Israel charges that the level of incitement in the Palestinian media and the education system is sowing the seeds of the next conflict

If you look for it, you’ll have no problem finding it — by the suitcase-full.

It lurks daily in the pages of the Palestinian newspapers, on the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation radio and TV, in the textbooks currently being studied in the Palestinian Authority schools.

Anti-Israeli incitement is what occupies Itamar Marcus, director of Palestinian Me-dia Watch, a privately funded Jerusalem-based monitoring organization. But he hesitates to use the “i” word. Rather, he says, the problem lies in the whole atmosphere — the totality of messages coming at the Palestinian public from all angles, creating an all-pervasive, war-like environment in which the idea of peaceful coexistence is entirely absent and in which Israel is either vilified, or not recognized at all.

The more outrageous cases periodically burst into the Israeli headlines. Like Yasser Arafat’s now-infamous Ramallah speech of November 15 in which he declared “our guns are raised. And we will aim them at anyone who prevents us from going to Jerusalem.” Or the scenes broadcast on PBC TV from last summer’s Palestinian Authority military-style children’s camps, in which the cute-looking boys and girls chanted, recited poems and sang in praise of armed revolution, jihad and martyrdom.

Then there was the November 7 opinion piece penned by guest columnist Nasser Ahmad and published in Al-Hayat al-Jadeedah, the semi-official PA daily, asserting: “Corruption is in the nature of the Jews all over the world, to the point that only rarely do you find corruption that the Jews are not behind… If we take a look at history, we discover to what extent the Jews were exposed to oppression and expulsion worldwide because of their ugly deeds and their wickedness.” Or the fact that every news broadcast on PBC TV starts off, and ends, with “the map”: the whole area of Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with no borders and no names.

And no sensitivities were spared when PBC recently produced a short film commemorating the anniversary of a problematic Israeli retaliatory attack in October 1953 on the West Bank village of Qibiyah, in which the IDF destroyed scores of houses, killing over 40 civilians in the process. The five or six minute-long film clip included black-and-white images of eyeless and limbless children, taken from the Intifada and possibly elsewhere, as well as staged scenes of “Israeli soldiers” lining up and shooting groups of men and women against a wall, all set to an emotional narrative and plaintive background flute. Says Marcus: “Its purpose was only one — a definite desire to create hatred. You can’t watch that kind of stuff and not hate the people behind it.”

From first grade up, the textbooks used in PA schools in the West Bank are suffused with similar messages. The West Bank schools still use the Jordanian curriculum, as they have done for the past 30 years — and despite the 1994 peace treaty with Jordan, the material has remained violently hostile. Gaza uses the Egyptian curriculum, which is far milder in its treatment of Israel. The Jordanian books are published in Amman, but are then embossed with the Palestinian Authority stamp of approval. During the occupation, the Israeli authorities used to edit out offending parts, redesigning pages and reprinting whole books to avoid large white gaps, but the PA has chosen not to.

An exhaustive search of these school texts by Marcus’s staff — he himself knows no Arabic — resulted in a report that has left many an Israeli gasping. Second-graders, for example, are taught a “Poem of Palestine,” including the lines: “For me, the promise of martyrdom and Palestine is my song/From Jerusalem I shall build my ladder towards eternity.” On page 29 of the “Our Arabic Language” primer for sixth-graders, pupils are asked to “form logical sentences making use of the following expressions: Wise opinion the Zionist danger he called for a Jihad disaster remaining cool-headed.” In a language primer of the same series, seventh-graders are given the following as a subject for composition: “How are we going to liberate our stolen land? Make use of the following ideas: Arab unity, genuine faith in Allah, most modern weapons and ammunition, the use of oil and other precious natural resources as weapons in the battle for liberation.” And so on.

The boundaries of what constitutes “our stolen land” are kept vague, at best. The new PA-approved atlas, in this case privately published in the West Bank city of Nablus, shows Israel, the West Bank and Gaza as all one area with no labels. Where the territories are marked separately, for example in the 10th-grade textbook “Modern Arab History and Contemporary Problems, Part Two,” the color key refers to “Arab lands occupied before 1967” and “Arab lands occupied in 1967.”

“The Palestinians haven’t yet internalized the recognition of Israel,” says Marcus, who moved to Israel from the United States in 1974. He worked in the Religious Affairs Ministry under the previous Labor-led government before turning to full-time monitoring after the 1996 elections. “It would be completely valid if they were to put a map on TV of the whole West Bank and Gaza without a single settlement. But Israel of 1948 is not in dispute now. They’re constantly talking about Lod, Jaffa, Acre and Haifa in future terms, which creates dangerous expectations. It’s a general world view — a view that was supposed to have changed with Oslo. Instead of promoting peace, it’s sowing the seeds of the next conflict.”

Israel’s delegation went off to the Wye Plantation talks in October armed with Marcus’s reports. It came back with a commitment from the Palestinians to issue a decree prohibiting all forms of incitement to violence or terror, comparable to existing Israeli legislation, and to join Israeli and U.S. representatives on a trilateral committee to find ways of preventing incitement.

The decree was issued in mid-November. And on the 24th of the month, the committee held its first meeting.

Marcus was the “professional” on the four-man Israeli team, headed by former Knesset member Yoash Tsidon of the right-wing Tsomet party. The Palestinian side was headed by former Arafat spokesman Marwan Kanafani. U.S. Ambassador Ed Walker stood in for former Congressman Mel Levine, who was unable to attend the opening session.

