The central message of PA institutions, media and
officials reflects the Palestinian narrative is
composed of three core components:
1.Cultivation of the belief that all of ‘Historic
Palestine’ (from the Mediterranean to the
Jordan River) will return to Palestinian control,
and denial of Israel’s right to exist as a state, let
alone as the nation-state of the Jewish people.
2.Demonization and dehumanization of ‘the
Zionists’- Jews in general and Israelis in
particular.
3. The belief that all forms of struggle- including
terrorist attacks-are legitimate in principle. The
decision as to which form to employ at a given
time is made according to the circumstances.
Agreements with Israel do not negate the
legitimacy of the struggle.
Examples of the First Component
Cultivating the belief that all of ‘Historic
Palestine’ (from the Mediterranean to the
Jordan River) will return to Palestinian
control, and denial of Israel’s right to exist as
a state, let alone as the nation-state of the
Jewish people.
On Nov. 21 a link to a music video
entitled “Good morning, O’my land”
was uploaded to the official
facebook page of the Presidency.
The closing lines of the songs,
declare: “A morning of return, Jaffa,
Haifa, Gaza, Ramallah will certainly
be our meeting place at the end of
the day”
The phrase “Haifa will certainly be
our meeting place” is given special
emphasis and appears numerous
times on the screen.
[To view the clip directly without
signing into facebook- click here]
National Education Textbook,
4th Grade (includes Green Line
but header reads ‘The Arab
countries that border Palestine’)
National Education
Textbook, 3rd Grade
Inscription on left:
“100% Arabic”
On the map:
“Palestine”
Administered by the Office for Internal Relations (headed by Azzam Al-Ahmad,
Ramallah), right- uploaded Sept. 1, 2012, left- uploaded July 12, 2012
On map: We are returning
Uploaded to facebook page administered by the Office for Internal Relations
(headed by Azzam Al-Ahmad, Ramallah), July 14, 2012; to facebook page
administered by the Department of Communications in the Office of
Recruitment and Organization (Ramallah), Aug. 11, 2012.
Check against delivery: Contrast between circulated text
of Abbas’ remarks and remarks as actually delivered
TEXT OF ABBAS’ REMARKS
DISTRIBUTED AT THE UN
ABBAS’ ACTUAL REMARKS
AT THE UNGA (SEPT. 27):
“…[T]he birthplace of Jesus
(peace be upon him), and
ascension of the Prophet
Muhammad (peace be
upon him), and the final
resting place of Abraham
(peace be upon him), the
land of the three
monotheistic religions.”
“…[T]he birthplace of Jesus
(peace be upon him), and
ascension of the Prophet
Muhammad (peace be
upon him), and the final
resting place of Abraham
(peace be upon him), the
land of the monotheistic
religions.”
[Note: The UN translator relies on the
written text in her simultaneous
translation (from 21:28)]
[Note: Abbas looks down briefly
at the written text and skips the
word ‘three’]
Article 2: Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the
British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit
Article 9: Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine.
This is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase…
Article 15: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab
viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel
the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab
homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism…
Article 20: …Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with
Palestine are incompatible with the facts of
history…Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent
nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an
identity of their own…
In spite of the Palestinian claim that the articles
contradicting the Oslo agreements were removed from
the Palestinian National Charter in 1998, the original
1968 charter still appears in full on many PLO websites
with no mention of any subsequent modifications.
“Al-Mauqef” (“The Stance”)- magazine of the PA Security Forces, published
by the PLO/PA “National and Diplomatic Directorate”
The headline came to reassure readers that Abbas had not budged from the
PLO/PA position demanding a ‘Right of Return’, in light of an interview on
Israeli TV in which he appeared to take a more moderate stance.
Text (“I never forfeited…”) appears twice, on front cover (left) and pg. 3 (right)
Bridge of Return
Only one way to Palestinethrough the barrel of a gun
Fatah Facebook, administered by the Department of Communications in the Office of
Recruitment and Organization (Ramallah), Left- Nov. 5, 2012; Right- Oct. 21, 2012.
