Bulletin – July 1, 2012 PA: Israel spreads drugs to destroy Palestinian society

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

One day after Iranian Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi was condemned internationally for saying that Jews and their Talmud are responsible for international drug trafficking, no less than five articles in the official PA daily cited different Palestinian Authority officials accusing Israel of having a policy to disseminate drugs among Palestinian youth.

The Governor of Jericho said that Israel "is encouraging and turning a blind eye to [drug] dealers and their efforts to distribute drugs, through a systematic policy to destroy Palestinian society, targeting the youth."

The District Governor of Jenin said Israel "seeks to harm the Palestinian people and to destroy it and its national enterprise [through drugs] as a continuation of its Zionist enterprise."

The District Governor of Ramallah spoke about the drug problem, mentioning Israel's "efforts to humiliate our youth, to break their willpower, and to distance them from their [Palestinian] cause and their principles, by spreading drugs among them" and emphasized that "the occupation does not hesitate to exercise all forms of control over our youth, using dirty and inhuman methods."

This is not the first time that Israel has been accused by the PA of intentionally spreading drugs. Advisor to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has claimed that Israel "spreads prostitution and drugs" among Arab residents of Jerusalem. [PA TV (Fatah), June 23, 2010]

The PA has also accused Israel of spreading AIDS among Palestinians:

Similarly, at a seminar about drugs organized by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the head of the Palestinian Authority's drug fighting agency said: "This plague [AIDS] is a political problem which is nurtured by Israel." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 24, 2010]

The official PA daily reported that a Health Ministry official blamed Israel for the spread of AIDS among Palestinians: "Director of Public Health in the Health Ministry, Dr. Assad Ramlawi... [said that] 'the reason for the spread [of AIDS] is the growth in the phenomenon of drug use, considered one of the principle ways of passing on this disease...' He noted that the occupation (i.e., Israel) is an influential factor in the spread of these diseases." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 9, 2011]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Palestinian Media Watch has reported repeatedly that the Palestinian Authority has a policy of disseminating libels and lies to accuse Israel of scheming to destroy Palestinian society and its holy places.

Other ongoing PA libels include:

Israel murdered Arafat Israel seeks to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque Israel steals organs from Palestinians Israel carries out Nazi-like experiments on prisoners Israel seeks to rid Jerusalem of non-Jews Israel murders and poisons Israel imitates Holocaust crimes

The following are the five Palestinian statements that falsely accuse Israel of spreading drug abuse among Palestinian youth:

"District Governor of Ramallah and El-Bireh, Laila Ghannam... noted that her meeting with [Giampaolo Cantini, the Italian] General Consul, is taking place on the International Day against Drug Abuse, which requires that we remind the world and call its attention to the occupation's (i.e., Israel's) efforts to humiliate our youth, to break their willpower, and to distance them from their [Palestinian] cause and their principles, by spreading drugs among them... She emphasized that the occupation does not hesitate to exercise all forms of control over our youth, using dirty and inhuman methods." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 27, 2012]

"Social worker Sonia Diba held the Israeli occupation responsible for the fact that residents of Jerusalem are falling 'victim to drugs, because [Israel] distributes huge quantities of them, in addition to the increasing unemployment and the lack of centers and institutions in Jerusalem to absorb the children and adolescent youth, causing them to turn to drugs, which are distributed with the aid of the occupation and its branches." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 27, 2012]

"A seminar was held yesterday... under the slogan, "Pay attention! Say 'no' to drugs"... Governor of Jericho and the [Jordan] Valley district, Majed Al-Fatiani, said in the opening address that the Israeli occupation is encouraging and turning a blind eye to [drug] dealers and their efforts to distribute drugs, through a systematic policy to destroy Palestinian society, targeting the youth." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 27, 2012]

"Ramallah and El-Bireh district governor, Laila Ghannam, said that the spread of the plague of drugs is a deliberate act by the Israeli occupation, which is trying to harm the younger generation of Palestinians, upon whom we are relying to achieve our legitimate aim - the establishment of a Palestinian state." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 27, 2012]

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"The Jenin district held a seminar yesterday, sponsored by the district governor, Talal Dweikat... to mark the opening of the International Week against Drug Abuse, under the slogan, 'Yes to life, no to drugs.' Dweikat emphasized that it is important to unify the efforts of the official and popular institutions in order to deal with this plague, which is dangerous for our society, especially since the Israeli occupation is not satisfied with occupation of Palestinian land, but also seeks to harm the Palestinian people and to destroy it and its national enterprise, as a continuation of its Zionist enterprise." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 27, 2012]

Bulletin – July 2, 2012 "Brave" Palestinian prisoner responsible for suicide bombings sentenced by Israel to 54 life sentences

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Yesterday Ibrahim Hamed who orchestrated suicide bombings in which more than 45 Israelis were murdered, was sentenced by Israel to 54 life sentences in prison.

Recently Palestinian Media Watch reported that PA TV broadcast a video dedicated to Hamed and other terrorists serving multiple life sentences for murders, calling them "brave prisoners" and flashing their pictures on the screen. The video was broadcast over 10 times in the last two months.

Hamed, who planned and organized numerous suicide bombings including the ones at Hebrew University (9 killed), Cafe Moment (12 killed), and Cafe Hillel (7 killed), was among the terrorists specifically mentioned by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, when he publicly wished for their release. Speaking at a PA ceremony celebrating the release of Palestinian terrorist prisoners by Israel in exchange for Hamas-captured soldier Gilad Shalit, Abbas said: "We now see some of the most prominent among them [released] and the rest, Allah willing, will be [freed] soon, very soon. Allah willing, soon we will see here brother Marwan Barghouti, brother Ahmad Sa'adat, Ibrahim Hamed, and Abbas Al-Sayid."

Abbas Al-Sayid who was also specified by Abbas is serving 35 life sentences for planning two suicide bombings including the Passover Seder bombing that murdered 30.

The PLO's Ambassador to India, Adli Sadeq, has referred to Hamed as one of the "fighters who carried out quality operations."

PMW has documented how the PA has a policy of glorifying terrorists as heroes.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – July 5, 2012 Did Arafat die of AIDS, poisoning, or something else?

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Al-Jazeera reported this week that a Swiss lab hired to examine the clothes of Yasser Arafat found high levels of radioactive polonium. According to Al-Jazeera, while the findings are not conclusive, it could indicate that Arafat may have been poisoned. [http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/whatkilledarafat/2012/07/20127413371805105.html]

Yasser Arafat died in November 2004 in a hospital in Paris after being treated for an unnamed illness. The French hospital never publicly disclosed the cause of death and the Palestinian Authority never released the medical records it received from the hospital.

In 2007, Ahmad Jibril, head of the PFLP-GC (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Command) told Al-Manar TV (Hezbollah) that at a meeting with PA Chairman Abbas, he was told by one of the delegation that the French medical report concluded that Arafat died of AIDS:

"When [PA Chairman] Mahmoud Abbas came to Damascus, I asked: "What was found in the [medical] inquiry of the death of brother Arafat?" One [of the delegation] said: "Frankly, the French gave us the medical report, and the cause of Arafat's death was AIDS." [Al-Manar (Hezbollah TV), July 5, 2007]

Click to view

This statement was never reported to the Palestinian public.

According to the new Al-Jazeera report, the doctors who treated Arafat when he was sick, still today refuse to release any information, some saying the information related to his death is a "military secret": "The Swiss doctors had hoped to study the blood and urine samples taken from Arafat while he was at Percy Military Hospital in France. But when she [Suha Arafat] requested access, the hospital told his widow that those samples had been destroyed. 'I was not satisfied with that answer,' Ms. Arafat said. 'Usually a very important person, like Yasser, they would keep traces - maybe they don't want to be involved in it?' Several of the doctors who treated Arafat said that they were not allowed to discuss his case - even with Ms. Arafat's permission - because it was considered a 'military secret.' And most of his onetime doctors in Cairo and Tunis refused requests for interviews as well." [http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/ whatkilledarafat/2012/07/20127413371805105.html]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

While refusing to allow access to the medical report that would describe his illness, senior PA sources consistently have blamed Israel for poisoning Arafat.

At a PLO cultural celebration in the presence of the PA Minister of Culture, a child on stage performed a skit comparing Arafat's death to the death of Jesus by the Jews.

Boy 1: "Father, father the Elder (Arafat). Why did it happen this way? Why did it happen this way? Death chose you, and you did not complete the path." Boy 2: "Do not ask why it happened this way. Yesterday they (i.e., the Jews) crucified Jesus; today they poisoned the father, the Elder (Arafat)." [PA TV (Fatah), June 4, 2010, Dec. 31, 2010]

Click to view

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Yasser Arafat Institute, Nasser Al-Qidwa, said last year:

"We shall neither tire nor grow weary... of the demand to receive an answer concerning the Martyrdom-death of our commander [Arafat], who was poisoned by Israel. We are convinced of this, but we want proof, and we want to submit the murderers and criminals to justice." [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 16, 2011]

To give credence to the poisoning story, the PA has reported on an international intrigue in which Israel initiated the murder plan, the US approved it with certain conditions, and the French doctors who treated Arafat concealed the truth in order to salvage the peace process.

Click to view this and the entire history of the "Israel killed Arafat" libel on PMW's website.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – July 8, 2012 PA TV: Suicide bombers who killed 19 civilians on buses are "more honored than all of us"

Suicide bombers are a "candle that lights the tunnel of liberty"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

During a Palestinian Authority TV News' broadcast from a burial ceremony for suicide terrorists whose bodies were handed over to the PA last month, the PA TV reporter described the funeral of Ali Ja'ara who murdered 11 and Muhammad Za'ul who murdered 8, as follows:

"This is Palestine, which embraces the Palestinian people on the way to independence." [PA TV (Fatah), June 1, 2012]

Ja'ara carried out a suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem in January 2004, killing 11 people. Za'ul carried out a suicide bombing on a bus in Jerusalem in February 2004, killing 8 people.

Palestinian Media Watch has reported on the PA's official terminology guide, which instructs Palestinians never to use the term "suicide bomber" but the words "Martyrdom Seeker."

PMW has also documented that PA TV recently honored suicide bombers and other terrorists.

PMW has reported on this PA policy to glorify terrorists as heroes and role models.

Bulletin – July 12, 2012 Important impact and excellent reviews for PMW's book Deception

Help PMW distribute Deception

PMW's recently published book, Deception: Betraying the Peace Process, continues to make an impact across the political spectrum, both on the left and on the right, in countries friendly to Israel and countries friendly to the PA, and on Israel's supporters as well as on pro-Palestinian writers.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

In addition, we are pleased that the Israeli government has used the book as documentation in negotiations with the PA (see below).

Two additional reviews were published this week. The following is some of the praise for Deception:

Robert Bernstein: "Deception might be one of the most important books you may handle in your lives... Why would the PA be spreading all these libels and lies if they wanted their people to achieve reconciliation with Israel?... Deception must be read as a warning." Founder of Human Rights Watch and Advancing Human Rights and former Chairman and President of Random House publishing for 25 years, speaking at the press launch of Deception

Eli Wiesel, speaking at the press launch of Deception: "It's a terrifying subject... When one uses children to become agents of hatred, the crime is 100 times more severe. What they are doing now in the Palestinian territories is precisely that..."

Commentary, Jonathan S. Tobin: "A counterweight to this inclination to deny the truth about the Palestinians has come from the work of Palestinian Media Watch... Deception: Betraying the Peace Process... Ignoring or seeking to marginalize the truths that PMW has uncovered will only lead to more bloodshed, not peace."

NY Daily News, Richard Chesnoff: "If there were an Oscar given for doublespeak, the Palestinian political leadership would win it, hands down..."

Ha'aretz, Avi Issacharoff: "The book's findings, in some cases, trigger concern, in most others nausea."

NY Times, Isabel Kershner: "A new book catalogs dozens of examples of messages broadcast by the Palestinian Authority for its domestic audience that would seem at odds with the pursuit of peace... Many Israeli and Palestinian analysts have said that what Palestinian leaders tell their own people in their own language... is the truest reflection of their actual beliefs."

Ma'ariv, Ben Dror Yemini: "Every mass-murder is preceded by systematic mass-brainwashing. Although Israel ignores it, this mass-brainwashing has been going on in recent years beside us, practically within us... The [Israeli] Foreign Ministry must send an abstract from the book [Deception], or its full-length text, to every organization, institute, and country in the West which helps to fund this brainwashing. This Antisemitic

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

fascism must be stopped. And it certainly should not be funded."

NY Jewish Week, Editorial: "An important new book that details in exhaustive fashion the duplicity of the Palestinian Authority."

The Jerusalem Post, Editorial: "To better understand Gingrich's statement that there is not much difference between Fatah and Hamas or Bachmann's criticism of Palestinian text books, we recommend reading Deception: Betraying the Peace Process."

Glenn Beck: "Buy this book, and make sure, you know what the truth is. Your eyes will be open, and they will not close again. They won't close again on this issue. Arm yourself with the information."

Aftenposten, the Norwegian daily with the largest circulation, on Itamar Marcus' lecture in parliament to MPs, describing Deception's findings: "The assertion that the PA regularly spreads hatred of Jews was expressed by Itamar Marcus at a seminar in parliament this week... Marcus believes Norway and the EU have a huge responsibility. Norway is one of the biggest contributors to PA... If Norway continues to let the hate propaganda continue with impunity, Norway will share responsibility for the next war in the Middle East, he says."

Dr. Asaf Romirowsky: "The facts documented by Deception: Betraying the Peace Process have a great value... Without this dimension of understanding and truthfulness it will be difficult for Israel to make its case effectively in the court of world public opinion." [http://spme.net/articles/8774/4/The-Rhetoric-of-Nonsense.html/By-Way-of-Deception.html]

Arne Orum, a Norwegian writer, defines himself as having "pro-Palestinian opinions" and as a "friend of the Palestinians": "[Deception] is difficult reading...Neither the Palestinian desperation, nor the rise of radical Islamism justifies the hateful rhetoric that has developed on the Palestinian side... What shall we say to our Palestinian friends about this?" [http://www.verdidebatt.no/]

Israel using Deception in the peace negotiations:

Walla News (Israel): "In the latest meeting between the special Israeli envoy, Yitzchak Molcho, and the head of the Palestinian negotiating team Saeb Erekat, Molcho presented Erekat with a book that sets forth what Israel defines as severe incitement in the PA... The book which Molcho presented to Erekat, Deception: Betraying the Peace Process, was published last month by Palestinian Media Watch." [Jan. 24, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Click to read longer quotes from the reviews.

PMW and the authors are pleased that Deception is making an impact internationally and is being seen as an important work in exposing the most fundamental violations of the peace process that are actively undermining peace.