The sides came out agreeing to work on a definition of what constitutes incitement, and to meet again in early December. Now, The Jerusalem Report has learned, the Pal-estinians are concentrating their efforts on building up their own files citing examples of Israeli incitement against the Palestinians. Whether or not they’ve fully come to terms with Israel’s existence, one thing the Palestinians have clearly internalized is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy of reciprocity.

“We have our own claims of Israeli incitement, every day,” Hafez Barguti, chief editor of Al-Hayat al-Jadeedah, told The Report the morning after the first meeting, having already coordinated positions with Kanafani. “When [Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel] Sharon tells settlers to grab any empty land they can, what do you call that if not a call to violence? It must be mutual, from our side and the Israeli side. On the Palestinian side, you might find an individual here or there. But on the Israeli side, it’s government ministers who make these declarations.”

Asked about the recent “corruption” article that appeared in his paper, Barguti said he’d spent several weeks abroad around that time, and that it was “difficult to control every word in this situation. Yesterday,” he went on, “I gave my editors instructions not to use this word — ‘corrupt’ — about a whole people. We’re going to make peace with these people.”

Barguti added that another recent anti-Semitic item using Shylock imagery had slipped by while he was preoccupied with his father, who was in a coma. As for references in Al-Hayat al-Jadeedah to Israel as the “Zionist entity,” he said he wouldn’t use such terminology himself, then asked rhetorically, and somewhat disingenuously, “since when being a Zionist was an insult? I think the Zionists should be happy to use this, no?”

At PBC headquarters in Ramallah, the PA’s temporary “capital” in the West Bank, radio and television head Radwan Abu Ayyash sits under a portrait of Arafat and the national flag. So far, he says, he’s invested three years of very hard work in getting PBC on its feet. And he insists that while the salaries of the TV and “Voice of Palestine” radio staff come from the Palestinian Authority, and the PBC is accountable to Arafat’s own office (the general coordinator, Hisham Mikki, is based in Gaza), there’s no real interference from on high.

Abu Ayyash even points to moments of daring. Like the time when the popular radio program “Good Morning Palestine,” which deals with local issues, was trying in vain to get PA Information Minister Yasser Abd Rabbo on the phone. With each call, Abd Rabbo’s secretary became ruder, until she was positively cursing. Abu Ayyash instructed staffers to tape the last call, and broadcast it live. Only Arafat himself is immune to criticism on PBC stations. “He’s a symbol. I cannot gamble with this,” says Abu Ayyash.

When it comes to the subject of incitement, however, the PBC is definitely up for a fight. Abu Ayyash pulls out copies of Marcus’s reports, on which he’s scribbled his own notes, and dismisses Palestinian Media Watch as “a Beit Agron production,” referring to the Jerusalem press center which houses, among other things, the Israeli Government Press Office and the military censor. He accuses the Israelis of “picking and choosing” from the programs and taking things out of context. “If some sheikh says live on TV that all the Israelis should be thrown into the sea, what can I do? Cut off his tongue?” he goes on. “I can’t change the hearts, the brains, the language of my people. I can’t make them fall in love by force. We are journalists, mirrors, reflectors. I’m not here to lie, or make propaganda.”

Abu Ayyash says that he’s put aside all the songs and poems calling for Israel’s destruction that were daily fare on PLO radio that used to air out of Algeria. “I try to be fair,” he says, “but at the same time, I cannot surrender my nationality to fit somebody’s mood. We have to build up our national feeling, to chart our origins, like any other people.” Abu Ayyash complains that Israel is ignoring the fact that “90 percent” of PBC’s news broadcasts deal with the peace process — even if they attack Netanyahu’s political position. Like Barguti, he argues that calling people “Zionists” is “not a curse.”

As for the map, Abu Ayyash claims at first that the idea is merely to show the Middle East, and focus on this area. “Give me a final-status map and I’ll use it,” he declares. Prodded further, Abu Ayyash says that he would put up a map of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, “but to be honest, I still have something to do with Jaffa and Haifa. I have a Palestinian refugee problem — I have people watching from Jaffa whose problem hasn’t been solved. That doesn’t mean I want to get into a tank and drive there.”

Israel has particularly objected to a number of items that have repeatedly cropped up on PBC TV. These include short clips showing Intifada violence interspersed daily between regular programming; a six-minute recording of the song “Baladi Ana,” or “My Country,” in which children depict the trauma of 1948, concluding “It’s still my land, my beautiful land, Palestine”; and a blood- and gorefilled series called “Al-Khalidun,” or “The Eternal Ones,” which has run weekly for the past two years. “Al-Khalidun” features Palestinian “martyrs” killed by Israel, describing their lives and times, and keeping their memories alive through interviews with proud family members.

Abu Ayyash rejects charges that “Al-Khalidun” glorifies martyrdom, stressing the centrality of the concept in Islam. “The people don’t need me to tell them this,” he scoffs. “They get it from the kindergarten to the grave. It’s part of their structure, their life. I can’t just delete it from TV.”

Furthermore, he argues, it’s important to remind people of how much pain it’s taken to get to this point. “Why didn’t Israel forget the Nazis?” he asks. “Because of Yad Vashem, you had to reach peace. Because of the Intifada, we have to reach peace. I’m not aiming to destroy Israel, but we have a right to show its atrocities.”

