The Girl Who Urges Children to Fight Israel ... With Clean Teeth

In pink flares, an embroidered shirt and neat headscarf, Saraa Barhoun is the new star of Hamas TV, spearheading efforts to persuade the youth of Gaza and the West Bank to follow a path of religious devotion, resistance to Israel and clean teeth.

Last week Palestinians had nothing to watch but the 11-year-old and her co-presenters Haloul, a bumblebee, and Farfour, a mouse that advocates violence against Israel, because power cuts knocked out satellite TV, leaving them with only Hamas's al-Aqsa Television.

Saraa, who lives with her family in Rafah, has undoubted star quality. Her Arabic is eloquent beyond her years. Her father is a teacher of Islam and she has learnt well. Saraa explains her role as twofold - to help the West understand Islam and to be a role model for Palestinian youth.

'I would like to tell everyone that Islam is very easy,' she said. 'It is not a hard religion and if people in the West converted they would find themselves in a better place. I want to tell the world we are not terrorists or their enemies.'

Saraa is one of many tools being employed by Hamas to maintain their control of Gaza and increase their power in the West Bank. Like any political party they have recognized the power of the media and are using it.

Gaza's streets are covered with Hamas banners highlighting their successes and threatening rivals: 'No mercy for those who threaten our people's interests' and 'Qassam Brigades Resisting the Occupation and Hitting the Spoilers.'

Saraa is the soft side of the Hamas approach to power. She does her live show every Friday without a script and it is repeated throughout the week. She talks and argues with callers from Gaza and the West Bank and discusses politics and good behavior with a bumblebee.

Sitting with her mother, who is completely clothed in black, Saraa is happy to describe how she would like to be a scholar in the West to help people better understand Islam and convert. Failing that, she would like to become a doctor or a martyr. When her mother interjects that she does not want to be a martyr, Saraa overrules her: 'We love life, but we are happy to be martyrs.'

She has been singing on Hamas radio for two years and started presenting a year ago. Her work does not get in the way of her studies because she is 'very organised'.

On one show, she cut off a caller who was singing about surrendering. 'We don't want to surrender,' Saraa told the caller. 'We want to resist.'

Israeli groups have cited Saraa as an example of how Hamas breeds hatred of Israel, but her producer, Samir Abu Mosen, says it is not television but growing up with Israeli violence that radicalizes Palestinian children.

'The point of the program is to show children they have a right to live without violence, to communicate with others and to share their experience,' he said. 'Saraa is a great role model for Palestinian children. We are trying to show negative behaviour and allow Saraa to correct it. This could be anything from cleaning their teeth, respecting their parents or doing homework.'