Contributors to PMW Contributors of more than $250 to PMW should have received a complimentary copy by mail. If you have not received a copy, we apologize and ask that you please email us with your full mailing information.

Journalists, MPs, diplomats Journalists, MPs and diplomats who have not received a complimentary copy of Deception, please write to [email protected]

Help PMW with distribution Organizations or individuals who have relationships with any of the above and can facilitate efficient distribution, please write to [email protected]

Book stores, book distributors, large orders Book stores and book distributors, and those interested in large orders for organizations, students, etc., please write to [email protected]

Help PMW reach more people PMW seeks funding to continue to reach MPs, the media and decision makers worldwide as well as to continue updating our research with new findings. Finally, Deception is now available in English and Norwegian. PMW is seeking sponsors to have the book published in additional languages.

Click to contribute to PMW

Through your support, PMW makes an impact worldwide.

THANK YOU!

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – July 17, 2012 Fatah summer camp named after female terrorist Mughrabi, who led killing of 37 in bus hijacking

Governor of Jericho: Mughrabi must be a "beacon" for young Palestinians

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Fatah has named a summer camp for youth "Sisters of Dalal Mughrabi," after female terrorist Dalal Mughrabi. In 1978, Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history, in which 37 civilians were killed, 12 of them children. The Governor of the Jericho district said to participants in the summer camp that Mughrabi and others who "sacrificed" "should be a beacon for us in our activities."

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is also head of Fatah.

The camp was cosponsored by the Women's Association of Qalqilya and the Farmer's Association. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA glorifies Mughrabi by naming events and places after her. Summer camps and tournaments have been named after her, as have teams and groups in camps. One such summer camp with a Dalal Mughrabi group was sponsored by PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad last year. Music videos honoring her and her terror attack have been broadcast on official PA TV. PA leaders and institutions often present her as a role model for Palestinians and particularly for Palestinian youth.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has likewise glorified Dalal Mughrabi. In 2009, he provided funding for a computer center named after her. In 2010, he sponsored a "birthday party" on what would have been Mughrabi's 50th birthday. Also in 2010, the PA announced its intention to name a square in Ramallah after Mughrabi. Following a PMW report, the international community strongly condemned this, but despite the criticism, Fatah went ahead and named the square after Mughrabi. Abbas' advisor Sabri Saidam defended their right to name a square after her, saying that, "Every one of us has tried in his own way to express his pride in this Shahida [Dalal Mughrabi]."

This past March, Fatah's official Facebook page featured a poem dedicated to Mughrabi: "This is Dalal, my eternal love... Dalal, my mysterious young woman My revolutionary Jihadi inspiration" [Fatah's official Facebook page, March 22, 2012]

For more examples of the PA honoring terrorist Mughrabi, see PMW's bulletin.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The following is the excerpt of the article in the PA daily announcing the "Sisters of Dalal" summer camp:

"The Governor of the Jericho district Majed Al-Fatiani said that it is our national obligation to be faithful to those before us who gave and sacrificed for Palestine, and they should be a beacon for us in our activities and in guarding the achievements and capabilities of our people. This was said during a meeting at the Jericho district headquarters with the young women participating in the "Sisters of Dalal Mughrabi" summer camp from the Qalqilya district... The director of the summer camp, Lana Nazzal, stated that the summer camp is organized by the Fatah movement, with the cooperation of the Women's Association of Qalqilya and the Farmer's Association, and that the camp is meant for youth between the ages of 16-30." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 16, 2012]

Bulletin – July 23, 2012 Israel is monster that eats Palestinian children, in Palestinian art on PA TV

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

A Palestinian Authority TV host asked an artist to discuss one of his paintings "dealing with the Palestinian nation's problems such as the Gaza massacres." This is the painting:

The Palestinian artist said this painting "is about the Gaza massacre... and the Zionist enemy's cruelty and savagery."

Click to view

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The painting shows an ogre impaling children on his bayonet and eating them one by one. On the lower right, dead children are piled up to be eaten and two baby ogres are also shown eating children. The three monsters wear skull caps with a Star of David. The scene is taking place in the ogre's underground lair under cactuses that are growing on the surface. A Star of David is also painted on the lock of the lair.

Click to view other PA cartoons that demonize Israelis and depict them as animals or of sub- human nature.

The following is the transcript of the Palestinian artist describing his picture:

PA TV host: "Artist Abd Al-Hai Msallam has been dealing with the Palestinian nation's problems such as the Gaza massacres." PA TV host: "What have you been working on lately?" Artist Abd Al-Hai Msallam: "This painting is about the Gaza massacre. Here I show the people, the kids, and the Zionist enemy's cruelty and savagery." [PA TV (Fatah), July 13, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – July 25, 2012 Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza: "Islamic movement" kidnapped 5 Christians and forced them to convert to Islam

One of the converts responds that he converted freely and will return home soon to his family

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

There is controversy in Gaza following the conversion of five Christians to Islam. The Greek Orthodox Church accused an Islamic group of coercion:

"The Islamic movement uses a dirty and dark, fear-inspiring approach; it employs heavy pressure, it extorts and uses undignified means, such as chemical drugs for the purposes of control and sowing fear in the hearts of those kidnapped."

A day after these accusations were publicized, a Gaza-based human rights group denied there was coercion and one of the five thought to be kidnapped released a statement:

"I have declared my conversion to Islam out of free will... I will come home soon."

The following are the reports on the Orthodox Church's accusations followed by the denial:

Orthodox Church's accusations: "The [Greek] Orthodox Church in Gaza yesterday accused an Islamic group of kidnapping five Christians in order to force them to convert to Islam.

In a press release published during a sit-down strike, held at the site of the Greek Orthodox Church in Gaza, the church's information bureau said: 'A dangerous Islamic movement is trying to persuade Christian youth and women to convert to Islam, thereby destroying Christian families and the Christian presence in the Gaza Strip.' It did not mention the name of the movement.

The press release added: 'The Islamic movement uses a dirty and dark, fear-inspiring approach; it employs heavy pressure, it extorts and uses undignified means, such as chemical drugs for the purposes of control and sowing fear in the hearts of those kidnapped.'

The press release stated: 'Ramez Al-Amash (24) was kidnapped on Saturday, in addition to a woman and three girls who were kidnapped from their homes on Wednesday.' Spokesman for the Hamas police, Ayman Al-Batniji, said: 'We in the police emphasize most firmly that there has been no case of kidnapping, and reject these accusations.'

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

He emphasized: 'The youngster converted to Islam of his own free will, and the police tried to defend him when he approached the police for help, since he had a problem with his relatives while he visited his mother in a hospital.' He added, 'We call upon our Christian brethren, for whom we have the utmost respect and who enjoy unparalleled treatment in Gaza - not to spoil these relations.'

The church's press release continued: 'We requested of the honorable Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, to stop this Islamic movement immediately, and we told him that they must immediately return the woman, her young daughters, and the young man to their families.'

The press release also criticized the manner in which the policemen in Gaza behaved when the father of the kidnapped young man went to bring his son back. Their response was that they were unable to help him in any way, since they are unable to intervene in the work of a Muslim religious scholar named Salam Salameh (Hamas member of the Palestinian parliament). The press release continued: 'This conduct on the part of the Palestinian police shows that there is no security for anyone, nor protection for anyone, and that the present law is not capable of defending us. Therefore we hand over this problem to the government and to all those responsible for security in this country.'

There are 3,500 Christians living in Gaza, out of a population of a million and a half." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 17, 2012]

Denial:

"A senior official in the area of human rights (from the Palestinian Center for Human Rights based in Gaza) announced yesterday that his organization has met with five Christians that the Orthodox Church in the Gaza Strip has accused of being kidnapped by an Islamic organization. He stressed that ‘they are not kidnapped’ and that they converted to Islam ‘out of free will’... Father of the youth Ramad Al-Amash told France Press: ‘They want to force my son to convert to Islam. I want my son either as a Christian or as a Muslim because in any case, he's my son.’ He added: ‘All our lives, we were Christians and we will remain Christians. We won't leave here because this is our country. I demand of the Hamas government to bring me my son.’... The young boy Ramad said on Tuesday in a statement to the press: ‘I have declared my conversion to Islam out of free will and without any coercion. I converted five months ago, but I announced my conversion to Islam this past Saturday.’ He turned to his family to calm them: ‘I am not kidnapped. Don't worry about me. I will come home soon and I will be with you.’ [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 18, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – July 26, 2012 PA against moment of silence at Olympics: "Sports are meant for peace, not for racism"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Palestinian Authority is against the moment of silence at the Olympics to commemorate the Israeli athletes murdered at the Munich Olympics in 1972. According to the headline in the official PA daily, "Sports are meant for peace, not for racism."

According to Jibril Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Olympic Committee: "Sports are meant for peace, not for racism... Sports are a bridge to love, interconnection, and spreading of peace among nations; it must not be a cause of division and spreading of racism between them [nations]." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 25, 2012]

These words appeared in a letter sent by Rajoub to the President of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge. The letter "expressed appreciation for [Rogge's] position, who opposed the Israeli position, which demanded a moment's silence at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London."

The PA daily does not refer to the murder of the Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 as terror. In the article about Rajoub's letter, the killing of the athletes is referred to as "the Munich Operation, which took place during the Munich Olympics in 1972."

The PA is against the moment of silence because they view the murder of Israelis by Palestinians not as terror but as heroism. Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA's ongoing policy to glorify terror and terrorists. The murder of the 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics is presented as a highlight of Palestinian "operations" and one of their great accomplishments. In 2010, the official PA daily referred to the Olympic massacre as a "shining station" and its planner was called a "star who sparkled... at the sports stadium in Munich" (see below for full texts of the PA glorifying the terror attack at the Olympics and the terrorists who planned it).

In his letter, PA Olympics Committee Head Rajoub praised Rogge's refusal to have a moment of silence in memory of the Israeli athletes: "He said that his [Rogge's] position not to politicize sports, and his determination to implement the International Olympic Charter represents a victory for freedom in sports." (See the full article about Rajoub's letter below.) [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 25, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The following are examples of how PA leaders and the PA's official newspaper Al- Hayat Al-Jadida have glorified the Olympic massacre and the terrorists who planned it:

Honoring Amin Al-Hindi, planner of the Olympic attack: "One of the stars who sparkled... one of many shining stations."

Official PA daily on Al-Hindi: "Everyone knows that Amin Al-Hindi was one of the stars who sparkled at one of the stormiest points on the international level - the operation that was carried outat the [Olympics] sports stadium in Munich, Germany, in 1972. That was just one of many shining stations." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 20,2010]

Secretary General of the Abbas' office, Al-Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim on Al-Hindi: "Secretary General of the President's office, Al-Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim, delivered a speech in which he praised the qualities of the deceased. He stressed that the loss of Al-Hindi is a great loss to the Palestinian people, who are bereaved of a prominent national leader... The Secretary General of the Presidential office said: 'We shall continue in the path of the Shahid (Martyr) Yasser Arafat and his fellow Shahids, such as Amin Al- Hindi...'" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 19, 2010]

Abbas and Fayyad honor Al-Hindi: "The Palestinian leadership, along with President Mahmoud Abbas, parted yesterday from the body of the Fatah leader and fighter patriot Amin Al-Hindi. This was at an imposing official military funeral that was held at the [PA] headquarters... Present at the headquarters for the farewell ceremony and for the official military funeral, along with the President [Abbas], were Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad; Secretary General of the Presidential office, Al-Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim; members of the PLO Executive Council and of the Fatah Central Committee; several ministers, commanders of security forces, senior civic and military personnel, as well as relatives of the deceased... President Abbas and the participants at the funeral cast a final parting look at the body, and laid wreaths. Afterwards, the President and those present read the opening sura [of the Quran] for the elevation of his pure soul." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 19, 2010]

Honoring Muhammad Daoud Oudeh, 'Abu Daoud,' a second planner of the Olympic attack: "His name shone brightly in the German city of Munich"

PA TV News, on Oudeh: "Palestinians were surprised this morning at the announcement of the death of one of the most important leaders of the Palestinian revolution, Muhammad Daoud Oudeh (Abu Daoud), who engineered the Munich Operation and was one of the most important of Israel's most wanted in the 1970s." [PA TV (Fatah), July 4, 2010] Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Official PA daily, on Oudeh: "In its [Black September wing of PLO] ranks were many distinguished men and women, headed by the Panther of Palestine, Salah Khalaf 'Abu Iyad.' Abu Daoud was one of his prominent assistants. His [Abu Daoud's] name shone brightly in the German city of Munich in 1972, where the Olympics took place. Oh, how these events evolved into a violent drama of the most tragic kind... May Allah have mercy on this great Fatah fighter and patriot, Abu Daoud." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 6, 2010]

Mahmoud Abbas on Oudeh: "What a wonderful brother, companion, tough and stubborn, relentless fighter."

"President Mahmoud Abbas sent a telegram of condolences yesterday over the death of the great fighter Muhammad Daoud Oudeh, 'Abu Daoud,' who died just before reaching 70. The telegram of condolences read: 'The deceased was one of the prominent leaders of the Fatah movement and lived a life filled with the struggle, devoted effort, and the enormous sacrifice of the deceased for the sake of the legitimate problem of his people, in many spheres. He was at the forefront on every battlefield, with the aim of defending the [Palestinian] revolution. What a wonderful brother, companion, tough and stubborn, relentless fighter." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 4, 2010]

Abbas Zaki, member Fatah Central Committee, on Oudeh: "He started his life as a regular individual and concluded it with giant stature... We have lost a man on the level of the Arab region and on the level of the world revolutionary movement, by virtue of his noble actions and his glorious history. Bestowing this honor in every place, inside the homeland and outside of it, does justice to this mighty man." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2010]

Dr. Samir Al-Refa'I, Secretary of the Fatah branch in Syria, on Oudeh: "With the fall of Abu Daoud as a Shahid we have lost a man who is worth all other men together... Abu Daoud is one of the symbols of the Fatah movement... He will always remain our ideal and a role model for the generations to come." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 5, 2010]

The following is the article about Jibril Rajoub's letter of appreciation to the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge:

Headline: "Rajoub expresses appreciation for Rogge's position and emphasizes that sports are meant for peace, not for racism"

"'Sports are a bridge to love, interconnection, and spreading peace among nations; it must not be a cause of division and spreading of racism between them.' With these words the President of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, Jibril Rajoub, began a special letter which he sent to president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge. He expressed appreciation for [Rogge's] position, who opposed the Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Israeli position, which demanded a moment's silence at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London. He said that his position not to politicize sports, and his determination to implement the International Olympic Charter represents a victory for freedom in sports. It should be noted that Rogge once again expressed the position of the executive office of the International Olympic Committee, which opposes the idea of holding a moment's silence during the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, to mark the anniversary of the Munich operation, which took place during the Munich Olympics in 1972." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 25, 2012]

Bulletin – July 03, 2012 PA TV song: "Marry me off to a girl who will raise my children on carrying the rifle"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Official PA TV continues to use music and culture to glorify violence. PA TV recently rebroadcast a song and dance that included the words: "Marry me off to girl who will raise my children on carrying the rifle"

PMW has reported that songs and dance as well as PA TV music videos venerating the rifle are frequently broadcast on PA TV.