In the wake of Wye, where the subject of incitement was first raised, Israel observed slight “improvements” at PBC TV: The daily barrage of Intifada clips stopped; “Al-Khalidun” abruptly went off the air (Abu Ayyash says the series “came to its end”); and “Baladi Ana” suddenly disappeared. That, Abu Ayyash conceded to The Report, was taken off so as not to give Netanyahu “cards” to play with.

Days after the first incitement committee meeting, however, “Baladi Ana” reappeared. And all efforts at PBC TV are focused, again, on reciprocity. Kanafani has charged Abu Ayyash with building a file of Israeli transgressions. “If they want to play Tom and Jerry, that’s fine,” says the PBC head. “We’re monitoring them now.”

The PA Ministry of Education, meanwhile, refuses to respond to the charges of incitement in schoolbooks on grounds that the PA is working on its own curriculum, to be introduced in the year 2002.

Israel doesn’t want to wait that long. A proposal informally thrown up at the incitement committee would have the Americans fund an immediate reprint of edited versions of the books now in use. The Palestinians replied that they are not prepared to deal with their schoolbooks unless Israeli textbooks are dealt with at the same time.

Surrounded by the mounds of evidence collected by Itamar Marcus and his staff, many plain-thinking people might conclude that the Palestinians don’t aspire to peace at all. Indeed, Marcus’s material has been enthusiastically adopted by a myriad of right-wing Israeli and Jewish interest groups who would rather see the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations stop in their tracks.

Surprisingly, Marcus himself avoids coming to gloom-and-doom conclusions, instead putting a constructive spin on his work. “I see this whole media question as the key to peace,” he says. “We’re talking about the socialization of a people to either accept the Jewish people here or not. For the long-term good and the development of peace, we have to create an atmosphere that promotes peace in the media and in the schools.”

And Marcus goes even further. If the Palestinians themselves were promoting peace, he suggests, there would be a “revolution” in Israeli attitudes toward making concessions. But for that to happen, says Marcus, the Palestinians would need to deal not only with the symptoms — the blatant bursts of incitement — but with the deeper illness itself.

The cure, it seems, is not available yet. Several weeks ago, PBC radio interviewed Marcus about his work. The recording was never aired. Marcus believes that is because he didn’t come across as the easy-to-dismiss right-wing provocateur PBC obviously assumed he was. “They don’t want to present us as reasonable,” he concludes. “They still fear presenting us as anything but the enemy.”

1. The State of Israel as “Occupied Palestine”

1. Terminology that expresses non-recognition of the existence of Israel.
2. Cities of Israel are cities of Palestine.
3. The maps of “Palestine” erase Israel.

2. The Anticipation and Call for the Destruction of Israel by Means of War

1. “… The Jihad will liberate the blessed land…”
2. The anticipation of victims and war in order to liberate “Palestine”, as during the days of Saladin.
3. The call for the continuation of the struggle until all land is liberated.
4. “The current occupation – there is no doubt that it too will pass”

3. Threats and Hints of a Willingness to Engage in Violence

1. Arafat: “Our guns are ready and we are ready to use them…”
2. The building of Jewish settlement in Jerusalem will bring a wave of violence.
3. “All options are open”
4. Arafat: “Intifada – the 7 blessed years”

4. Allusions to the fact that the Wye and Oslo Agreements as well as the Abstention from Violence Are Temporary

1. Arafat mentions the Hudaibia Agreement in connection with the Oslo Accords.
2. Razi Jibali mentions the Hudaibia Agreement in connection with the Wye Agreements.
3. The demand from Hamas to abstain from “military activity” in order to facilitate the pullback.
4. Abstention from violence until the balance of power offers an appropriate timing.

5. Anti-Semitism

1. “Corruption is in the Nature of the Jews”
2. The Jews are “descendants of the Satan”
3. Negation of the Jewish people’s legitimacy and its connection to the land of Israel.
4. Arafat quotes from the Koran that “Allah decreed destruction on the Children of Israel”

6. Incitement and Encouraging Hatred

1. Colonialist Israel is “A Zionist entity on the land of Palestine”
2. Blaming Israel for carrying out terrorist attacks on Jews in order to harm the Palestinian Authority.
3. Blaming Israel for arson at Alaksa Mosque in 1969.
4. Description of Israeli soldiers as cold blooded murderers of citizens.

7. Declaration of lack of intention to carry out the Wye and Oslo Accords

1. No cancellation of the Covenant
2. No destructions the Hamas infrastructure or systematic arrests of Hamas members.
3. No cutback in the number of police officers.
4. Granting of gun licenses and the lack of collection of illegal weapons.
5. The declaration of state on 4th May, 1999.
6. The prohibition of declaring Palestinian independence remains in effect until 4th May, 1998 and Israel is prohibited to build in Judea and Samaria.
7. Continued Palestine political activity in Jerusalem.
8. The return of 1967 refugees as an integral part of the interim accords.

1. The Intention of Not Carrying Out the Wye and Oslo Agreements

Through its official media, the Palestinian Authority continues to use messages, terminology and symbols which convey non-recognition of the existence of the Israel and the anticipation of its termination, and the portrayal of all of Israel as “occupied Palestine”. The cities of Israel are the cities of Palestine, settlements and colonies. Israel is described in terms associated with characterizations of non-recognition: “entity”, “the enemy”, “the Tel Aviv government”, “the Zionist entity”, and the like. In various articles, Israel is defined once as “the occupied land called Israel” and another time: “Palestinian lands occupied since ’48”. Israeli Arabs are called: “Palestine ’48 Arabs”. In a song, telecast on official PA television, all the following cities are included in “Palestine”: the land of the Galilee, Jaffa and Haifa, Acre, Tiberias, Safed and Lod. The PA television continues daily to show “Palestine” in the maps, which erase all of the State of Israel.

a. Terminology that expresses non-recognition of the existence of Israel.

