Palestinian Authority reiterates its refusal to acknowledge Israel’s existence, with Chairman Mahmoud Abbas dismissing Israel’s statehood as a “big lie.
Nan Jacques Zilberdik, PMW
While Israel marks its 76th anniversary of Israel’s Independence Day tomorrow, the Palestinian Authority and its ruling party Fatah still do not recognize Israel’s existence and deny Israel’s right to exist in any borders. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas reiterated this fundamental of PA ideology last year when he said that “there is no Israeli independence” and that Israel’s statehood is “a big lie”:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “The independence of the State of Israel…When Israel says that it is celebrating its Independence Day – what regime did it receive independence from? Who is the one who occupied the State of Israel, such that it is celebrating the fact that it got rid of this occupation? This is a big lie, a big lie. Time passed, the Palestinian revolution arose… The Palestinian narrative is being spread now everywhere in the world. We want to make it clear and to use it to debunk the colonialist Western Zionist narrative, which has been disseminated amid lies, hypocrisy, and deception…and to say that this is the Palestinian people, the Nakba exists, and there is no [Israeli] independence.”
Just three days ago, a preacher on official PA TV repeated the PA’s vision for the future when he taught Palestinians that it is their “duty to fight” Israel and that “Allah willing Palestine will return free, from its [Mediterranean] Sea to its [Jordan] River”:
Preacher on PA TV: “It is our duty to fight, confront, and carry out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict) in this land as much as we can. It is our duty to reject all the expressions of settlement, colonialism, and occupation. There will be processions and demonstrations against this occupation (i.e., Israel), on the anniversary of the Nakba (i.e.,“the catastrophe,”Palestinian term for the establishment of the Stateof Israel)… we reject all the expressions of the occupation, and Allah willing Palestine will return free, from its [Mediterranean] Sea to its [Jordan] River.”
One of the tools used by the PA to communicate this message to children and the population in general is by only using maps of “Palestine” that erase the entire State of Israel. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA/Fatah–via Fatah’s children’s magazine Waed, teach Palestinian children to envision and work for Israel’s destruction.
For example, Fatah presented its children this map of “Palestine” including the English text “from the river to the sea Palestine will be free,” in its children’s magazine:
[Fatah’s children’s magazine Waed, issue 41,April 2022]
Another recent map published by Fatah for children is this drawing of a large key representing the Palestinian refugees’claim of “right of return” to Israel, and hanging from the key is the PA map of “Palestine”:
Text on drawing: “We will surely return, Palestine” [Waed Magazine, Issue 43, October 2023]
[Falestinona, website of Fatah’s Information and Culture Commission in Lebanon, Jan. 2, 2024]
[Official PA TV, Capital of Capitals, May 8, 2024 all other episodes of the program]
During the current war, Palestinian kids in the Gaza Strip participated in a “psychological aid activity.” The activity to ease the mental load for children experiencing war was to draw maps of “Palestine” in the colors of the Palestinian flag that present the Palestinian dream of a world without Israel as if Israel has already become “Palestine”:
Posted text: “A psychological aid activity for children at a camp of uprooted people in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip [during the Gaza war]” [Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, March 4, 2024]
As Palestinian Media Watch has documented for three decades, despite various promises, agreements, and peace accords, the PA never intended to recognize Israel.
Although the maps are just pictures, they are the visual representation of the PA’s goal to exterminate Israel. This ideology permeates all the PA and Fatah’s communications in Arabic to the Palestinian people. All Israeli cities are part of “Palestine,” every single inch of the State of Israel is “Palestinian.”
Fatah secretary Mahmoud Sawafta explained this clearly when he recently portrayed the Israeli cities Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Lod, Ramle, and Jerusalem as cities of Palestine:
Fatah Tubas Branch Secretary Mahmoud Sawafta: “The blood of the Martyrs is what draws the map of the homeland, the map of Palestine – Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Lod, Ramle (i.e., all Israeli cities), the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the capital Jerusalem. Their blood is our compass, and there is no compass except for the Martyrs’ blood.”
Fatah official Sawafta has repeated this ideology more than once this year. When he responded to Israel killing Hamas terror leader Saleh Al-Arouri in Lebanon on Jan. 2, 2024, during the Gaza war:
Fatah Tubas Branch Secretary Mahmoud Sawafta: “The Martyrs’ blood is what is igniting the revolution and the intifada, it is igniting the Palestinian national struggle. The Martyrs’ blood is the lighthouse of unity guiding us all, the compass we are following. They are outlining the map of the homeland with their blood, the precious homeland, the map of Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, Lod, and Ramle (i.e., all Israeli cities), the map of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and the eternal capital of Palestine, Jerusalem. With their blood the revolution will continue, and the struggle will continue.”
Earlier this year, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor Mahmoud Al-Habbash emphasized the same non-recognition of Israel in any borders when he called for religious war in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon and other “Palestinian coastal cities”:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations Mahmoud Al-Habbash: ‘‘’Your best Jihad is Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic), and your best Ribat is in Ashkelon’ [Hadith].Where is Ashkelon (i.e., Israeli city)? It’s the coast of Palestine. These Palestinian coastal cities, which were built by the Palestinians, this land here, it was theirs thousands of years ago, even before our lord Abraham came. This land belonged to the Palestinians, and it still belongs to the Palestinians, and it will belong to the Palestinians. And the final picture – I see it like I’m seeing you – is Palestinian par excellence. This is the promise of Prophet [Muhammad], and this is the promise of Allah. The Gaza Strip today is the sister of Ashkelon… No one has a connection to the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall) except for the Muslims, absolutely!. Our lord Solomon was not here, his kingdom was not even here. And even if it was here, Solomon is a Muslim, on the path of Muhammad and Abraham [the Muslim].”
So, while Israel is celebrating 76 years of amazing statehood with unimaginable accomplishments that have improved the quality of life for all humanity, Israel’s is still simultaneously confronting all those enemies who seek Israel’s destruction: Hamas which attacked from Gaza, Hezbollah attacking daily from Lebanon, the Houthis shooting rockets from Yemen, the Iranian Ayatollahs shooting missiles from Iran, all led by the PA/Fatah vision which promises a future Palestine “from the river to the sea.”
Waed Magazine is published by the Lion Cubs and Flowers movement (Fatah’s movement for young boys and girls) – which is run by the Fatah Mobilization and Organization Commission. Waed is distributed in schools and at Fatah events for children and it is also published on the movement’s website, defining itself as “a cultural monthly that deals with issues related to children aged 6-15.” The magazine contains quizzes, short stories, and educational information, some of which promote hate and terror, deny Israel’s right to exist, praise “the armed struggle” (i.e., violence and terror), rewrite/erase Israel’s history, glorify Martyrdom-death, and praise imprisoned and dead terrorists.
The quote cited by Al-Habbash “Your best Jihad is Ribat, and your best Ribat is in Ashkelon” is from a Hadith from The Great Lexicon of Al-Tabarani, No. 11138
The Al-Buraq Wall – Islam’s Prophet Muhammad is said to have ridden during his Night Journey from Mecca to “al aqsa mosque”, i.e., “the farthest mosque” (Quran, Sura 17), and there tied his miraculous flying steed named Al-Buraq to a “stone” or a “rock.” (Jami` at-Tirmidhi, Book 47, Hadith 3424). In the 1920’s, Arab Mufti Haj Amin Al-Husseini decided to identify the Western Wall of the Temple in Jerusalem as that “rock” or “stone,” and since then Muslims refer to the Western Wall as the “Al-Buraq Wall.”
[daonte]