The following is the text of the song broadcast on PA TV:

"My country is Arab, filled with freedom. Oh mother, marry me off to a Palestinian girl. Mother, a daughter of the land, with a happy nature, who will raise my children on carrying the rifle." [PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 15, 21, 2011, Jan. 3, 26, and July 10, 2012]

Click to view

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One song and dance first performed in front of the PA Minister of Culture and subsequently broadcast numerous times on PA TV included the words:

"My weapon has emerged. There is no force in the world that can remove the weapon from my hand." [PA TV (Fatah), June 4, 24, July 9, 13, 16, 20, Sept. 21 and Dec. 31, 2010, Oct. 3, 4, and 7, 2011] Click to view

Bulletin – July 01, 2012 PA Ministry of Education periodical: Israel is "like an octopus... flames shooting out between its fangs"

"They cut off my limbs, threw me among the ruins"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

A Palestinian Authority Ministry of Education monthly periodical chose to include an essay written by a PA teacher describing Israel's creation as an attack by "an enemy like an octopus... with burning flames shooting out from between its fangs" who "cut off my limbs [and] threw me among the ruins."

Palestinian Media Watch has reported on the ongoing PA demonization of Jews and Israelis, as well as the repeated denial of Israel's right to exist.

The following was written by Saadia Muhammad A'amia, PA teacher at Al-Khas wal-Nu'man school: "One day, when a strong wind blew, an enemy like an octopus came to us and began putting its arms everywhere, without asking permission, with burning flames shooting out from between its fangs. It entered our homes... uprooting our crops with its arms, and looking at them with the joy of arrogance and conceit... I screamed: 'I don't want it, I don't want to go. This is my place and this is my existence.' They cut off my limbs, threw me among the ruins, and I began to writhe with hunger, with deprivation, and with homelessness... My blood and my bursting anger [Lit: my volcano] are witnesses to what I say to the world: even if it takes a long time, the summer cloud will dissipate and relief will come, like a light that emanates from the darkness of death and renews life. We will be masters and pioneers, everyone will witness it. Take away the chains that shackle me wherever I go, so I will become free and sing under the skies of our homeland Palestine." [Masirat Al-Tarbiya Wal-Ta'leem, June 5, 2012] Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

To view additional messages from the PA Ministry of Education to Palestinian youth, see official Palestinian Authority schools that are named after terrorists and cities in Israel, and see PMW's report on 12th grade Palestinian schoolbooks.

A PLO-funded educational magazine for youth glorified Hitler because he killed Jews. Click to view PMW's full report on the hate messages in the PLO magazine for youth, Zayzafuna.

Recently, PMW documented another example of PA demonization: PA TV broadcast a painting presenting Israel as an ogre that impales and eats Palestinian children in Gaza.

Bulletin – August 1, 2012 Six Palestinians arrested, one sentenced to a month in prison, for eating in public during Ramadan

PA cleric: "Our streets are Islamic," therefore even non-Muslims should be "severely punished" for eating in public

by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

Six people have been arrested and one sentenced to a month in prison for eating in public during the month of Ramadan, according to the official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper. Under Islamic law, eating is prohibited from sunrise until sunset during the entire month.

In addition, the Chairman of the PA Supreme Court for Shari'ah Law said PA law should prohibit even non-Muslims and those who cannot fast for health reasons from eating in public during the month. Sheikh Yusuf Ida'is explained: "Our streets are Islamic," and formal legislation should be enacted to "severely punish" anyone who eats publicly during

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Ramadan. Sheikh Ida'is was appointed Chairman of the Shari'ah court by presidential order of Mahmoud Abbas in January 2012.

It should be noted that approximately 10 per cent of Palestinians in the West Bank are Christian.

Click to view

The following are the texts:

"The Jericho court yesterday sentenced a man to a month in prison who ate in public during the blessed month of Ramadan." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 30, 2012]

"The police arrested five people who desecrated the holiness of the month of Ramadan by eating in public during daytime, in the city of Nablus." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 29, 2012]

PA TV interview with the Chairman of the PA Supreme Court for Shari'ah Law, Sheikh Yusuf Ida'is: TV host: "If someone doesn't fast for some reason [during Ramadan month] because he follows a different religion or has health reasons, it's his right. However, he breaks the spirit of Ramadan by eating or drinking in public or at work." Ida'is: "We have to monitor the streets and severely punish anyone who [eats] in public during Ramadan, and this is the responsibility of the security forces. Our [Palestinian] streets are Islamic, praise Allah. Any person caught committing this sin in public during Ramadan has to be imprisoned until the end of Ramadan, as an example to others. I call upon others [non-Muslims] to be considerate of Muslims' feelings." [PA TV (Fatah), July 22, 2012]

Bulletin – August 2, 2012 This op-ed by Palestinian Media Watch was first published by Jewish Ideas Daily and was reprinted yesterday by the Jerusalem Post:

The Muslim Brotherhood's Patient Jihad

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Mohamed Morsi's recent election as president of Egypt has proved a matter of concern. A candidate from the radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, many fear that Morsi's victory, along with the Brotherhood's parliamentary successes, will threaten Egyptian-Israeli peace. More

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generally, it is unclear whether the Brotherhood, now empowered in its native state, will prove a moderating or destabilizing force in the Arab world.

And so observers listened carefully to Morsi's inauguration speech, in which he seemed to be addressing these two concerns. Part of his speech, widely interpreted as a reference to future relations with Israel, emphasized "the state of Egypt's commitment to international treaties and agreements." More broadly, he declared that "we carry a message of peace to the world."

Encouraging as these statements may be, in fact they accord neatly with the Brotherhood's sophisticated strategy for dealing with outsiders. That strategy is laid out comprehensively in Mustafa Mashhur's Jihad is the Way. Mashhur, leader of the Brotherhood in Egypt from 1996 to 2002, explains the movement's religious beliefs and aspirations in detail, especially the role of violent jihad in bringing about a world under a unified Islamic Caliphate. It gives reason to doubt Morsi's reassurances.

Jihad is the Way defines Israel and Israelis as "the criminal, thieving gangs of Zion," and Mashhur stresses that the notion of Israel's foundation on stolen land is not an opening position for negotiations, but a non-negotiable article of "faith and religion." Further, the land was stolen not only from Palestinian Arabs but from Islam: "Know that the problems of the Islamic world, such as Palestine... are not issues of territories and nations, but of faith and religion. They are problems of Islam and the Muslims, and they can be resolved neither by negotiation nor by recognizing the enemy's right to the Islamic land he stole."

How can Morsi commit to keeping his country's treaty with Israel when his religious beliefs preclude it?

As for the Brotherhood's impending effect on the wider Arab world, Morsi's "message of peace" is also not what it seems. Mashhur explains: "Jihad and preparation for jihad are not only for the purpose of fending-off assaults and attacks against Muslims by Allah's enemies, but are also for the purpose of realizing the great task of establishing an Islamic state, strengthening the religion, and spreading it around the world."

"Martyrdom for Allah," Mashhur writes, "is our most exalted wish." Jihad is indeed the way, and not only has Morsi never rejected this ideology he is now its most senior political representative in Egypt.

So how are these contradictions to be understood? Why does Morsi talk peace when he explicitly adheres to an ideology of war?

The answer lies in the fundamental principles of the Muslim Brotherhood principles largely overlooked in the West. As opposed to the ideology of Al-Qaeda, which preaches continuous confrontation and attacks on infidels regardless of the immediate political costs, the Brotherhood places the highest priority on careful preparation and the strategic timing of political and military activity. Jihad is the Way stresses the necessity of timing the eventual jihad prudently; as a prooftext, it cites a Quranic passage in which Muhammad does not rush to fight until the timing is right:

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"When the Muslims were a persecuted minority, the Prophet Muhammad did not instruct the Muslims to retaliate. Instead, he taught them "Sabr," patience and resolve... and when the conditions were right, permission was given to fight in the words of Allah..."

Timing, therefore, is an integral part of the Brotherhood's political and military decisions:

"When the Brotherhood sends their youth to jihad at the appropriate time, they are not pushing them towards destruction. Rather, abstaining from jihad at its appropriate time is destruction . . . Similarly, it is not necessary for the Muslims to repel every attack or damage caused by the enemies of Allah immediately, rather [this is required] when ability and the circumstances allow for it."

In this context, Morsi's statements look more like stratagems. Standing by Egypt's international commitments now does not preclude war later; and assurances of peaceful intent do not jettison jihad from the agenda. In fact, as far as the Brotherhood is concerned, they advance it. Morsi does not have to change his opinions, nor does he have to reject the Brotherhood's fundamental beliefs when he speaks of peace. Since nullifying its treaty with Israel might isolate Egypt politically and bring it economic ruin, Morsi can instead apply the Brotherhood's principle, as learned from Muhammad: "'Sabr' patience and resolve." The necessity to strengthen and stabilize Egyptian society is an adequate priority now it is, moreover, the very means by which to prepare Egypt to lead the Islamic world and to fulfill Islam's global destiny.

Peaceful statements released from Egypt over the next few years should not deceive observers into believing that the Brotherhood has abandoned its religious ideology and its comprehensive Islamic vision. Talking peace, while preparing for Jihad, is an integral part of Jihad.

So when will Egypt break its treaty with "the criminal, thieving gangs of Zion"? Morsi will make the same calculation as Muhammad: when conditions are right.

Itamar Marcus is director and Nan Jacques Zilberdik is senior analyst of Palestinian Media Watch. They are the authors of Deception: Betraying the Peace Process. http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/4557/features/the-muslim-brotherhoods-patient-jihad/

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Bulletin – August 3, 2012 The Muslim Brotherhood in its own words

PMW translation of Jihad is the Way by Mustafa Mashhur, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, from 1996 - 2002

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

A very important book for understanding Muslim Brotherhood ideology has been translated by Palestinian Media Watch. Jihad is the Way by Mustafa Mashhur explains the beliefs and aspirations of the Muslim Brotherhood. Particularly significant today are how the Brotherhood sees violent Jihad and the necessity of patience and timing in bringing about a world under Islam.

PMW's op-ed "The Muslim Brotherhood's Patient Jihad" that appeared in yesterday's bulletin cited from Jihad is the Way.

To read the translation of the entire book, click here.

PMW has selected the following quotes from the book to illustrate the critical ideologies of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Muslim Brotherhood goal: Islamic world domination

- "...the Islamic Ummah [nation]... can regain its power, be liberated and assume its rightful position which was intended by Allah, as the most exalted nation among men, as the teachers of humanity..." - "...know your status, so that you firmly believe that you are the masters of the world, even if your enemies desire your degradation..." - "It should be known that Jihad and preparation for Jihad are not only for the purpose of fending-off assaults and attacks against Muslims by Allah's enemies, but are also for the purpose of realizing the great task of establishing an Islamic state, strengthening the religion and spreading it around the world..." - "...Jihad for Allah is not limited to the specific region of the Islamic countries.The Muslim homeland is one and is not divided. The banner of Jihad has already been raised in some of its parts, and it shall continue to be raised, with the help of Allah, until every inch of the land of Islam will be liberated, the State of Islam will be established..."

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Means: Jihad - a mandatory religious duty

- "Jihad is a religious public duty... incumbent upon the Islamic nation. Jihad is a personal duty to fend off the infidels' attack on the nation..." - "The problems of the Islamic world, such as Palestine, Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, or the Philippines, are not issues of territories and nations, but of faith and religion. They are problems of Islam and the Muslims, and they can be resolved neither by negotiation nor by recognizing the enemy's right to the Islamic land he stole. Rather, the only option is Jihad for Allah, and this is why Jihad is the way." - "The symbol of the [Muslim] Brotherhood is the book of Allah [the Quran] between two swords. The swords symbolize Jihad and the force that protects the truth represented in Allah's book." - "You should be prepared to answer the call of Jihad whenever you are called, in any region of the Islamic world. Our Islam is universal not regional, and all Islamic countries are one homeland. ...Go out to battle, oh believers, young and old, by foot or on horseback, under all circumstances and conditions..."

Timing: Don't rush, prepare carefully for Jihad

- "The [Muslim] Brotherhood will never rush after the youth's enthusiasm to carry out immature and unplanned actions, which will not alter the corrupt reality and may even harm Islamic activity, and will benefit the people of falsehood..." - "...it is not necessary for the Muslims to repel every attack or damage caused by the enemies of Allah immediately, rather [this is required] when ability and the circumstances allow for it." - "Prepare yourself and train in the art of warfare, and possess the components of power. You must learn the ways, manners and laws of war. You must learn them and embrace them and adhere to them, so that your Jihad will be accepted by Allah." - "... every Muslim has an unavoidable personal duty to equip himself and prepare for Jihad..."

Personal goal: Aspire to Shahada - Death for Allah

- "Allah is our goal, the Prophet is our leader, the Quran is our constitution, Jihad is our way, and death for Allah is our most exalted wish." - "Jihad is our way and Shahada (Martyrdom - Death for Allah) is our most exalted wish. This is the call that we and the men of Da'awa (Islamic missionary activity) have always called ... Many of our beloved ones have already achieved this wish ... We ask Allah to accept all of them... May He join us with them..."

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Jihad against Israel

- "Honorable brothers achieved Shahada (Martyrdom) on the soil of beloved Palestine, in 1947 and 1948, in their Jihad against the criminal, thieving gangs of Zion." - "The problems of the Islamic world, such as Palestine... are not issues of territories and nations, but of faith and religion. They are problems of Islam and the Muslims, and they can be resolved neither by negotiation nor by recognizing the enemy's right to the Islamic land he stole."

To view the entire translation of Jihad is the Way in PDF, click here.

Bulletin – August 5, 2012 PA to unilaterally seek "non-member statehood," but only after US elections

PA Chairman Abbas: "The first time we weren't successful, but certainly - Allah willing - we will succeed the second time."

by Itamar Marcus

The Palestinian Authority plans to go to the UN again this year to request statehood. However, this time they expect to succeed by using a stages plan that will bypass and neutralize Israeli, US and EU opposition. Last week, Palestinian Media Watch documented that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas expressed confidence that this time, the PA will succeed:

"We went to the UN [in 2011] in order to obtain recognition of a state. The first time we weren't successful, but certainly - Allah willing - we will succeed the second time." [PA TV (Fatah), July 28, 2012]

PA tactic for unilaterally achieving statehood:

1- The PA plans to bypass the Security Council and avoid a potential US veto by not requesting full statehood. Rather, the PA will seek to attain the status of a "non-member state," which is determined by the UN General Assembly. In the General Assembly, the PA is assured a majority vote, with the PA hoping to "secure votes from 180 of the 193 member states of the UN General Assembly."