“… Imagine, the Jews… have 6,000 houses of worship on the occupied land called Israel…”
[Jarir Alkudwa, Arafat’s Advisor to Educational Affairs, on a program about Judaism, Palestinian Television, 3rd November, 1998]

Article headline: “A legal report which reviews the Israeli attacks against Arabs in ‘Palestine ’48′”.

“A periodical report published by the Legal Center, subordinate to the National Committee for the Struggle against Settlements, ‘North Organization, including many of the attacks of the Israel Government against the Arabs of ‘Palestine ’48’ which are expressed in an attitude “which is not racist-free”… On October 2, the ‘Israel Land Registry’ extended, for the landowners… in the Galilee area.
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 11th November, 1998]

“The Palestinian lands occupied in ’48 are witness these days to the waves of propaganda attacks marking the elections for the regional councils and the municipal councils… these elections are held in the shadow of the national and racial discrimination that the Israel authorities are adopting in favor of the Israeli residential centers, and in the shadow of the aggrandizing attacks on the large Arab territories in favor of the military points, Jewish grazing areas and settlements on the backs of the Arab Palestinian resident within the green line…”
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 5th November, 1998]

Newscaster: “The Tel Aviv Government renewed its claims of the 3rd phase of the redeployment…”

Newscaster: “The Tel Aviv Government continues to build settlements in Har Homa…”

Newscaster: “… Nabil Abu Radeina: warned about the damaging obstacles of the Tel Aviv Government, who began building housing units in Har Homa…”.

Newscaster: “The Tel Aviv Government refused to agree to this agreement…”
[PA Television News, 12th November, 1998]

“… Which gave the Zionist entity a rare opportunity to impose her conditions for the elimination of the PLO…”
[Manifesto of the Fatah, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 17th November, 1998]

“… Of what is called the government of Israel…”
[Manifesto, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 15th November, 1998]

“… Due to the fact that the Fidain actions… caused difficulties and daily loss to the Zionist entity…”
[Opinion article by Nasser Ahmed, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 17th November, 1998]

“… we reiterate and emphasize the details of the struggle, the contending, the patience and the adherence of the Palestinians against the wicked winds and the clouds of conspiracy and the balls of hatred in the lost wars to eliminate us… we believe that the Palestinian steps on this pathway are secure despite the thorns and obstacles and despite the landmines, the ambush and the traps that the enemy [Israel] is planting in our people’s path and despite its steps that left a mark of blood in the pathways of freedom.
[Editorial, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 15th November, 1998]

“The Israeli Authorities have escalated their settlement policy in the Palestinian territories… and in the settlement Shikaf within the ‘Green Line’…”
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 5th November, 1998]

In ’49 Israel established the colony Kfar Shamai… and in ’50 she founded the colony Amirim…
[Al-Kuds, 11th November, 1998]

b. Cities of Israel are cities of Palestine.

A song that was broadcast on the program: “We Chose for You” on the PA Television:

[… ] My homeland Ramallah, Nablus and Jenin I need to return, on the life of Allah, to my homeland Palestine, to the beautiful sabras in the summer nights… my homeland Jericho, Elbireh, my homeland Hebron, Tulkarm, Shwaika, and the land of Galilee. To the beautiful sabras in the summer nights… My homeland Jaffa and Haifa side by side [?] my homeland Acre, Tiberias, Safed and Lod.
To the beautiful sabras in the summer nights [… ]
Return, return, return, return….
[Palestinian Television, 4th November, 1998]

c. The maps of “Palestine” erase Israel

“Map of Palestine” which erases Israel, continues to appear daily at the start and end of the news broadcast.

• A folk dance is shown while the “Map of Palestine” erasing Israel appears in the background.

  [PA Television, 26th October, 1998, 5th November, 1998]

• In song and dance on “building our country” the pictures of the Palestine Cities include Jerusalem and Haifa.
  [PA Television, 27th October, 1998]

2. The Anticipation and Call for the Destruction of Israel by Means of War

a.”… The Jihad will liberate the blessed land…”

“… With belief, unity, and with a firm stand and with Jihad, Allah will impart on us the victory and will achieve our goals, which is the liberation of the blessed land from the conquerors and the establishment of our independent state with its capital the holy Jerusalem. [… ]
[Mustafa Natsheh, Mayor of Hebron, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 17th November, 1998]

b. The anticipation of victims and war in order to liberate “Palestine”, as during the days of Saladin.

“… The state of occupation was not born in one hour nor in one day and was not established at night. Rather it was planned in advance… [describes in detail] and from this we see that there is no doubt that the peace process takes a long time, patience and an additional sacrifice of victims… like the Jews were helped in all countries of the world in the establishment of the Israeli entity, there is no doubt that the Arab countries will participate in the liberation of Palestine… unify your columns and your words, recruit your resources for the liberation of the filth of the occupation and the liberation of her families, like the winner, Salah Al-Addin Alayubi liberated her from the hands of the Crusaders until she returns to her Arab and Islamic origins…”
[Mahmud al-Madhoun, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 4th November, 1998]

c. The call for the continuation of the struggle until all our land in liberated.