Examples of the Second Component
Demonization and dehumanization of ‘the
Zionists’- Jews in general and Israelis in
particular.
Statements by PA Chair Mahmoud Abbas
Abbas at the UNGA, Nov. 27, 2012: “We have not heard one word
from any Israeli official expressing any sincere concern to save the
peace process. On the contrary, our people have witnessed…an
unprecedented intensification of military assaults, the blockade,
settlement activities and ethnic cleansing…by which this Israeli
occupation is becoming synonymous with an apartheid system of
colonial occupation, which institutionalizes the plague of racism and
entrenches hatred and incitement.”
Abbas at the UNGA, Sept. 27, 2012: “…Israel, the occupying Power,
has persisted with its settlement campaign, focusing on Jerusalem
and its environs. It is a campaign clearly and deliberately aimed at
altering the City's historic character and the glorious image of the
Holy City etched in the minds of humankind. It is a campaign of
ethnic cleansing…”
Presidential Statement, Aug. 21, 2012: “…[Israel’s] ultimate goal is to
rob Muslims and Christians of their holy shrines, destroy the Al Aqsa
mosque and build the alleged Jewish temple”
[Al-Quds daily, Aug. 29, 2012]
“The Palestinian people, who miraculously recovered from the
ashes of Al-Nakba of 1948, which was intended to extinguish
their being and to expel them in order to uproot and erase their
presence, which was rooted in the depths of their land and
depths of history. In those dark days, when hundreds of
thousands of Palestinians were torn from their homes and
displaced…in one of the most dreadful campaigns of ethnic
cleansing and dispossession in modern history.”
“Palestine comes today to the United Nations General
Assembly at a time when it is still tending to its wounds and still
burying its beloved martyrs of children, women and men who
have fallen victim to the latest Israeli aggression…wiping out
entire families, their men, women and children murdered along
with their dreams, their hopes, their future and their longing to
live an ordinary life and to live in freedom and peace.”
A Palestinian Authority TV host asks an artist to
discuss the following painting "dealing with the
Palestinian nation's problems such as the Gaza
massacres." (PA TV, 13.7.12)
Jibril Rajoub, the Deputy Secretary-General of the
Fatah Central Committee, called Israeli PM Benjamin
Netanyahu a “dog” during an interview on PA TV.
"Netanyahu- all of his projects are in a crisis, he is in
distress, he goes and barks in Efrat. You dog, you
aggressor. This is Palestinian land, whether you or
your father like it or not. We were born here, we are
the people of this land, we are the salt of the earth,
and you are not.” [PA TV – Aug. 30, 2012]
Jibril Rajoub (PA TV - May 17, 2012):
No normalization with Israel in sports, no “Zionist sons of
bitches”
From the facebook page of ‘Al-Razi’ boys
elementary school in Qalqilya, Sept. 12, 2012
From the facebook page of the ‘Ikataba’ high school for girls in Tulkarem,
uploaded May 22, 2012
Examples of the Third Component
All forms of struggle- including terrorist
attacks-are legitimate in principle. The
decision as to which form to employ is
made according to the circumstances.
Agreements with Israel do not negate
the legitimacy of the struggle.
Senior PA Official Nabil Shaath Praises "Hero" Ahmad
Jaabari and Armed Resistance at Hamas Rally in
Gaza, Nov. 22, 2012
Nabil Shaath: How delighted I am to see all these flags here –
the yellow, the green, the black…has gathered all of us here is
the unity that will grant us more victories.
Congratulations to the martyrs, and Allah's mercy upon the hero
Ahmad Jaabari and upon all the martyrs.
The battle that you are waging has been going on for a hundred
years. This people has been fighting for a hundred years to
liberate its land, and to liberate Jerusalem…It is defending
Jerusalem and Palestine in its entirety, by all means of
resistance – by armed resistance, by political resistance, by
going to the U.N., by solidarity – by all forms of confrontation
with the enemy occupying our land.