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2- Although it will request non-member status in September, the PA plans to intentionally delay the UN vote until after the US elections in order to avoid "confrontation with the United States." According to the PA daily: "Discussions on the wording of the suggested resolution will continue until after the upcoming US elections on November 4."

The PA has chosen a delaying tactic because it realizes that the US will not support their unilateral actions before the elections. The US and many EU countries have said that they oppose unilateral PA actions that violate the Oslo Accords, which demand negotiated agreements to change the status of the PA or any land under Israeli administration. However, the PA assumes that after the elections, the current US administration will be more responsive and supportive of their unilateral statehood request.

Regardless, the PA says it will ignore American wishes. According to PA Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki: "The PA is not afraid of the American threat of sanctions that could lead to the end of political contacts, economic aid, and closing the PLO office in Washington... The Palestinian leadership will go to the General Assembly, no matter what price we may have to pay... We'll discuss the appropriate timing, so as to limit the damage to be done by this step... [Even] if we go after the elections in the US, there will still be damage."

3- Once non-member status is achieved, the PA plans to use this position to attempt to expand its territory without negotiations. According to the Oslo Accords, Jerusalem and all of the West Bank are to remain under Israeli rule unless the land's status is changed through negotiated settlements. The PA's plan is to bypass the Oslo Accords and hope that the international community will consider these lands, including Israel's capital Jerusalem, as "Palestinian" and "occupied by Israel." According to PA Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki: "Israel will no longer be able to define the occupied territories as disputed lands. They will become lands of a separate, occupied state."

4- Subsequently, the Palestinian non-member state will continue to seek full statehood, which will then be a smaller step: "He [the PA Foreign Minister] said that as soon as this [non-member state] has been accomplished, the Palestinians will continue their efforts to attain full member status at the UN."

The following are the articles in the PA press about the new PA tactic to request unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state:

Mahmoud Abbas: "We went to the UN in order to obtain recognition of a state. The first time we weren't successful, but certainly - Allah willing - we will succeed the second time. We are a nation that deserves a state. We have all the foundations of a state. We have all the institutions of a state. We have all the minds of a state (Abbas points to the students who excelled in their matriculation examinations.) What are we missing? One thing - for the occupation to go away; to leave our country for good." [PA TV (Fatah), July 28, 2012] Click to view

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"Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki announced yesterday that on November 27 Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will file an application [for Palestine] to be accepted as a non-member state in the UN General Assembly. Al-Maliki told journalists at his office that 'Palestine will approach the UN immediately...We will then begin to contact all members of the General Assembly and discuss an appropriate date'...

He said that as soon as this has been accomplished, the Palestinians will continue their efforts to attain full member status at the UN. That, however, will require approval of the Security Council and of Washington...

Observers believe that filing the application without setting a date for a vote will save the Palestinians from a confrontation with the United States, so discussions on the wording of the suggested resolution will continue until after the upcoming US elections on November 4." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 5, 2012]

"Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki said... in the coming period they will strive to secure votes from 180 of the 193 member states of the UN General Assembly.

He said: 'The PA is not afraid of the American threat of sanctions that could lead to the end of political contacts, economic aid, and closing the PLO office in Washington.' He added: 'In spite of this [American position], the decision is that the Palestinian leadership will go to the General Assembly, no matter what price we may have to pay.' In addition he said, 'We'll discuss the appropriate timing, so as to limit the damage to be done by this step.'

In answer to a question if the move at the General Assembly will come after the US elections, Al-Maliki noted: '[Even] if we go after the elections in the US, there will still be damage.'

Al-Maliki said: 'If Palestine receives status of a non-member state in the General Assembly, there will be positive effects on all levels in the future. Palestine's level of representation at the General Assembly will be raised . . . . Similarly, Palestine will be able to sign all international protocols and agreements, thus making it possible for us as a state and as individuals to submit claims against Israel for their crimes against the Palestinians.' He added: 'If Palestine joins the General Assembly, Israel will no longer be able to define the occupied territories as disputed lands. They will become lands of a separate, occupied state, and it will be international law that will determine and pronounce judgment in the matter.'" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 24, 2012]

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Bulletin – August 7, 2012 PA libel: Israel using chemicals to ruin Al-Aqsa Mosque's foundations and plans Temple in its place

by Itamar Marcus

Israel is using chemicals to erode the foundations of Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to cause it to collapse, claimed a news story on Palestinian Authority TV. The report cited "experts" who stated that Israel's use of chemicals is part of its "step-by-step plan" to destroy the mosque.

Click to view

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the ongoing PA libel that Israel is plotting to destroy Al- Aqsa and build a third Temple in its place.

Already in 2009, then PA Chief Religious Justice Tayseer Tamimi claimed that Al-Aqsa is "hanging in midair" due to Israel's injecting "chemical acids" to dissolve the mosque's foundations: "The [Israeli] excavations' purpose is to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. In fact, its foundations have been removed. Chemical acids were injected into the rocks to dissolve them. The soil and the pillars [were moved] so the mosque is hanging in midair. There is an Israeli plan to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to build the Temple." [PA TV (Fatah), June 9, 2009] Click to view

Israeli Arab Islamic leader, Raed Salah, head of the northern branch of the Islamic movement in Israel, recently reiterated this same libel on PA TV that Israel is destroying Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to build the third Temple: "The Israeli occupation sees itself in the stage of the final countdown before the building of the legendary false holy Temple at the expense of the Al-Aqsa Mosque." [PA TV (Fatah), July 31, 2012]

Click to view

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The following is the full text from PA TV news warning that Israel is destroying Al- Aqsa Mosque, followed by an excerpt from the PA daily promoting the same libel:

PA TV news: PA TV news host: "Experts on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem issues warned that there are traces of chemicals under Al-Aqsa, which the occupation authorities are using in intensified excavations around the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to dissolve them." Narrator: "Israel's policies and schemes have never stopped and will never stop in Al- Aqsa's courtyards and surroundings in order to harm [the Mosque's] Arabness and holiness. What is new this time is the discovery of traces of dangerous chemicals in the Al-Aqsa foundations and [the discovery of] other solvents used to cause the foundations to crumble and collapse in accordance with [Israel's] step-by-step plans." [PA TV (Fatah) Aug. 3, 2012]

The official PA daily: "The expert on Al-Aqsa mosque structure and Jerusalem Affairs, Engineer Jammal Amr, has warned that traces of dangerous chemicals have been found in the foundations of the Al-Aqsa mosque. He also emphasized that Israeli occupation forces use substances that induce dissolving in their excavations under Al-Aqsa, in order to fracture the [mosque's] foundations and bring about its collapse... There are [Israeli] specialists spreading the chemicals at night, and removing the traces during the day. In addition, he emphasized that this [Israeli] attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque is the most audacious of the last three years, and that ever since Jerusalem was declared a capital of Arab culture in 2009, the occupation authorities have embarked on a dramatic offensive to Judaize the city and utterly erase its original [Arab] landmarks. Ammar emphasized that the recurring incursions by settlers (i.e., Jews visiting the Temple Mount) are carried out under the auspices of the occupation government and with its blessing, and that the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa mosque is grievously defiled by functionaries implementing the schemes of the occupation." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 3, 2012]

Bulletin – August 9, 2012 Israeli-Palestinian peace through football

by Itamar Marcus

A friendly football (soccer) tournament promoting peace was held in Los Angeles for Palestinian and Israeli children. The game was sponsored by Children United and supervised by Jose Mourinho, coach of the Spanish team Real Madrid. According to the Spanish newspaper Marca: "It aims to create a warm atmosphere in order to draw the nations together, and support peace between them... Mourinho's influence may be much stronger than the influence of the governments, and football is capable of achieving what political agreements and treaties have been unable to achieve". [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 4, 2012]

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The event represents a breakthrough and may signal a change in Palestinian policy. The fact that the event took place is significant, but even more noteworthy is the fact that the official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, reported on the tournament without condemnation.

Palestinian Media Watch has reported that official PA policy is to ban sporting events promoting peace between Israelis and Palestinians. While positive Israeli-Palestinian sporting events have taken place in the past, they have usually been condemned by the PA.

The uniqueness of this story becomes apparent when one contrasts it with a similar tournament for youth held in Canada last year. The same PA daily reported strong condemnation of the tournament and the appointment of a PA "investigative committee": "The normalization tournament in Canada [between Israelis and Palestinian youth] has created a strong outcry on the Palestinian street ... Abd Al-Majid Hujjah, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Football Association, announced that the Association intends to appoint an investigative committee to look into the circumstances. .. He emphasized that the investigative committee will submit its recommendations before legal steps are taken against the players. Hujjah said that the position of the Palestinian Football Association on the issue of normalization [with Israel] in sports is well-known already, having been made public, officially, on more than one occasion. This position has been disseminated among everyone involved and it rules out any contact by the Palestinian Football Association with any activity related to the Israeli side." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 21, 2011]

Furthermore, even in the last few months, the PA sports establishment has stressed its opposition to joint Israel-Palestinian sporting events. Jibril Rajoub, Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association and head of the Palestinian Olympic committee, explained PA policy as follows: "I also say on behalf of Palestine, that the last thing that can be found in the lexicon of Palestinian sportsmen is normalization with the occupation. Impossible, impossible, impossible, with no exceptions! I understand by normalization that the relationship between me and you will be normal, that we'll play [sports] together and there will be a joint program. I say: There will never be normalization [with Israel] in sports." [PA TV (Fatah), May 17, 2012] Click to view

The next day he stressed PA opposition to "normalization" through sports yet again: "Jibril Rajoub, called to expel Israel from all world Olympic associations and committees... He emphasized that the term normalization [of relations with Israel] does not exist in the Palestinian sports lexicon." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 18, 2012]

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PMW will follow sports activities in the PA to see if this represents a change in policy or is a single event.

For more examples of PA opposition to peace-building, click here.

The following is the story of sports event held in Los Angeles that was meant to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians:

"While the experienced Portuguese coach, José Mourinho, was leading the practices of his team, the Spanish Real Madrid, on the fields of UCLA in the US... he decided to take a break in order to be photographed, for a memento, with a group of (Palestinian and Israeli) children, sponsored by a charity project that seeks harmony between the two peoples. Mourinho is a prominent member of the project, called Children United, and personally funds an initiative that holds a small football tournament between Palestinian and Israeli children, in the hope of spreading the seeds of peace in the Arab region. A journalist for the Portuguese SIC channel in the Middle East, Henrique Cymerman, revealed that 'Mourinho already visited Palestine and Israel in 2005, and hopes to visit again as soon as he can, because he is very interested in this peace project.' Cymerman noted in a statement to (Spanish newspaper) Marca: 'The project sponsors children who have never before seen a Palestinian or an Israeli without a weapon. It aims to create a warm atmosphere in order to draw the nations together, and supports peace between them.' He emphasized, 'Mourinho's influence may be much stronger than the influence of the governments, and football is capable of achieving what political agreements and treaties have been unable to achieve...'. The children were very happy to be photographed with Mourinho, alongside some of the Real stars - Ronaldo, Pepe, and Coentrão. The children will also be participating in a short, 15-minute game during half-time in the friendly game between Real Madrid and Los Angeles Galaxy." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 4, 2012]

Bulletin – August 10, 2012 Ramallah municipality to build mausoleum to honor terrorist murderers

by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

The Ramallah municipality voted this week to build a mausoleum in honor of PLO terrorists responsible for the deaths of 11 Israelis in the 1975 Savoy Hotel attack. Ramallah is the Palestinian Authority’s seat of government.

In March 1975, eight terrorists traveled by boat from Lebanon to a Tel Aviv beach. They took over the Savoy Hotel and took guests as hostages. The next morning, Israeli forces attacked and killed seven of the terrorists. Eight hostages and three soldiers were killed by the terrorists during the attack.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The bodies of the terrorist murderers had until recently been buried in a cemetery in Israel designated for terrorists. Two months ago, Israel transferred 91 bodies to the PA as a goodwill gesture, including the bodies of the terrorists from the Savoy Hotel attack. According to the PA daily newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the Ramallah municipality voted this week to honor the terrorists by building a mausoleum for their remains. In 2007 the PA built a mausoleum in Ramallah over Yasser Arafat's grave.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the continuing PA policy to glorify terrorists as heroes and role models. To view more examples of PA terror glorification, click here.

The following is the article from the PA daily:

"The Ramallah Municipal Council held its weekly meeting, passed a number of resolutions, and authorized some procedures ... The council approved construction of a mausoleum for Martyrs of the Savoy operation in the new cemetery in Ramallah. Ramallah municipal coffers will cover expenses. The mausoleum will hold the bones of Martyrs from the numbered [Israeli military] cemeteries that were transferred [to the PA] months ago. It should be noted that the operation was carried out in 1975, in Tel Aviv, against a number of officers of the occupation army, as revenge for the assassination of [Fatah] commanders Kamal Adwan, Kamal Nasser, and Abu Yusuf Al-Najar." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 29, 2012]

Bulletin – August 14, 2012 PA TV music video honors killer of 13

by Itamar Marcus

Palestinian Authority TV dedicated a program to terrorist Nasser Awais, who is serving 14 life sentences for murder in multiple terror attacks. These include an attack on guests at a Bat- Mitzva celebration and the killing of a baby. Throughout the program, the PA TV moderator refers to Awais as "the heroic fighter" or the "heroic prisoner." The PA TV broadcast featured a short music video in his honor. The following words appeared next to the terrorist's picture:

"Heroic prisoner, Nasser, arrested on April 13, 2002,sentenced to 14 life sentences, 50 years and 6 months. Through your patience and resilience you achieved the most outstanding heroism. Heroic prisoner Nasser Awais, from the Balata refugee camp, Nablus, you are towering like the steady mountains."