Majed Alian, Lieutenant in the General Intelligence… calls us to the struggle and giving and the realization of our dream in reality, and the mention of the convoys of Shahids who sacrificed with all their might and sacrificed their chaste souls and their pure blood for the establishment of our independent state on all of our national land and its eternal capital the holy Jerusalem.
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 17th November, 1998]

d. “The current occupation – there is no doubt that it too will pass”

“… the Palestinian history has deep roots in this land from five thousand years ago, some three thousand years before the Common Era during the time of the Canaanites and Jebusites… The roots of the Palestinian people are in this blessed land… any occupation of Palestine and Jerusalem is over, even if after some time. The present occupation – there is no doubt that it too will pass…
[Religion Lesson on Palestinian Television, 16th November, 1998]

3. Threats and Hints to a Willingness to Engage in Violence

a. Arafat: “Our guns are ready and we are ready to use them…”

“Yasser Arafat said yesterday in a Fatah Activists convention in Ramallah, that if the way to peace, “which we chose of our own accord” does not bring about the implementation of the rights to a state “with its capital Jerusalem”, then the Palestinians will be ready to turn again to the struggle in arms.”Our guns are ready and we are ready to use them against anyone who tries to prevent us from praying in Jerusalem,”, he emphasized.
[Ha’aretz Newspaper, 16th November, 1998]

“… as representative of the president Yasser Arafat, and spoke on behalf of him pointing out that it is necessary that the memory of the Shahids be kept by means of guarding the treaty of struggle for [the fulfillment] of the goals for which they fell…
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 12th November, 1998]

b. The construction of Jewish communities in Jerusalem will bring a wave of violence.

“[Faisal] Al-Huseini warned that the policy of the Israel Government, which stipulates that the settlements [in Jerusalem] should be expanded, will bring a wave of violence especially because the Israelis insist on the continuation of the settlements and we insist on struggling with it…”
[Al-Kuds, 12th November, 1998]

c. “All options are open”

“… Member of the Legislative Council and Head of the Overseeing Committee of the Legislative Council, Kamal Al-Sharafi said that it is necessary that all options be open to our people, as long as our land and rights are taken away, and he emphasized that the right to oppose the occupation is anchored within all international norms and constitutions…”
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 12th November, 1998]

“… Therefore it is necessary to clarify the situation to the forces and to the public and to continue the recruitment and the preparation in order to contest with all possibilities, especially due to the fact that all the possibilities are open to us… so there is no avoiding the fact that in difficult conditions such as these, the [management of the] Political Direction continue in her directives to the forces, in order that they not be overcome by frustration and in order that they keep a high morale, high motivation and ongoing preparation… and our people struggle with the occupation with all the available means and battles its [Israel’s] cruelty and arrogance all throughout the ages and does not give up or recoil from the oppression and terror and our people still adhere to their struggle to liberate the land and homeland and still serves victim after victim and Shahid after Shahid for the dear homeland…”
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 12th November, 1998]

“… There is no other option open to us aside from the option of struggle against the arrogance of what is called the Government of Israel…” [A manifesto of the youth movement, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 15th November, 1998]

d. Arafat: “Intifada – the 7 blessed years”

Newscaster: Arafat: We are building our Palestinian state piece by piece and stone by stone, and we will continue this way until we establish our state with its capital the holy Jerusalem. We are now at a distance of just a few steps from Jerusalem, and no one can separate us from even one grain of our land.

Arafat: Alongside the great revolution [which the Fatah movement began], the Intifada was greater. The intifada of the blessed 7 years. Seven blessed years. The intifada of stones. The children of stones. The generals of stones. [… ], the new generals….
[Palestinian Television, 15th November, 1998]

4. Allusions to the fact that the Wye and Oslo Agreements as well as the Abstention from Violence Are Temporary

a. Arafat mentions the Hudaibia Agreement in connection with the Oslo Accords.

Arafat:… When we chose the peace of courageous, we chose it out of the belief in the prophet [that were adopted] in the Hudaibia Contract, and we adopted this in this appeasement contract, the contract of the courageous. Whoever thinks that he can weaken us in the contract of the courageous, must know that we are a strong people. [… ]
[Palestinian Television, 15th November, 1998]

b. Razi Jibali mentions the Hudaibia Agreement in connection with the Wye Agreements.

Razi Jibali: [… ] The proper religion is acting… we want to build an independent state and to build our people – even the prophet, may he rest in peace, accepted the Hudaibia Contract, and there were discriminating conditions in it…
[Palestinian Television, 30th October, 1998]

c. The demand from the Hamas to abstain from “military activity” in order to facilitate the pullback.

Headline: Iz al-Din requests of the opposition [the Hamas] to halt the military activities to return the occupied lands to us. Brigadier General Mazen Iz Al-Din, Assistant Director of the General State Guidance Directorate said that the Wye Plantation Agreement is considered a positive step, important and essential for the return of our land… he added that the worst thing, according to the Israeli and Zionist thought is the yielding of land because this leads to the geographical mapping of a Hebrew state, and this is why it requested of the opposition that it halt the military actions until we can return our land in preparation for the establishment…
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 3rd November, 1998]

d. Abstention from violence until the balance of power offers an appropriate timing.

