A report documenting hundreds of cases in which the Palestinian media broadcast messages indicating an unwillingness to recognize the state of Israel, even within the 1948 borders, was distributed yesterday by the Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli organization devoted to paying attention to the Palestinian media.

According to the introduction to the report, these messages were not part of criticism of Israeli policies, but rather represented more general reservations about the existence of the state. The report said that three elements were prominent in these messages: a total rejection of the creation of the state, a rejection of the Israeli government even within the 1948 borders, and an expectation that the state of Israel would eventually disappear.

Israeli cities within the Green Line pre-1967 border are refered to as “colonies” and “settlements” (Hadera, Yokne’am and Sde Boker, among others), or as “cities of occupied Palestine” (Tiberias, Safed, Kfar Saba et alia).

The state of Israel is called by names that indicate an unwillingness to recognize it, such as “the Zionist entity,” “the Zionist enemy,” the Tel Aviv government,” “the occupation,” and “Israel” in quotation marks.

Palestinian Authority officials are quoted as frequently making statements on Palestinian television such as: “And we remind (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the entire world that Jaffa and Haifa our ours.”

“Many statements point to the expectation and sure belief in the removal of the state of Israel. The Israelis are often compared with the Crusaders who were eventually conquered and driven out despite their long rule. There are also freqent mentions of Salah al-Din, who drove out the Crusaders, as a symbol of a future military leader who will drive out Israel.

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