Click to view

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the ongoing PA policy of glorifying terrorists. To view more examples, click here.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The following is the full transcript of the segment:

PA TV host: "We dedicate this program to our brothers, the prisoners, and of course, to the heroic fighter, prisoner Nasser Awais. We also dedicate the program to the prisoner Ahmed Abu Khader. They were arrested the same day, for their valor and for defending the homeland, Palestine." Text under terrorists' photos: "Heroic prisoner, Ahmed Abu Khader" "Heroic prisoner, Nasser Awais" PA TV host: "Viewers and our brothers, the prisoners, the following is information about the heroic fighter, prisoner Nasser Awais." Text under terrorist's photos: "Heroic prisoner, Nasser, arrested on April 13, 2002, sentenced to 14 life sentences, 50 years and 6 months. Through your patience and resilience you achieved the most outstanding heroism. Heroic prisoner Nasser Awais, from the Balata refugee camp, Nablus, you are towering like the steady mountains." [PA TV (Fatah), June 30, 2012]

Bulletin – August 15, 2012 Special Report: Upsurge in "honor killings" triggers Palestinian calls for cultural changes, new laws

Attorney: "A man who murders his daughter, wife or sister stays in prison only three months." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 3, 2012]

Op-ed: "Every day more than one crime is committed against more than one woman... I shall criticize out loud the social culture that still seeks justifications for the murder of women." [Al-Ayyam, Aug. 7, 2012]

Lecturer on PA TV: "Part of our [Palestinian] identity is to kill women, to beat women..." [PA TV (Fatah), June 24, 2012]

Lecturer on PA TV: "Part of our [Palestinian] identity is to kill women, to beat women... and this exists in all Arab societies..." [PA TV (Fatah), June 24, 2012]

by Itamar Marcus (View full report in PDF)

Palestinian press reports about murders of Palestinian women by male family members, in so-called family "honor" killings, have been increasing. According to an op-ed in the official Palestinian Authority daily:

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"The frequency with which crimes against women are committed is rising constantly, and every day more than one crime is committed against more than one woman..." [Al-Ayyam, Aug. 7, 2012]

Palestinian Media Watch notes that the murders have been widely condemned by Palestinian officials and human rights activists, some of whom have called for new legislation and longer prison terms. Others have argued that the killings won't stop until there is a change in Arab - Muslim culture.

An op-ed in the official Palestinian Authority daily said that legislation won't be effective unless there is a "cultural revolution" rejecting honor killings: "There are some who even praise and glorify this [honor killings] as a manly, heroic act, turning it into an aspect of [our] culture that molds the character of Arab and Islamic societies. If we wish to free our society from this crime's octopus grasp, we must first admit that without a cultural revolution that will cleanse our perceptions, our books, and our heritage from sanctifying murder performed in the name of Allah and honor... we will not be able to take a single step towards lessening this crime..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 6, 2012]

An Israeli Arab lecturer interviewed on PA TV likewise placed the blame on hundreds of years of Arab culture: "Part of our [Palestinian] identity is to kill women... to beat women... Palestinian identity has its charms, but there are things that we have adopted from Arab culture for centuries that harm the individual and the woman." [PA TV (Fatah), June 24, 2012]

Click to view

An op-ed criticized the "tribal mentality" that justifies the murder of women: "Every day, more than one crime is committed against more than one woman... I shall criticize out loud the social culture that still seeks justifications for the murder of women. The rumors and justifications for murder heard after the killing of these two [victims] led a woman journalist to write an article demanding that we respect the reason for killing the girl [in Tulkarem]... As for the woman from Bethlehem who was murdered in front of people in the street without anyone trying to save her, people have already become experts at spreading rumors to convince us that her husband was right, and that there undoubtedly must be a reason that made the killing necessary... There is no justification for murder... and there is no country or country-in- the-making that still bases itself on the tribal mentality." [Al-Ayyam, Aug. 7, 2012]

Others blame the Palestinian government and legal system for not punishing the crime severely enough: "Activist Khawla Al-Azraq...: 'The law reinforces violence against women, legalizes the murder of women, and protects the murderers, in spite of the amendments that the President [Abbas] has introduced'... Attorney Salwa Banura said that the law

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

encourages murders, since arguments for leniency [mitigating circumstances] are accepted by the courts, and a man who murders his daughter, wife or sister stays in prison only three months, and is then released." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 3, 2012]

The Minister of Women's Affairs Rabiha Dhiab led a sit-down strike opposite the PA courts: "Participants demanded legislation that would provide protection for women from violence aimed at them and to impose extremely heavy penalties on murderers of women." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 3, 2012]

The following are longer transcripts of these recent statements, and additional documentation from the past two years about the problem of killing women in the name of family "honor" in Palestinian society:

Blaming Arab and Muslim Culture

An op-ed in the official PA daily blamed an outdated "culture that molds the character of Arab and Islamic societies."

Headline: "Violence against women - a legitimate crime!" "Our [Arab and Muslim] societies consider the crime of violence against women, honor killings, and avenging the killing [of relatives], as legitimate, understandable and [part of] a unique heritage. There are some who even praise and glorify this as a manly, heroic act, turning it into an aspect of [our] culture that molds the character of Arab and Islamic societies. If we wish to free our society from this crime's octopus grasp, we must first admit that without a cultural revolution that will cleanse our perceptions, our books, and our heritage from sanctifying murder performed in the name of Allah and honor... we will not be able to take a single step towards lessening this crime, even if the books of [new] laws reach the roof of Parliament and the civil courts (i.e., no matter how many civil laws are passed against it.)" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 6, 2012]

An Israeli Arab university lecturer, Yusuf Jabareen, explained on PA TV that killing and beating women is a negative part of Palestinian identity taken from Arab culture that has to be corrected.

Yusuf Jabareen: "Part of our identity is to kill women, for example, to kill women, to beat women..." PA TV host: "You generalize." Jabareen: "No. I don't generalize." Host: "Not everyone is the same." Jabareen: "Part of our identity is to attack women - we must acknowledge it. Every society has its defects and its charms. Palestinian identity has its charms, but there are things that we have adopted from Arab culture for centuries that harm the individual and the woman. For example, in recent months, look how many women were killed in Lod, in Ramle, and in Acre, and so on. That's part of our identity." [PA TV (Fatah), June 24, 2012] Click to view

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

A columnist in the PA daily condemned honor killings, calling them "racist murder":

"None of us who are alive can be honored as long as the mentality of racist murder, what is called honor killings, exists across the dark society... It seems that many of us still think of them [women] as the bent rib of Adam, void of intelligence or religion..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 10, 2012]

An op-ed condemned "tribal mentality" that seeks to justify the killing of women:

Headline: "All excuses are rejected out of hand" "The frequency with which crimes against women are committed is rising constantly, and every day more than one crime is committed against more than one woman...

The latest two incidents, in which a girl in Tulkarem and a woman in Bethlehem were murdered, led to the writing of this column, in which I shall criticize out loud the social culture that still seeks justifications for the murder of women. The rumors and justifications for murder after the killing of these two [victims] led a woman journalist to write an article demanding that we respect the reason for killing the girl [in Tulkarem]...

As for the woman from Bethlehem who was murdered in front of people in the street without anyone trying to save her, people have already become experts at spreading rumors to convince us that her husband was right, and that there undoubtedly must be a reason that made the killing necessary...

There is no justification for murder... and there is no country or country-in-the-making that still bases itself on the tribal mentality. The law and the right to life must be respected, and the criminals must be punished. All excuses are rejected out of hand; we refuse to agree to murder... We reject measures that protect the murderers, and the justifications that claim that this keeps the unity and cohesiveness of society, since our cohesiveness and unity will be strengthened only through justice." [Al-Ayyam, Aug. 7, 2012]

Former PA Minister of Health condemned forced marriages of women to men "50 years older" in the following op-ed:

"In less than two weeks, there were two reports of women murdered for reasons that seem to be connected to honor. The last case, a woman from the Hebron district, was murdered by her father and brother after her husband expelled her from their shared home. This is the 12th case of what has been called since the beginning of 2012 'honor crimes.' The father of the girl is now guilty of his daughter's murder, but in the indictment against the murderer, the father, it is not mentioned that this is not the first time that he murdered her. He already murdered the victim, his daughter and flesh and blood, a number of years earlier when he married her off to a man who was 50 years older than her. In other words, he married her to someone the age of a grandfather... Unfortunately, the murderer didn't act alone and found partners to his crime: his son, the brother of the murder victim, and the corrupt doctor who agreed to write a death certificate. This shows that there is public support for violence against women and that Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

the perpetrators of this crime are ready to prepare excuses and even cover it up forever, so that the criminals do not receive a proper punishment." [Al-Ayyam, Aug. 10, 2012]

Blaming the legal system

One murder given prominence in the PA press was the killing of Nancy Zaboun, a Palestinian woman murdered by her husband. According to the PA daily, her husband killed her because she wanted to work for a few days to earn money to buy her son a birthday present.

"Bethlehem district governor, Abd Al-Fatah Hamail, denounced the crime [murder of Nancy Zaboun by her husband because she wanted to work] and said that this act contradicts the customs of the Palestinian people. He stressed that the accused man would be brought to justice, and he spoke about the amendments which President Mahmoud Abbas has introduced into the lenient sections of [law regarding] murder [of women]; these assure that every man found guilty will receive his punishment, with no other consideration... Expert and activist Khawla Al-Azraq criticized the use of the present law of personal status, saying: 'It is a disgrace that we are still using the law of personal status that was legislated in the 1950's. This Jordanian law has already been amended a number of times in Jordan, but we are still using it. The law reinforces violence against women, legalizes the murder of women, and protects the murderers, in spite of the amendments that the President [Abbas] has introduced'... Attorney Salwa Banura said that the law encourages murders, since arguments for leniency [mitigating circumstances] are accepted by the courts, and a man who murders his daughter, wife or sister stays in prison only three months, and is then released." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 3, 2012]

The Minister of Women's Affairs Rabiha Dhiab led a delegation that met with the President of the Supreme Court to demand "an end to the leniency employed in cases of honor crimes."

"Justice Farid Al-Jalad, President of the Supreme Court, met yesterday at his office in Ramallah with a delegation from the Ministry for Women's Affairs and from the Women's Union, headed by Minister of Women's Affairs Rabiha Dhiab... to discuss the causes for the recurrence of crimes against women, following the three latest crimes that took place in different cities in the West Bank and Gaza. The delegation stressed its faith in the Palestinian legal system and demanded an end to the leniency employed in cases of honor crimes... At the same time, a sit-down strike organized by Dhiab was held opposite the courts compound in Ramallah... in which participants demanded legislation that would protect women from violence directed at them and impose extremely heavy penalties on murderers of women." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 3, 2012]

"Representatives of a number of feminist institutes demanded the swift enactment of laws in the area of personal status to protect families from violence, along with steps to deter the killing of women. This was said during the demonstration yesterday in Ramallah... Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

that protested the culture of crimes of murder against women for what is called "honor"... The organizer of the "Civil Organizations for Struggle against Violence against Women" explained that two women murdered in Bethlehem and Hebron had approached the police, but it did not supply them with protection and did not save their lives." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 10, 2012]

New legislation

"President Abbas decided yesterday to appoint a legal committee, made up of his legal advisor, Hassan Al-Awri, and the Minister of Justice, Ali Muhana, to examine the law of personal status and others. This in order to improve the laws and amend them, so Palestinian women's rights will be protected and defend them from oppression, violence, and discrimination. The president's decision comes following the increase in attacks and cases of murder of women." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 10, 2012]

Arrest of man who stabbed his daughter to death:

"Commander of the Tulkarem police, Ma'aruf Al-Barbari, said... that on the second day of Ramadan, a father fatally stabbed his daughter several times, even though her family had celebrated her success in the matriculation examinations a day prior to her death, and she had achieved an average of 88. He stressed that investigations were still going on to uncover the motives and causes for this chilling crime, and noted that the girl's father had been arrested. He called upon residents to act responsibly and not to rush to pass judgment on their children, and destroy the family. He stressed that following the so-called family honor killings of many girls, it turned out after pathological examination and autopsy -- that the victims were virgins." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 24, 2012]

Violence against women in PA society- an ongoing challenge

While the subject of "honor killing" has received significant press lately, the problem is not new. Already in 2010, a Palestinian MP called for action noting that 62% of Palestinian women report they are "victims of violence." At that time, the spokesman of the Hebron police tried to minimize the problem saying that the severity of the reports are "exaggerations" and that men are also victims of violence by women.

"Sahar Al-Kawasmeh, member of the Palestinian Parliament noted that the percentage of Palestinian women who are victims of violence has reached 62%. Among these, 23% are subjected to physical violence, which is a worrying figure. Ahmad Atawneh, Director of Public Relations for the Hebron police, said that there are exaggerations in the presentation of the severity of violence against women, and that the statistics that the police have compiled show that there exists counter-violence carried out by women against men." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 4, 2010]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

In February 2011, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights published statistics on the frequency of "honor killings" and criticized the lenient prison sentences given by the courts, which view killing to defend "family honor" as an acceptable extenuating circumstance for murder:

Headline: "The phenomenon of murdering women - disregard for the law and reinforcement of traditions with no basis in religious law"

"Director of the Unit for Women's Affairs at the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Muna Al-Shawa, said that the Center is concerned about the recurring crime of murder of women in the Palestinian territories for so-called 'family honor.' This is a result of the immunity given to the criminal because of light sentences, such that the maximum sentence does not exceed three years [in jail] shortened [for good behavior], meaning, nearly 24 months...

Al-Shawa emphasized that according to the statistics of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, 13 cases of honor-killings took place last year. The victims included 9 women, a boy, and 3 men....

It is well-known that instances of murder of women are not a new phenomenon, but have been going on for many years. Several studies have been carried out on this issue, including special research carried out by the Project for the Support and Training of Women, as part of the Mental Health program in Gaza, in 2005... This research noted that all instances of murder for so-called family honor involve women [as victims], and do not involve men. Similarly, it turns out that instances of murder were carried out for various criminal reasons, but were attributed to family honor, so that the criminal would escape sentencing and would benefit from the extenuating circumstances awarded to him by law." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 13, 2011]

In May 2011, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was praised for introducing new legislation.

"Women's organizations, human rights organizations, workers' unions, the political factions and the various social organizations in the Hebron district have hailed the President's [Abbas'] decision to instruct the legal advisor to the Presidential Office to amend sections 340 and 98 of the Jordanian Penal Act 16 of 1960, which allows those who have carried out crimes of murdering women in so-called honor killings, to escape justice... The participants in the meeting once again demanded that the judiciary and executive branches [of the government] speed up investigation of the circumstances of the murder of the young woman Ayah Barad'iyya (21) from Zurif." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2011]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – August 20, 2012 Inequality of women in PA society: Religious duty or outdated bias? PA TV shows the conflicting views

PA Mufti, Muhammad Hussein: - A woman may not deny her husband "his right" to sex - "A woman should obey her husband"

PA TV satire critiquing inequality of women: Palestinian wife: "I want equality." Husband: "Listen. Get up. Clean the house, wash, cook, and I am going inside to rest. When you finish cooking, come and wake me."

by Itamar Marcus

The Palestinian Authority religious establishment believes that a Muslim woman must obey her husband and must not reject his request for sex - because it is "his right." However, a satire broadcast on PA TV critiquing the inequality between men and women indicates that there are now different voices being heard in Palestinian society.