[Fuad Abu Hajleh in his daily column:]
The Wye Plantation Agreement… this is the greatest success to the leadership which has no planes, warships or tanks… but they [the Palestinian Authority]… continued the halt of the “adventurists” [quotation marks in source] who want to set fire by war at the inappropriate timing, as the time has not arrived yet, in the past 30 years, for the war of liberation, and no one can force the timing of the battle before reaching a strategic balance! [exclamation point in source]
[Column writer in the PA newspaper, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 3rd November, 1998]

5. Anti-Semitism

Since the Wye Accords, there is a repetition of anti-Semitic themes in the Palestinian media. In an opinion article in the PA newspaper, the trait of the Jews is described in style and in claims that were characteristic of “the Protocols of the Elders of Zion”. The Jews are described as being so corrupt by nature “to the point that only rarely can you find corruption the reason behind which is not the Jews.” It is also explained that the Jews brought anti-Semitism upon themselves when the nations saw “their ugly deeds and their wickedness… and the responsibility for the destruction of the land is theirs”.

A preacher in a religion class states that the Jews are “descendants of the Satan” because they distorted the bible in order to claim the ownership of the land of “Palestine”. In a long broadcast about the Jews on the PA television, so-called historical and other claims were brought in order to deny the essence of the Jewish people and Judaism. Among other things it was explained that Judaism “is not a nationality at all” and is “not even a religion in the full sense” and that even the original religion of Moses was Islam. The remnants of the original Israel are the Samaritans and “Neturei Karta”. In his speech, Arafat chose a quote from the Koran, which states that Allah decreed destruction on the Jews.

a. “Corruption is in the Nature of the Jews”

“Corruption is in the nature of the Jews all over the world, to the point where only rarely do you find a corruption the reason for or behind which stand the Jews. Their intense love of money and its accumulation is common knowledge, and the way they get it does not interest them and they are libel to exercise degradation and the most lowly of methods in order to achieve their goals, as long as the persons involved are not Jewish… there are many examples of this, especially the breaching of contracts and constitutions and causing civil war. Did not Allah say about them: ‘Every time that they make an agreement a group among them deserts.’… If we take a look at history, we discover to what degree the Jews were exposed to loss and expulsion the world over, as a result of their ugly deeds and their wickedness. This is after there issues were discovered and their responsibility for the destruction of the land and its people caused its people [of the land] to start a war of annihilation against them and whomever survived it were dispersed around the world. Due to the fact that this is their custom, they concentrated all their concern on sprouting their calculating mentality because they believe that the secret of their survival is embedded in their takeover of the economies of the various countries which opened their doors to them and gave them refuge from the expulsion and harassment…

From the teachings of their sages about the customs and traditions of the non-Jewish nations, they concluded that what concerns them is money and sex… it is interesting that whoever was wounded in their curse continues to hang around their circle [continues to be influenced by them] while carrying out their will, and he doesn’t think of freeing himself… Among those who have been wounded from this [is] the President of the largest country in the world, Bill Clinton, whom Zionism began to besiege when he was still serving as Governer. He began to carry out what world Zionism dictates, out of fear that his issue wold be exposed. Despite the fact that he is the head of the largest country in the world, he does understand that he is a victim of his drives which made him fall into the hands of those cunning people, who put immense pressure on him and robbed him in the most disgusting ways, to the point where he entered distress due to their deeds and the deeds of Netanyahu towards him, until it seems that it is the latter now is the real ruler of America.
[Engineer Nasser Ahmad, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda newspaper from 7th November, 1998]

b. The Jews are “descendants of the satans”

“… Their bible [of the Jews] today, has no light and no teachings. Their bible today, is just a bunch of notes that were written down by people who lie about G-d, his prophets and his bible… those who do these kinds of things are the descendants of Ivlis, meaning the descendants of the satans… they fabricated a Jewish history book full of promises to Abraham, Issac and Jacob that He will give them the land of Palestine… the entire bible comes to claim ownership on the land for the Jews.”
[Religion classes on Palestinian Television, 3rd November, 1998]

c. Negation of the Jewish people’s legitimacy and its connection to the land of Israel.

From the program: “Palestine – History and Heritage”

Program panel: Historian Jarir Alkudawa, Arafats Advisor for Educational Affairs Historian Salim Almobayyed

Interviewer: We will deal in this chapter with an important subject – “Judaism: Religion or Nationality”?

Alkudwa: The thing is clear, but there is, as you mentioned, a misunderstanding – an intentional misunderstanding, which people are silent about. But the naked truth – Judaism is not a religion in the full sense of the word and it is not a nationality at all… Judaism is not a nationality even though they want to confuse between nationality and Judaism as one thing… imagine, the Jews… 6000 houses of worship on the conquered land called Israel…

Interviewer: Give us a general idea, do the Jews have an origin, are they a pure nationality?

Almobayyed: The Jews have no pure race, what we now call Jews or Israelis or Zionists..

Alkudwa: the Kuzars – millions turned Jewish overnight…”should we make a calculation of the original Jews or Children of Israel today, it would be like a dot in the sea, as if pouring a cup of water into the sea…” Judaism stemmed from the Religion of Moses [The ‘Musawiya’] – Moses brought the Religions of Moses, and it is a continuation of the Islam of our lord Abraham.

