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."
 

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

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