PA religious establishment demands women obey their husbands

In a series of questions during a special Ramadan religious program, the PA Mufti, the PA's highest religious authority, stressed that according to Islam, a wife must obey her husband in all areas of life. The overriding principle, according to the Mufti, is that she "should obey her husband and please him."

Some of the specific areas explained by the Mufti were: 1. A woman must not deny her husband sex when he wants it. "It is his right." Even if she wants to refuse because he did not fast or pray during Ramadan, she "has no right to deny him this right [to sex]."

2. "A woman must [only] leave home at the discretion of her husband." Therefore, if he permits her to go shopping for food in the middle of the night, it is permitted.

3. A woman should get up before dawn to prepare the pre-fast meal for her husband, if he asks her to. If she prepares the meal, she will get two rewards: one for participating in the religiously significant meal, and the second for obeying her husband.

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4. Another PA cleric, Abada Sabri, wrote in the religious section of the official PA daily that the focused individual worship [I'tikaf] that is customarily performed in a mosque during Ramadan should be performed by a woman in a mosque only if her husband gives her permission to go. If he refuses her request, she should perform the worship at home.

Click to view

Challenging inequality of women A recent PA TV satire, however, expressed a different perspective that implies rejection of a subservient role for women and highlights the inequality between men and women in Palestinian society. In the skit, a husband refuses his wife's demand for equality and help with the housework: Wife: "I want equality, but not to do work plus more work... What would happen if you helped me with the housework?" Husband: "Listen. Get up. Straighten up the house, wash, cook, and I'm going inside to rest. When you finish cooking, come and wake me." [PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 11, 2012]

Click to view

The contrast between the official religious rulings promoting "obedience" and the satire challenging inequality, both broadcast by official PA media, may signal a growing debate within Palestinian society over women's rights.

However, it is important to note that by presenting their opinions as Shari'ah (Islamic law), the Mufti and religious leaders impede the chances for change in Palestinian society regarding women's rights. According to a poll by the Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies in 2010, 99% of Palestinians said religion was either important (85%) or somewhat important (13.7%). The poll found that "less than 1% considered religion not important." With religion playing such a dominant role in Palestinian society, change of social norms will be hard to achieve without the backing of the religious establishment.

Palestinian Media Watch has reported on the status of women in Palestinian society. To view more on this topic, click here

The following are the full texts:

PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein PA TV host: "A man doesn't fast and doesn't pray, but according to Shari'ah [Islamic] law - if he wants to have sex after the prayer [time] and [his wife] refuses, perhaps for the reason: 'You don't pray, and don't fast.'" Mufti Muhammad Hussein: "That is not a reason." Host: "Does she have the right [to refuse] according to Shari'ah?" Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Mufti: "No. It's his right [to have sex]. Nonetheless, we say to him: You must obey Allah Almighty. Just as you want to satisfy your needs, which are in fact animalistic and impulsive, you must also observe Allah's duties and commandments, which are more important. Nonetheless, it is his right. This woman may not and has no right to deny him this right, especially during the permissible time, which is nighttime." [PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 12, 2012]

Host: "What is the rule about women who go out shopping [at night during Ramadan] until 3:00 AM?" Mufti: "In general, a woman must [only] leave home at the discretion of her husband. If she left home at his discretion and with his approval, there is nothing preventing it." [PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 12, 2012]

Host: "What should a man do with his wife if she doesn't prepare the pre-dawn meal for him?" Mufti: "In general, the woman should obey her husband and please him." Host: "The pre-dawn meal is Islamic tradition." Mufti: "They perform it together... The woman must help her husband and family by preparing the pre-dawn meal, so the whole family is involved. She will be rewarded for observing the tradition and also be rewarded for obeying her husband." [PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 2, 2012]

Column, religion section of the PA daily, by PA cleric Abada Sabri: "It is best to fulfill the focused individual worship [I'tikaf] during the last 10 days of Ramadan... A wife should do the I'tikaf [in the Mosque] only after getting permission from her husband. And if he denies her [permission to go] she is prohibited from doing it, and then it is preferable for the woman to do the I'tikaf at home." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 10, 2012]

Satire challenging inequality in PA society Husband: "Afaf (wife's name), I don't get it. How long can the house stay like this? What are you thinking? That I'll hire a cleaner?" Wife: "If only, Hussein, if only! You don't understand how much you could help me." Husband: "Did you really believe what I said? I said that just so you - just maybe - would feel, would see, how necessary it is to straighten up the house and clean it. Look how much laundry is piling up everywhere. Move! Move! You're also late with dinner every day! What's with you?" Wife: "What do you want me to do? We come home from work at the same time. You sit down, rest, relax, watch TV, and I'm doing the housework. When do you want me to finish it?" Husband: "That isn't my problem. That has nothing to do with me. Isn't that equality?" Wife: "Sure, I want equality, but not to do work plus more work. I mean - not just accounts, the children and expenses. No, [equality] with everything! What would happen if you helped me with the housework, hand in hand?" Husband: "Great! That's all I need, [working] hand in hand. I should wash, sweep, and dust! Listen. Get up. Straighten up the house, wash, cook, and I'm going inside to rest. When you finish cooking, come and wake me." [PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 11, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – August 21, 2012 Fatah football tournament named after three terrorists

by Itamar Marcus

Fatah held a football tournament for youth named after three terrorists who murdered Rabbi Meir Chai, a 45 year-old father of 7. The terrorists killed the Rabbi in a drive-by shooting in 2009. All three terrorists were killed in a shootout with Israeli soldiers two days after the murder.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the ongoing PA policy of glorifying terrorists as heroes and role models. Earlier this summer, Fatah sponsored a summer camp for youth named after Dalal Mughrabi, who led a bus hijacking in 1978 that killed 37 civilians.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is head of Fatah.

To view more examples of sporting events named after terrorists, click here.

The following is the article in the PA daily:

"In the presence of the family of Martyr Haitham Al-Naana, [and a representative of the security services], Fatah's Nablus branch sponsored the championship... of the third 'Martyrs Raed Al-Sarkaji, Anan Subh, Ghassan Abu Sharakh, and Haitham Al- Naana Ramadan Football Championship' for youth born in 1996... A closing ceremony was held... that began with a moment of silence and a recitation of [the Quran's] Surat Al-Fatihah, in memory of the heroic Martyrs." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 19, 2012]

Bulletin – August 22, 2012 PA Sheikh to PA police: "Strike with an iron fist" those who eat in public during Ramadan

PA Sheikh quotes Hadith: "Blood is permitted to be shed" for "whoever neglects... fasting [during Ramadan]"

by Itamar Marcus

A Palestinian Authority cleric has ruled that the PA must prohibit eating in public during Ramadan and should severely punish anyone who violates this law. To back up his ruling, he cited a Hadith (Islamic tradition attributed to Muhammad) that for anyone who fails to fast, "his blood becomes permitted [to be shed]." He called on PA police to "strike with an iron fist" and give "the heaviest punishments" to those who eat in public.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Palestinian Media Watch reported earlier this month that the PA has prohibited even non- Muslims from eating in public during the month of fasting, and that 6 people had been arrested by the PA for public eating.

The following is the text of the ruling, which was published by Sheikh Hassan Ahmed Jaber, Mufti of the Rafiah district and a member of the Supreme Council for Religious Rulings in Palestine, in his daily Ramadan column:

"The Prophet [Muhammad] said: 'The pillars of religion and foundations of Islam are three, and whoever neglects any one of them - his blood is permitted [to be shed]: the testimony that there is no God but Allah; fasting [during Ramadan]; and prayer.' [Hadith] Anyone who eats in public during Ramadan, denying the commandment of the fast and renouncing it, is violating Allah's laws and rebelling against Allah, Who said: 'Oh you who believe! Fasting is prescribed for you, as it was prescribed for those before you...' [Sura 2, verse 183]. [By eating] he leaves the circle of Islam, and his blood becomes permitted [to be shed]. Also, eating in public during Ramadan hurts the sensitivities of all Muslims around the entire world... Therefore, I call upon all our [security] services in the PA to strike with an iron fist anyone who gives in to temptation and eats in public during Ramadan, by applying the heaviest punishments, until our society is pure, clean and close to Allah." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 13, 2012]

Bulletin – August 23, 2012 Abbas and the PA used term "alleged Temple" at least 97 times in 2011 and 2012 in its ongoing campaign to deny Jerusalem's Jewish history

Mahmoud Abbas: "No peace, security, or stability" without evacuation of Jews from Jerusalem - "our holy city"

by Itamar Marcus

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has again denied Jerusalem's Jewish history and the existence of the Temple, referring to the "alleged Temple" in a statement this week.

The use of the term "alleged Temple" to deny Jewish history has been Palestinian Authority policy under Abbas for many years. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the entire Palestinian Authority leadership and the structures under its control actively and repeatedly use the term "alleged Temple."

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

"Alleged Temple" 97 times: Palestinian Media Watch checked its archives and found that the official PA press reported the use of the expression "alleged Temple" at least 97 times by heads of the PA, its institutions and its media, just in 2011 and 2012. This number refers only to the use of this term. The PA has denied Jewish history in Israel and Jerusalem hundreds of times as part of its official policy, and has also fabricated an ancient Palestinian history in the land. Mahmoud Abbas himself in a speech that was read by his advisor on the eve of Israel's Independence Day, both denied Israel's history and falsely claimed the existence of a 9000 year-old Palestinian history, adding: "Netanyahu, you are incidental in history. We are the people of history. We are the owners of history." [PA TV (Fatah), May 14, 2011]

Click to view

PA leaders cite "alleged Temple" The following is a partial list of PA officials, institutions, and others cited in the PA press who used the term "alleged Temple," some of them numerous times, in 2011and 2012: Mahmoud Abbas, PA Chairman Ahmad Al-Ruweidi, Advisor to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas Muhammad Hussein, PA Mufti Mahmoud Al-Habbash, PA Minister of Religious Affairs Ahmad Qurei (Abu Alaa), former PA Prime Minister, head of PLO Jerusalem Dept. Tayseer Tamimi, former PA Chief Justice of Religious Court Salim Al-Za'anoun, Chairman of the Palestinian National Council Sheikh Yusuf Ida'is, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Islamic Law Yusuf Salameh, speaker at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and former Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Aloul, member of the Fatah Central Committee Dmitry Dliani, member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council Kamal Al-Khatib, Deputy Chairman of the Islamic Movement in Israel Sheikh Ishaq Feleifel, columnist in the religion section of the official PA daily Adel Abd Al-Rahman, columnist for the official PA daily Islamic-Christian Council for Jerusalem and the Holy Places Official PA TV news readers and reporters WAFA, the official PLO and PA news agency The PA's official daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida

To view complete texts and the many other explicit denials of Jewish history in Jerusalem, view the "Rewriting history" section on PMW's website.

The following is from Abbas' statement denying the existence of the Temple, demanding the evacuation of all Jews from East Jerusalem, and claiming Jerusalem to be the "eternal capital" of a Palestinian state:

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Mahmoud Abbas: "'[The] purpose is to achieve its black goals: Destroying the Al-Aqsa Mosque, building the 'alleged Temple,' taking over the Muslim and Christian holy sites, and destroying its [Jerusalem's] institutions in order to empty it, uproot its residents, and continue its occupation and Judaization.' Abbas' statement also said that all of Israel's archeological digs and tunnels... will not change the reality of the city... and will not create a [Jewish] right based on fantasy and legends. The statement ended... 'there will be no peace, security, or stability unless the occupation [Israel], its settlements and settlers will be evacuated from our holy city and the eternal capital of our state.'" [WAFA, Aug. 21, 2012 and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 22, 2012]

Bulletin – August 24, 2012 PA daily cartoon demonizes Israel as a bloodthirsty Jew

by Itamar Marcus

The official Palestinian Authority daily published a cartoon yesterday that depicts Israel as a demonized religious Jew holding a knife dripping with blood.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the ongoing PA policy to demonize and promote hatred of Israel.

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 23, 2012]

The message of the cartoon is to criticize the United States. President Obama is shown reading a newspaper and reassures the Jew that the American media has not reported on the crime he has supposedly committed with the bloodied knife.

Text on sleeve of Jew: "Israel" Text on newspaper: "American media"

Obama to Jew (Israel) holding a knife dripping with blood: "Don't be afraid. There are no pictures or articles about you."

The cartoon originally appeared in the Al-Khaleej newspaper (United Arab Emirates).

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – August 26, 2012 Terrorist murderer called "heroic fighter," "beacon," "all honor, all power, all vigor" in two broadcasts on PA TV

by Itamar Marcus

In May 1992, four Palestinian terrorists swam from Jordan to Eilat, Israel's southern resort city, and carried out a terror attack that killed one Israeli. Two terrorists drowned, a third was killed by Israel, and terrorist Muayyad Hijja was captured and given two life sentences in prison.

Palestinian Authority TV recently decided to honor Hijja by visiting his home and interviewing his relatives. The following are some of the words and expressions of praise broadcast on official PA TV in honor of the terrorist: - "Fighter" and "commander" - 6 times - "Hero" and "heroic" - 6 times - "One of the homeland's beacons because of his valor and sacrifice" - "Smart, wonderful. I am proud to have an uncle like you" - "[He] is all honor, all power, all vigor... an example of sacrifice, an example of honor, and an example of struggle for the homeland" - "We are proud of him. He has always made us proud." [PA TV (Fatah), July 31, 2012]

On Aug. 19, 2012, PA TV again honored him: PA TV host: "I'm sending holiday greetings to my uncle, my brother, my beloved Muayyad Hijja, who is in the Gilboa jail. Allah willing, I hope that you will be freed soon along with all the heroic prisoners, who we are always proud of."

Click to view

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the ongoing PA policy to glorify terrorists as heroes and role models. To view more examples, click here.

The following is the transcript of the program broadcast on July 31 honoring terrorist Muayyad Hijja:

PA TV host: "Muayyad Hijja is in prison. He is a heroic fighter prisoner and has been in the occupation's prisons since 1992. He is one of the homeland's beacons because of his valor and sacrifice, of course." Text on screen: "Freedom for the fighter heroic prisoner, Muayyad Hijja. Given 2 life sentences... The commander who carried out the Eilat operation."