Alkudwa:… the Religion of Moses is a religion, apparently it is the Islamic religion, and some researchers some researches that were published find in the Torah which, when translated correctly, its texts show that it is a continuation of Islam [and he continues to give other proofs]

Alkudwa:… we know that today there are two communities that hold by the ancient customs, the Samaritans in Nablus, who say: we are the legal inheritors of the first Israeli dynasty… and they most probably are right. And there is a group in Jerusalem that is called Neturei Karta, meaning Guardians of the City, and these do not believe in Israel and believe that the Kingdom of Israel is spiritually religious and not relating to the land, and that it will not be established until the coming of the Messiah…
[Palestinian Television, 3rd November, 1998]

d. Arafat quotes from the Koran that “Allah decreed destruction on the Children of Israel”

“In his speech, Arafat quotes a verse from the Koran in which: G-d decreed destruction on the Children of Israel. ‘After you sinned we decreed upon you and informed you in the book saying: “Twice you were corrupt in your land after you went higher and higher…”
[Ha’aretz Newspaper, 16th November, 1998]

6. Incitement and Encouraging Hatred

False accusations the goal of which is to incite hatred towards Israel are a repeating theme in the PA media. In a broadcast on a retaliation action in Kfar Kibiya in 1953 it is explained and showed in a (staged!) film IDF soldiers putting citizens against the wall and shooting and murdering them. In the first column of a headline article in the PA newspaper, the PA announced that the Israeli intelligence is responsible for the bombing in Mahane Yehuda market, in Beer Sheva and in Netzarim in order to abase the Palestinian Authority.

In a PA broadcast there is a repeated accusation that Israel is the one who caused the fire in Alaksa Mosque.

a. Colonialist Israel is “A Zionist entity on the land of Palestine”

“… The Balfour Declaration and Britain’s obligation to carry it out, caused the disaster of Palestine who is still subject to colonialism… The Balfour Declaration comprised one chapter in the chapters of conspiracies regarding Palestine… to rob us of our options, to force upon us the influence and rule on her and to suck the blood of our people…the partition decision in ’48 comprised an additional part of the chapters of conspiracy followed by the declaration of a Zionist entity on the land of Palestine… and alongside this, Zionist terrorist massacre incidents were carried out. The occupation did not suffice with the lands, which it conquered in ’48 and its spreading covet remained intact, while initiating war in 1967, during which it took control over the rest of Palestine…”
[Mohmmad Al-Madhoun, Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 4th November, 1998]

b. Blaming Israel for carrying our terrorist attacks on Jews in order to harm the Palestinian Authority.

Headline on the front page:

“Palestinian Sources Believe that the Israeli Intelligence Stands Behind the Bombing.”

“… These sources estimated that there is a mole activity of one of the Israeli [intelligence] staff [which stands behind] the bombing [in Mahane Yehuda], similar to that of the throwing of two had grenades on the Beer Sheva bus station a number of weeks ago, which was found out after to be the deed of Salaam Alsaba who was recruited by the Israeli intelligence… The military activity which of late was related to the Jihad, and the double suicide action in the beginning of ’97 near the Netzarim and Kfar Darom settlements after which the national Authority showed the media a man named Ibrahim Alhalabi who recruited two suicide bombers and planned the activity. Alhalabi confirmed that he works for the Israeli intelligence and that it was he who organized this activity based on their request, in order to cause strife in the relations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel and to stop the implementation of the agreements signed between them.
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 8th November, 1998, page 1]

c. Blaming Israel for arson at Alaksa Mosque in 1969.

“… Remnants of the sermon podium [in Alaksa Mosque] that Israel burned in 1969, which is the sermon podium Nur Aldin Zanji that Salah-A-Din laid in Alaksa Mosque after he liberated it from the Crusaders.
[Palestinian Television, 12th November, 1998]

d. Description of Israeli soldiers as cold-blooded murderers of citizens [in a retaliation action in Kfar Kibiya in 1953].

Background of the IDF action:
In 1953, Israel suffered terrorist attacks at the hands of infiltrators from Jordan. In one of the attacks, a hand grenade was thrown into a house and a mother and her two children were murdered in Tirat Yehuda. The Israel Government, headed by Ben Gurion, decided to carry out a retaliation and to destroy 50 houses in Kfar Kibiya, which was the base for the terrorists and which is located opposite the settlement of Tirat Yehuda. During the campaign, the IDF forces did not know that citizens were hiding in the houses and 69 people were killed.

In the description and movie that the Palestinian Television produced, IDF soldiers lined up citizens against the wall and murdered them. Below is the distorted description:

“… This infidel [a picture of Israeli soldiers], deaf to the pleas, did not respond or have mercy on these little eyes [a picture of a baby with one eye], the houses flew and with them went the people, the loved ones, and the friends. On the night of the 15th of the year 1953, Kibiya saw a painful incident, which added shock, sadness and destruction to the Palestinian, a black night [the film is staged: Israeli soldiers put citizens, men and women, against the wall and shoot them], no light of the moon and no star sent its spirit to the torn bodies and a shiver did not pass through the hands of this criminal who carried out this criminal massacre [later in the film: IDF soldiers check to confirm the deaths] which sends shudders to the body and ears, a terrible massacre which killed 80 people who were killed by lead bullets, individuals and groups, put against the walls, and the last scene which they saw was the eyes of their murderers…”
Film [staged] in which IDF soldiers shoot citizens lined up against the wall.
[Palestinian Television, 6th November, 1998]

7. Declaration of lack of intention to carry out the Wye and Oslo Accords

a. No cancellation of the Covenant

“Salim Zanoon, Chairman of the PNC, declared yesterday that the Central Palestinian Council will gather within 4 weeks to approve the change or cancellation of the items in the Palestinian National Constitution… he added that the Central Council, which is an intermediary body between the PNC and the Acting Committee of the PLO “will base itself on the letter that the president Yasser Arafat sent to the American president Bill Clinton, in which the strange and cancelled items in the Palestinian National Constitution are defined.”
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 2nd November, 1998]

“The ongoing preparations for the founding of the Central Council, in which the American president is meant to be present, include more than 30 members of the Legislative Council.
[Al-Kuds, 2nd November, 1998]

b. Intention not to destroy the Hamas infrastructure and not to conduct systematic arrests of their members.