“The fight against the Jews and the victory over them: The
Messenger of Allah has already announced the end of the
Jews’ oppression of this land and the removal of their
corruption and conquest of it.
“…[God’s Messenger said] The Hour of Resurrection will not
come until the Muslims fight the Jews. The Muslims will kill
them, and when a Jew would hide behind a rock or a tree the
rock or the tree would say: ‘O Muslim, O worshipper of God!
There is a Jew behind me; come and kill him’, except the salt
bush (Gharqad), which is the Jews’ tree.””
[PA Education Ministry, Islamic Studies, “Foundations of Belief”
textbook, Grade 11, 2011, pg. 94]
The official Mufti of the PA quoted this
Islamic tradition at a public ceremony
celebrating the founding of Fatah. At the
end he declared that this was the reason
that many settlements have been
surrounded by salt bushes.
[PA TV, Sept. 1, 2012]
Illustration by Umiya Juha.
The tree is saying “O Muslim, O
worshipper of God! This is a Jew
behind me; come and kill him”
]From the Facebook page of the ‘Iktaba’
girls high school in Tulkarm, Jan. 22, 2012]
Note:
The bullets on the table are
meant to spell out the name
“Palestine”.
[Fatah main Facebook page, posted Aug. 10, 2012]
“Nearly five thousand Palestinians also remain captive as
prisoners and detainees in Israel’s jails…they are soldiers in
their people’s struggle for freedom, independence and peace.”
A girl on PA TV dedicates a song celebrating martyrdom and
death to an Islamic Jihad commander serving a life sentence
“When we die as martyr’s our souls will go to
Paradise…You taught us the meaning of heroism”
The Facebook page of the
‘Palestine’ elementary school for
boys in Qalqilya uploaded a link to
the following video clip
"The sound of the clashing [swords] is pleasant
to my ear and the flow of blood makes my soul
happy
And a corpse thrown to the earth, over which the
predators of the desert fight
By your life! This is the death of men, and those
who would seek the death of the noble- here it
is”
[Our Beautiful Language, Grade 7, Part 1 (2010), pg. 75]
"My mother dressed me in a strange belt
I asked her: 'What is this, mother?'
She said: 'I will put it on you and you will go to your death!'
I said to her: 'Mother, what have I done that you want me to die?'
She shed a tear that hurt my heart and said: 'The homeland needs
you, son. Go and blow up the sons of Zion.'
I said to her: 'Why me and not you?'
She said: 'I will stay in order to give birth to more children for the sake
of Palestine.'
I kissed her hand and said to her: 'Keep it up, mother, for you and for
Palestine I will kill the impure and the damned.'“
[Fatah-Lebanon's Facebook page, posted Sept. 3, 2012]
1. This trends in this quarter largely followed those of previous
quarters, with an increase in the severity of incitement in
several of the dimensions.
2. Mahmoud Abbas’ two speeches at the UNGA in September
and November were characterized by high levels of
demonization and reflected his commitment to the various
messages and themes noted in the index.
3. Over the last several months we have expanded the index
to cover official PA, PLO and Fatah facebook pages as well
as the pages of schools in the PA education system. This
expanded coverage has revealed the degree to which the
messages of incitement and continuation of conflict are
embedded and internalized within Palestinian society in
general, and among Palestinian schoolchildren in particular.
Weighted Final Result for July-Sept. 2012: -40.27
Weighted final results over 11 quarters
The PA’s efforts to inculcate their core narrative are carried
out in a systematic and thorough manner. This indoctrination
is directed at the Palestinian public in general and at
Palestinian youth in particular.
The Palestinians in no way see themselves as bound by
agreements with Israel which require all outstanding issues
to be resolved through negotiations only. All forms of
‘resistance’ remain legitimate (even if there are those that
are less expedient at a given moment.)
The encouragement of an atmosphere of violence, the
demonization of Israelis and Jews, and the non-creation of a
culture of peace result in an ethos that perpetuates the
struggle by glorifying values antithetical to peace.
This is the primary obstacle to peace