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Niece: "I am Maram, niece of the heroic fighter prisoner Muayyad Hijja. Uncle, it is true that I wasn't even born when you entered prison and I don't know you, but the picture in my mind is that you are a hero, a fighter, smart, wonderful. I am proud to have an uncle like you. Sister: "Muayyad is the hero. Muayyad is all honor, all power, all vigor. Muayyad is an example of sacrifice, an example of honor, and an example of struggle for the homeland." Nephew: "I picture my uncle as a hero, a resistance fighter. We are proud of him. He has always made us proud." [PA TV (Fatah), July 31, 2012]

Bulletin – August 29, 2012 Lawyer for Corrie family on PA TV in July: Nazi Germany's founding was legal while Israel's founding was theft

Lawyer Abu Hussein: "Nazi Germany was a state based on the rule of law for a short while... the State of Israel was founded from the start on robbery and theft"

Israel is a "giant monster... we all want to step on its head, but talking is not enough"

by Itamar Marcus

Yesterday, an Israeli court ruled that Rachel Corrie's death was a "regrettable accident," but that Rachel Corrie "chose to put herself in danger." Rachel Corrie was killed when she was run over by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza, at a time when Israel was working to curb terrorist activity in the area. Corrie's family sued Israel for "wrongful death." The family's Israeli Arab lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, said in a statement to the press: "It's a black day for activists of human rights and people who believe in values of dignity. We believe this decision is a bad decision for all of us - civilians first of all, and peace activists." [NY Times, August 28, 2012]

Palestinian Media Watch is releasing a statement made by the Israeli Arab lawyer last month that reveals his attitudes towards Israel in general.

In a Palestinian Authority TV interview, Abu Hussein said Israel's founding was worse than the founding of Nazi Germany because "Nazi Germany was a state based on the rule of law for a short while," whereas "the State of Israel was founded from the start on robbery and theft." He also called Israel a "giant monster" and indicated that people should take action against Israel: "We all want to step on its head, but talking is not enough. Everyone has their role." Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Click to view

The following is a portion of the transcript of Abu Hussein's interview with Israeli Arab actor, Mohammad Bakri, who hosts the weekly PA TV show:

Hussein Abu Hussein, Israeli Arab lawyer: "Nazi Germany was a state based on the rule of law for a short while and it found refuge in the law. [However,] the State of Israel was founded from the start on robbery and theft of a nation's homeland. Actually, the correct and true legal definition of what happened to the Palestinians is homeland theft... We suffer from a great injustice from the giant monster. This monster attacks us daily and bites into our flesh in the Negev, the Galilee, the Triangle [region in Israel], Jerusalem, and the occupied territories, the West Bank and Gaza. Every day it bites into our body."

Mohammad Bakri, Israeli Arab actor: "I want to step on the head of this monster."

Hussein Abu Hussein, Israeli Arab lawyer: "We all want to step on its head, but talking is not enough. Everyone has their role." [PA TV (Fatah), July 2, 2012]

Bulletin – September 10, 2012 PMW demands retraction from Corrie family's lawyer

by Itamar Marcus

Palestinian Media Watch rejects the remarks made by Hussein Abu Hussein, the Israeli Arab attorney for the Corrie family, in response to PMW's bulletin two weeks ago. PMW also demands a public retraction and an apology from the lawyer.

Instead of responding to the content of his own statements on Palestinian Authority TV that PMW had subtitled and publicized, Abu Hussein attacked PMW, claiming: "This [PMW] clip was edited in a misleading and tendentious fashion by an anti- democratic organization whose goal is to harm the struggle for human rights and divert the discussion from the killing of the peace activist Rachel Corrie by a military bulldozer." [timesofisrael.com, Aug. 29, 2012]

PMW had revealed segments of Abu Hussein's recent interview on PA TV in which he contrasted Israel's creation to the establishment of Nazi Germany. He said Israel was "founded from the start on robbery and theft," while "Nazi Germany was a state based on the rule of law for a short while." Israel's creation, he claimed, did not even have the justification that Nazi Germany's creation had:

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

"Nazi Germany was a state based on the rule of law for a short while and it found refuge in the law. [However,] the State of Israel was founded from the start on robbery and theft of a nation's homeland."

PMW also reported that Abu Hussein said the following about Israel: "We suffer from a great injustice, from the giant monster... We all want to step on its head, but talking is not enough. Everyone has their role." Hussein, in the interview, did not elaborate or explain what he meant by "talking is not enough."

Following PMW's exposure of Abu Hussein's statements, the Times of Israel reported that Abu Hussein complained about PMW: "The comments had been taken out of context and the content of his remarks distorted. The publication of the comments by Palestinian Media Watch was an attempt to attack his character and that of the Corrie family, he said... the comments were part of an hour-long interview that covered a wide range of topics and a discussion of lessons to be learned from history - including the Holocaust." [timesofisrael.com, Aug. 29, 2012, http://www.timesofisrael.com/corries-lawyer- termed-israel-a-giant-monster-in-arabic-interview/]

PMW rejects Abu Hussein's libelous remarks. As a research institute, PMW publishes significant and representative segments of longer interviews. In the full interview, Abu Hussein said nothing that changed the context or meaning of anything that PMW reported. PMW has now expanded the translation and subtitled additional statements he made on PA TV.

Click to view

PMW has added a longer transcript of Abu Hussein's remarks comparing Israel and Nazi Germany. At the outset, the host of the program, Israeli Arab actor Mohammad Bakri, questioned if Abu Hussein was satisfied being a lawyer in Israel, given that, in his words, Israel is "an abnormal state" with "legal tyranny and racist discrimination even in the law," such that "you sometimes lose a case, not because you're a bad lawyer" but because of Israel's racism. To this question, Abu Hussein answered "yes," adding that law in Israel is a "compliant tool in the hands of the authorities," which he then compared to Nazi Germany's use of law:

"In the final analysis, the law is a compliant tool in the hands of the authorities. The Nazi state was also a state ruled by law. It took refuge in the law in order to carry out the most hideous crimes against humanity. The catastrophes in WWII are known to everyone. In WWII, 52 million people were killed, but the historical narrative mentions this as if the only truth is that six million Jews were killed in WWII. However, this does not negate the ugliness of this war."

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

It is ironic that in his response, Abu Hussein pointed out that he mentioned the Holocaust. In fact, as this quote shows, his mention of World War ll was to critique the fact that the focus tends to center on the killing of six million Jews - the Holocaust - and not on the 52 million people in general who were killed in the war.

Below is a longer transcript of Abu Hussein's remarks. Other topics covered in the interview that PMW chose not to translate in their entirety are marked in the transcript by three dots [...] and include: a discussion about Israeli judges, innocent people Abu Hussein said were killed by Israeli soldiers, a long prison sentence given to a Palestinian youth, Israeli accusations against a sick child that the child had contacts with terrorists, and other topics.

Nothing said in any of these discussions has any bearing on the material cited by PMW or gives a different context to what PMW reported, as claimed by Abu Hussein. Abu Hussein's statement that the interview "was edited in a misleading and tendentious fashion" is false.

The following is the longer transcript of Abu Hussein's statements:

Click to view longer video segment.

Hussein Abu Hussein, Israeli Arab lawyer: "Fate determined that I would work in this [legal] profession. I believe that at least until now, I have gone in the right direction and I don't regret it." Mohammad Bakri, Israeli Arab actor: "Even though you live in an abnormal state, even though Israeli law is elastic, even though Israeli law includes racism, and even though you sometimes lose a case, not because you're a bad lawyer, but because there is legal tyranny and racist discrimination even in the law." Hussein Abu Hussein: "Yes." Mohammad Bakri: "There are many examples that you've shown me and you've written articles about them." Hussein Abu Hussein: "In the final analysis, the law is a compliant tool in the hands of the [Israeli] authorities. The Nazi state was also a state ruled by law. It took refuge in the law in order to carry out the most hideous crimes against humanity. The catastrophes in WWII are known to everyone. In WWII, 52 million people were killed, but the historical narrative mentions this as if the only truth is that six million Jews were killed in WWII. However, this does not negate the ugliness of this war. Nazi Germany was a state based on the rule of law for a short while and it found refuge in the law. [However,] the State of Israel was founded from the start on robbery and theft of a nation's homeland. Actually, the correct and true legal definition of what happened to the Palestinians is homeland theft..."

Hussein Abu Hussein: "We are proud of being part of our Palestinian nation, but we don't have a racist attitude towards Jews as Jews. We have a position about Zionism that used Jews as a cover for using racism, racism of the lowest kind, against Palestinians wherever they were... The occupation [Israel] is what destroyed the Palestinian economy and the Palestinian infrastructures, and occupied Palestine in 1948..."

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

In court Israel argued that Rachel Corrie had knowingly entered an area of conflict that Israel had declared a closed military zone. Abu Hussein responded to this: "[Israel claimed:] In a place where there is an army, there is no place for civilians. This 'norm' - war criminals in the Macedonian and Yugoslavian wars have been tried for it. But the actions of the American octopus during this period of history - as we peasants say - 'we've had enough!': of American crimes and of Israeli crimes, and of American crimes in Iraq and in Afghanistan. But there is no statute of limitations for war crimes in international legal practice. And maybe a time will come when they will be brought to trial..."

Hussein Abu Hussein: "We suffer from a great injustice, from the giant monster. This monster attacks us daily and bites into our flesh in the Negev, the Galilee, the Triangle [region in Israel], Jerusalem, and the occupied territories - the West Bank and Gaza. Every day it bites into our body." Mohammad Bakri: "I want to step on the head of this monster." Hussein Abu Hussein: "We all want to step on its head, but talking is not enough. Everyone has their role..." [PMW note: Abu Hussein did not elaborate or explain what he meant by "talking is not enough".]

Abu Hussein recounted how he once addressed an Israeli judge in court during a case regarding land rights: "We Palestinians have Canaanite and Phoenician roots which are an integral part of our history, and you [Israelis] are new, you are new occupiers. And there is no proof, in spite of all the digs you have done in Palestine by Zionist archeologists, who until today have not found one proof of their connection to this homeland." [PA TV (Fatah), July 2, 2012]

Bulletin – September 12, 2012 "Palestinian Spring" unfolds: Freedom of speech suppressed on PA TV

PA TV mutes broadcast 4 times when citizens criticize PA leaders

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

During a live broadcast, Palestinian Authority TV chose to censor PA citizens several times when they openly criticized the PA leadership. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that PA TV is directly controlled by Chairman Abbas' office and serves as a mouthpiece for the government.

A PA TV talk show invited Palestinians to speak during a live broadcast from Tulkarem, but when they criticized Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister Fayyad and PA government ministers, the government-controlled TV station decided to silence the protests by muting the sound.

Click to view

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Neither the PA TV moderator nor the participants were aware that their words were being censored as they continued their discussions in front of the camera.

One speaker was silenced when he addressed Abbas and Fayyad, asking where they were while Palestinians were facing increased prices and unemployment. His voice was muted from the broadcast four times while he spoke. While PA TV did not want his message heard, the audience can be seen applauding him. Later, a woman addressed Abbas, asking him to explain why her two daughters, both with university degrees, were unable to find jobs. PA TV did not let her continue, but censored the rest of her comments.

When someone in the audience exposed the fact that PA TV was muting the criticism in the broadcast, the moderator announced "a short break with the director" of the program, promising to return. However, he only returned to inform the audience that PA TV "wanted to continue the program, but it's clear we can't."

And thus the "Palestinian Spring" unfolds live on PA TV.

The following is the transcript of the relevant parts of the PA TV broadcast:

PA TV host: "We return to you, sir. What did you want to say?" Razi in studio audience: "President Abbas, may Allah protect him, and Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad: Where are you when prices keep rising? Where are you when there is unemployment? Where are your ministers, Dr. Salam? They should see the people in the streets. What are we, cows and donkeys? The Palestinian people has begun to speak..." [Sound is muted for half a minute while Razi continues speaking and crowd is cheering.] Razi: "This is despicable..." Host: "The Jews have failed too." Razi: "Whenever prices go up, you say: 'The Jews.'" Host: "Sir, thank you for..." [Sound is muted] Host: "Don't say such things." Razi: "So arrest me..." Host: "I won't arrest you, but why fight..." [Sound is muted] Host: "I gave you a chance [to speak]. Let others speak." [...] Woman in audience: "I'm the mother of the Martyrs Muhammad and Mahdi Sa'ade. [Applause.] I wish that Mahmoud Abbas would explain... One day, as he sleeps on his pillow, he will feel for the Martyrs' mothers, and that's it. I have two daughters who graduated university, but they still don't have jobs. If someone had a son..." [Sound is muted] [...] Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Man in audience: "I've been told on the phone that you keep cutting off the sound." Host: "Who did I cut off now? ... I won't let you talk." Man in audience: "Don't cut off the broadcast, you talk about the youth. We're the youth." Host: "If you don't think that this is a live broadcast, don't be on the program. We have made this program 40 minutes longer so that you could participate, and now I'll let everyone participate." [...] “Now I'll take a short break with the director and we'll be back with you." [Host returns after a few minutes] "We had wanted to continue the program, but it's clear we can't." [Program abruptly ends.] [PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 6, 2012]

Bulletin – September 23, 2012 Israel "more loathsome" than Nazis: PA daily

by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

Israel's treatment of Palestinians is worse than anything carried out by Hitler and the Nazis during the Holocaust, according to the official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper.

Three recent articles in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida claim that Israel's behavior is worse than that of the Nazis. The articles use such terms as "loathsome," "dangerous and criminal" and "despicable" to describe Israel's treatment of Palestinians and Arabs.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA libel that Israel conducts Nazi-like experiments on prisoners.

The following are excerpts from the three articles:

"It looks like the Palestinian National Authority is simultaneously facing war on a number of fronts... Among the volatile topics is the insane settlement enterprise that the Netanyahu government continues, using racist settlers, who behave more like wounded and mad wolves aroused by the smell of blood, and whose actions against our people are more loathsome than any Zionist story about the Nazi Holocaust." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 6, 2012]

"Members of the Jewish religion must awaken from the coma of historical distortion, which was fabricated by the Zionist movement and world capitalists, the very same [capitalists] who wheel and deal in the Nazi and Fascist slaughter of Jews during WWII. Since what they (i.e., the Jews) are doing in Palestine against the Palestinian Arab people is more dangerous and criminal than what Hitler's Holocaust brought on the Jews and the nations of the world of the 1940s." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 18, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

"The Al-Quds Open University branch in northern Gaza screened the documentary film Two Holocausts with director Dr. Suwailam Al-Abbasi and other film participants attending. Also attending was the University Vice President for Gaza Affairs, Dr. Jihad al-Batsh... who declared that the film is an attempt to appeal to the viewer's conscience by presenting the main cases of slaughter perpetrated by the occupation's gangs against the Palestinian people. Al-Batsh added that the film shows that Israel and the Zionist movement are doing to the Palestinian people what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, in the same way, but in a more despicable manner." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 20, 2012]

Bulletin – September 10, 2012 PA hypocrisy: Don't defame religion (unless it's Judaism)

Documenting Palestinian Authority Antisemitism

Mahmoud Abbas: "Insulting religions, faiths, or religious symbols cannot in any way be a part of freedom of belief or freedom of expression."