“… Nabil Amr, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, said that the option of peace requires that we go with it in the framework of the delegation of political appointments. He emphasized that the dialogue with the Hamas exists and that it is progressing in a positive direction, participating in which are member so the Legislative Council and leader of the Palestinian forces. He expressed his hope that they would arrive at a national agreement, which would facilitate our achieving our national goals…”
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 12th November, 1998]

“A security source informed Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda on the arrests of most of the members of the political leadership of the Hamas and of all those suspect in connection with the military activity… The source emphasized that these steps are being taken following the suicide activity. He added that the security staff will release all those who, after interrogation, have not been proven to be connected with this activity.
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 30th October, 1998]

b. No cutback in the number of police officers.

From an interview with the Chief of Palestinian Police, Razi Jibali.
“We have 40,000 police officers registered. In accordance with the agreement we are allowed to have around 30,000. We have no problem whatsoever, because the difference between 30,000 and 40,000 is 10,000 and they are the injured and wounded of our blessed Intifada, the prisoners, and some are the officers who left the police force and security staff for the ‘tannets’ [Fatah]. This is a simple matter. Whether or not they will put them in special lists aside from the general security framework, where their salary will be decided… and at the same time they will advance and achieve their rights, or in the special bureaus set up to take care of this issue where they will hold on to their rights, we have no problem with this because the actual number of our general security force, in the police and in the other [security] staff does not pass 30,000… Whether they put them in special lists, not in the general security lists and they will remain with the same rights, or they transfer they to special bureaus, where they will also remain with the same rights, then we have no problem with this. On the contrary, we are in need of a new police force in this new stage of redeployment.”
[Palestinian Television, 13th November, 1998]

c. Granting gun licenses and lack of collection of illegal weapons

Razi Jibali: “… there is a license to carry and there is a license – a license to carry is for a pistol, which are given to a businessman, a venerable, a politician, a wanted person, a person who has [is threatened by] a blood vengeance, etc. – according to certain condition, and to the matter itself – this person will apply to the police and we will respond according to the law.”
[Palestinian Television, 30th October, 1998]

Razi Jibali: “… We have security obligation and I am now talking about the security obligations in a clear manner. Regarding weapons, we are clear, meaning that since we came into the homeland, weapons for us are a clear matter. The weapons that are now in the hands of the national security forces and the security personnel are the weapons of the Authority and no one challenges that. Even the Fatah [tentim] weapons belong to the Authority, due to the fact that these are official and recognized weapons. What are left are the weapons that are in the streets or with people, the Palestinian law is clear on this subject.

Even the Legislative Council, our parliament in which we take pride, passed a law called ‘the Law of Weapons and Ammunition’. It passed this authority on to the minister of Interior, and the honorable president will inform me of his responsibilities in the matter. If so we can grant licenses for weapons, but of the weapons we approve are the pistol. A citizen who wishes to protect himself, like a businessman, a wealthy man or a politician, needs a pistol. In accordance with the conditions and the limitations of the law, we give him a license for a pistol.
[Palestinian Television, 13th November, 1998]

e. The declaration of state on 4th May, 1999.

Arafat:”… But we, our brothers, stand before this huge and worldly force and our people remain strong in Jerusalem and Palestine. Yes, we will establish this state on 4th May, 1999.”
[Palestinian Television, 15th November, 1998]

“… the president emphasized once again the Authority’s adherence to declaring the independent state on May 4th of next year…”
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 15th November, 1998]

f. The prohibition of declaring Palestinian independence is until May 4th, 1999 while Israel is prohibited to build in Judea and Samaria.

“Dr. Erikat disclosed that there exists a Palestinian-American accord which stipulates that the Authority will abstain from changing the circumstances of the West Bank and Gaza until May 4th, and all there exists an Israeli-American accord which stipulates that Israel will not build settlements or expand them, will not requisition lands…”
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 5th November, 1998]

g. Political activity in Jerusalem.

A public conference for the regional elections within the Movement for the Palestine National Liberation, Fatah, will be held this coming Sunday at the Alhakwati Theatre in occupied Jerusalem. During the three days of elections for the Fatah movement, 1200 members will elect 15 members for the region and 16 members for the West Bank Convention. Consuls and diplomatic representatives will be present at the convention. Yasser Kra’in, in charge of the Fatah movement in his village of Silwan in occupied Jerusalem, stressed that holding the convention in a public forum in this fashion will accelerate the [establishment of] Palestinian State and that it prepares for the upcoming May 4th festival, when she is to be announced.
[Al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, 12th November, 1998]

h. The return of 1967 refugees as part of the interim accords.

Walid Zakot, Member of the Delegation of Refugees of ’48 and ’67, writes: “… Here comes the big question, what is the fate of the refugees according to these two options, especially because the subject of refugees is one of the most complex subjects of the permanent arrangement. We are not talking here about the refugees of ’67 who have the right of return before the commencement of the permanent stage, according to the Oslo agreements, but rather the discussion here is about the refugees of ’48 whose number reaches about 4 million, of which 3 million are outside of the Palestinian homeland.
[Al-Kuds, 12th November, 1998]

Prepared by “Palestinian Media Watch”, under the direction of Itamar Marcus, Tel: (+972-2) 625-4140