

04.37

Pan of Israeli town

But Hamas's role is more than confrontational; when the Israelis refuse permission for new mosques to be built, the youth from Hamas put up temporary ones.

04.52

Men in makeshift mosque

The jama remains in charge of religious instruction, but behind the scenes, Hamas is the force driving Gazans back to Islam, and to prepare for jihad. The Islamic movement is young; Hamas members are the angry youth who spent four years fighting unsuccessfully with the Israelis. Today they devote hours each day to their religious studies. Religion has taken over the Intifada- its headquarters are now in the mosques. 

05.26

Boy speaks (dubbed)

The youth of the mosques are the ones who confront the Israelis. The enemies of God should know the mosques are the places from where the Intifada operates. If it wasn't for the mosques, and the Muslims, the Intifada would've finished long ago.

05.51

Boy being forcibly carried by adults, chaotic, confrontational scene where woman screams and men brandish at the camera

One year ago, the Intifada at its most fierce. As Palestinians injured in the fighting poured into Gazan hospitals, the resistance was being challenged in the strongest way possible.

06.20

Ext street and large crowd, which Israeli soldiers attack with smoke, guns, and helicopters

While the Israelis battled with the youth of the Intifada, then PLO dominated. The Islamic movement was being allowed to grow. In the hope of breaking the unity of the Intifada, the Hamas trend was ignored.

07.02

Helicopter in the sky

While the Israelis threw massive firepower at the children of the Intifada, the mosques were slowly coming to life.

07.07

Overhead shot of mosque, Muslim hymn being sung (dubbed)

Young boys pray, pose with ceremonial swords

Passionate speaker speaks to the audience

We are the soldiers of God, the heroes for sacrifice/if the Holy Religion calls us, we must respond to the call

Through its religious activities, Hamas has cultivated a following with loyalties far deeper than the animal bonding of the Intifada. A transfixed young audience is told of the international conspiracy against Islam.

Those who believed in the prophet Mohamed were a minority, but they didn't depend on the power of America or the power of Russia. Nor did they depend on fraudulent peace negotiations. They depended on the power of God.

08.04

Boy with covered face speaks

All the fruits of our work today for the holy war will be gained in the future. Today we're preparing a whole new generation which will fight the state of Israel in the future.

08.22

Boys perched on rusty barrels, talking

Boys throwing stones at passing Israeli vehicles

After prayers each evening, Gaza's youth wait for Israeli targets. The Intifada against the military occupation was a spontaneous and angry reaction to a hopeless situation. Today they throw their stones fuelled by the burning fires of Islam. If the peace initiative fails, the next leadership in the occupied territories could be the young Islamists, and Hamas. They would be a dangerous catalyst in a region already burning with Islamic discontent.