Religious lesson in official PA daily: "The struggle between truth and falsehood is as ancient as life upon this earth... The conflict between us and the Jews is not a conflict about land and borders, but rather a conflict about faith and existence."

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

In response to the film depicting Islam's prophet Muhammad negatively, using terms like "child molester" and "murderous thug," Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas "condemned the insult to [Islam's] prophet" and added that he rejects "freedom of belief or freedom of expression when it comes to criticizing religion."

Mahmoud Abbas' condemnation of the defamation of Islam contrasts the PA policy of defamation of Judaism, demonization of Jews and promotion of Antisemitism, all of which are integral messages expressed by PA leaders and transmitted through the structures under their control.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Recent examples of this policy can be found in all areas of PA expression. The moderator at a Fatah ceremony demonized Jews as "the descendants of the apes and pigs." A PA TV narrator said that Jews praying at the Western Wall are "sin and filth." Senior PA official Jibril Rajoub referred to Jews as "Satans" and "Zionist sons of bitches" on PA TV. The PA Mufti and other religious leaders have defined Jews as the "enemy of Allah," and one preacher even preached the following Hadith in PA TV sermons: "The Prophet says: 'You shall fight the Jews and kill them.'" Indeed, what these and many other examples document is that in the PA, not only is demonization of Jews and Judaism common practice, it is also sometimes promoted as a religious Islamic imperative.

Significantly, the PA's promotion of hatred of Jews is not limited to religious leaders and PA officials. PA TV

featured several young girls on different children's Painting of Jews wearing prayer shawls programs saying that Jews and Christians are "inferior and holding rifles, sitting around a table and smaller, more cowardly and despised" and that "our filled with skulls. [PA TV (Fatah), July 28, enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail." Following classical 2010] European Antisemitism, a history program on PA TV taught that "Jews are hated in every society in which they have lived, because of their behavior relating to their great love of money." The official PA daily on Israel's independence day said Zionism's goal was to turn a "Jewish monarchy in Palestine into a basis for their [the Jews'] eternal rule over the world, that others, 'goyim' [non-Jews], must submit to their will." (See details and many more sources below.)

The hypocrisy of the PA is evident. Abbas condemns the recent video about Muhammad and states that "insulting religions, faiths, or religious symbols" is not protected "freedom of expression." At the same time, his own government's policy is to indoctrinate Palestinians to hate Jews and to defame Judaism.

Click to view the full report in PDF

PA Chairman Abbas condemned defaming Islam and religion:

"President [Mahmoud Abbas] again condemned the insult to [Islam's] prophet Muhammad. He said... that from a religious, human, and moral point of view we cannot accept this insult, since it is a blatant attack on the entire belief system and the sensitivities of more than a billion Muslims in the world. President Abbas added that insulting religions, faiths, or religious symbols cannot in any way be a part of freedom of belief or freedom of expression..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 17, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

PA defames Judaism and Jews:

PMW has collected 25 representative examples of this hate speech from PA and Fatah leaders, spokespeople, children's programs and official media. Most are from 2012 and 2011. These examples appear first as short quotes and are followed by their full contexts and sources. Additional documentation can be found on PMW's website, including hate speech during the PA terror campaign (the Intifada 2000-2005), when PA religious leaders repeatedly called for the killing of Jews as an Islamic demand.

Young girl on PA TV children's program "Jews and Christians are "inferior and smaller, more cowardly and despised."

Click to view

Moderator at Fatah ceremony "Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs (i.e., Jews) is a war of religion and faith."

History program on PA TV "The Jews are hated in every society in which they have lived, because of their behavior relating to their great love of money... This is how they harmed the societies that embraced them."

PA TV narrator, on Jerusalem "The light rain [in Jerusalem] cleanses the steps of the foreigners [Jews] so that the feet [of Muslims] in prayer will not step on impurity."

Click to view

Official PA daily's religious lesson by Sheikh Ishaq Feleifel (1) The Jews' "evil nature is drawn from Adam's first son [who murdered his brother]."

PA TV Friday sermon "These new Mongols...the Jews, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger! Enemies of humanity in general, and of Palestinians in particular... Our enmity with the Jews is a matter of faith, more than an enmity because of occupation and the land... Even if donkeys would cease to bray, dogs cease to bark, wolves cease to howl and snakes to bite, the Jews would not cease to harbor hatred towards Muslims. ... The Prophet says: 'You shall fight the Jews and kill them.'"

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

PA TV narrator, documentary on Jerusalem "From the balcony of our home, look out over [Islamic] holiness (visual: Western Wall) and on sin and filth (visual: Jews praying at the Western Wall)."

Click to view

PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein "The enemies of Allah [the Jews], who have violated all faith and religious laws, and even deviated from their humanity."

Official PA daily columnist on religion Sheikh Taleb Al-Silwadi "Allah's enemies, the children of Zion."

Young girl on PA TV children's program "Our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail."

Click to view

Senior PA official Jibril Rajoub "We are prepared to bring the Executive Committee in helicopters... so they will see no Jews, no Satans, no Zionist sons of bitches."

PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein "The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: 'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'"

Official PA daily, section on religion: "There is no limit to the greed of the Jews."

Fatah official on PA TV "The Jews were murderers of prophets."

Official PA daily's religious lesson by Sheikh Ishaq Feleifel (2) "The conflict between us and the Jews is not a conflict about land and borders, but rather a conflict about faith and existence."

Official PA daily on Israel's Independence Day "Zionism is an extreme religious ideology whose aim is political hegemony and the transformation of a Jewish monarchy in Palestine into a basis for their eternal rule over the world, that others, "goyim" [non-Jews], must submit to their will."

PA daily quotes children's march-chant: "Jews, Jews! Your holiday is the Holiday of the Apes."

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Palestinian actor in PA TV interview "The Jew doesn't have a bent nose, and isn't cowardly, and is not interested only in accumulating money. Of course, he is interested in accumulating money - the Jews throughout history, and in the religions, and the Quran tells us about the Jews and their worry over money."

Official PA daily "The rabbis of death and the promoters of pagan Zionist thought have continued to spew their poison among the Jews, in order to stir up and rouse feelings of animosity and hatred against the Palestinians."

Chief Justice of PA Religious Court "Concerning the Jews, the Holy Quran says that they lack understanding, are void of wisdom, know nothing, violate agreements, etc. However, the Jews were known - it was known about them throughout history - that they make false claims, lies, forgery, slander, and fabrications."

Additional examples of PA's Antisemitic hate speech and sources of all items cited in brief above:

Jews /Israelis are "Allah's enemies" Sheikh Taleb Al-Silwadi, columnist on religious affairs in the official PA daily: "One of the established facts is that the voice of falsehood does not rebel [against the truth] except where those who hold the truth [Muslims] forego their truth. Then there becomes room for falsehood, such that it can kill, behave violently, spill blood, and desecrate sacred things. That is what Allah's enemies, the children of Zion, are doing before the eyes and ears of the entire world." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 1, 2012]

PA children taught to hate Jews and Christians: Jews and Christians are "inferior and smaller, more cowardly and despised" Girl: Christians and Jews "are inferior and smaller, more cowardly and despised. They are remnants of the [Christian] crusaders and Khaibar (i.e., Jewish village destroyed by Muslims in 629)..." [PA TV (Fatah), May 11 and June 2, 2012]

PA children taught to hate Jews (1) Young girl Lina: "Our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail..." [PA TV (Fatah), May 8, 2012]

PA children taught to hate Jews (2) Young girl Laila: "Our enemy, Zion, is Satan with a tail..." [PA TV (Fatah), April 7, 2012]

Senior PA official Jibril Rajoub says Jews are "Satans" and "Zionist sons of bitches" "We are prepared to bring the Executive Committee in helicopters... so they will see no Jews, no Satans, no Zionist sons of bitches." [PA TV (Fatah), May 17, 2012]

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Moderator at Fatah ceremony: Jews are "descendants of the apes and pigs" "Our war with the descendants of the apes and pigs (i.e., Jews) is a war of religion and faith. Long Live Fatah!" [PA TV (Fatah), Jan. 9, 2012]

PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein: "The reliable Hadith (tradition attributed to Muhammad), [found] in the two reliable collections, Bukhari and Muslim, says: "The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews. The Jew will hide behind stones or trees. Then the stones or trees will call: 'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'" [PA TV (Fatah), Jan. 9, 2012]

Official PA daily: "There is no limit to the greed of the Jews" "Anyone with eyes in his head sees that there is no limit to the greed of the Jews... The nibbling away at the body [land] by the Jews continues at all levels." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 30, 2011]

PA TV documentary on Jerusalem: Rain cleanses Jerusalem of Jews' impurity so Muslims can pray "The golden dome [of the mosque] shines with colors of the sky, with the white of clouds, while the joyous holiday [Eid Al-Adha] is good to the residents. The light rain cleanses the steps of the foreigners [Jews] so that the feet [of Muslims] in prayer will not step on impurity." [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 6, 2011]

Kids' hate speech against Jews at PA Arafat memorial broadcast 3 years in a row Girl: "He [Arafat] was our former president... The Jews poisoned him and I hate them very much. Allah will repay them what they deserve." Boy: "He [Arafat] died from poisoning by the Jews. Well, I don't know what he died from, but I know it was by the Jews." [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 10, 2009, Nov. 10, 2010, Nov. 11, 2011]

Fatah official: Jews are "murderers of prophets," so Jews are prone to murder Secretary of Fatah branch in Jerusalem, Omar Shalabi, about the killing of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin: Shalabi: "If the Jews were murderers of prophets, why shouldn't they murder a Prime Minister who signed a peace agreement?!" [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 11, 2011]

Op-ed in official PA daily: "The hatred towards Israeli Jews is not related to racist discrimination" - it's because they deserve it "The hatred towards Israeli Jews is not related to racist discrimination, and there is no nation, people, or country which started any hatred against them. It is the Jews who have always started every struggle and hostility; they view themselves as better than

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all the nations and more honored than all the peoples (since they are God's Chosen People). They call everyone else 'goyim' [lit. 'nations'], who are below them in every respect. Moreover, they view themselves as deserving of all the goodness, glory and power on earth, and believe that they should attain ownership of the property of every non-Jew, in every way. Therefore, in every country where they live, we see that they seek to distinguish themselves from its inhabitants. They are concentrated in their own neighborhoods, and want everyone who lives with them to become their supporters. One of the things which stir up the nations against the Jews and plants [feelings] in their hearts against them is their tricks, which people understand..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 2, 2011]

Official PA daily's religious lesson: Judaism is a "distorted, corrupted, falsified religion" Sheikh Ishaq Feleifel teaches religion: "The struggle between truth and falsehood is as ancient as life upon this earth... yet the mighty Islam, from the breaking of its dawn and the spreading of its light up until our time, has been targeted by its enemies... the enemies have announced in a clear and provocative manner their despicable and terrible plot. Sixty-three years ago, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ben Gurion, stood at the UN after the entire world granted recognition to the malignant cancerous growth known as the State of Israel... The Prime Minister of this destructive cancerous growth stood up to declare the religion of the Jews in Palestine to the entire world. I hope that the [Islamic] nation will study this faith in order to know with certainty that the Jews talk, in conferences and in negotiations, only through their distorted, corrupted, falsified religion... The conflict between us and the Jews is not a conflict about land and borders, but rather a conflict about faith and existence." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 3, 2011]

Official PA daily's religious lesson: "[The Jews'] evil nature is drawn from Adam's first son" who murdered his brother Sheikh Ishaq Feleifel teaches religion: "In this lesson I wanted to talk about Cain and Abel - that's the first story on earth, whose victim was Abel, at the hands of his brother Cain - because this story shows a similarity to the Jews and their crimes... The Jews, by throwing off their yoke, followed in the footsteps of the first person on earth who threw off the yoke of Allah. Their [the Jews'] evil nature is drawn from Adam's first son [who murdered his brother]." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 13, 2011]

Official PA daily on Israel's Independence Day: Zionism is a religious Jewish plan to rule over the non- Jewish world, and "Goyim [non-Jews] must submit to their will" "The source of the name 'Zionism' is 'Mount Zion', one of the four mountains upon which the city of Jerusalem was founded. The Jews believe that their God lives there. Zionism is an extreme religious ideology whose aim is political hegemony and the transformation of a Jewish monarchy in Palestine into a basis for their eternal rule over the world, that others, "goyim" [non-Jews], must submit to their will, which is drawn from the will of God." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 15, 2011]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Official PA daily quotes children: "Jews, Jews! Your holiday [Passover] is the Holiday of Apes" "The spring carnival has retained its [Palestinian] flavor in towns such as Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Ramallah... with the demonstrations of the Scouts, songs, dances, and popular Palestinian hymns about Christian-Islamic unity and internal Christian unity. These hymns carry meaningful messages, in response to the Israeli prohibition [to enter Jerusalem], as seen in the calls of the youth who lead the procession of light, waving swords and not caring if anyone accuses them of Antisemitism: ... 'Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Christ redeemed us, with his blood he bought us, and today we are joyous while the Jews are sad,' and, 'Jews, Jews! Your holiday is the Holiday of the Apes, while our holiday is the Holiday of the Christ.'" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 19, 2011]

Palestinian actor in PA TV interview: Quran says Jews worry over money Abd Al-Rahman Abu Al-Qasem, Palestinian actor living in Syria: "Thirty or forty years ago, we presented the Jew in the theater as someone with a bent nose who lends [money] with interest and who understands nothing except money matters, and is cowardly, ugly, interested only in collecting money and controlling the people around him. However, this is not accurate or correct: The Jew doesn't have a bent nose, and isn't cowardly, and is not interested only in accumulating money. Of course, he is interested in accumulating money - the Jews throughout history, and in the religions, and the Quran tells us about the Jews and their worry over money." [PA TV (Fatah), Feb. 27, 2011]

Official PA daily's headline: "Zionism reproduces the Holocaust" Headline: “Zionism reproduces the Holocaust” "Day by day, Zionist racism is becoming more firmly and clearly entrenched in Israeli society... The rabbis of death and the promoters of pagan Zionist thought have continued to spew their poison among the Jews, in order to stir up and rouse feelings of animosity and hatred against the Palestinians, since the European and American forces of evil facilitated for them the [fulfillment of the] idea of the 'national home', in order to be rid of them and to remove from the European [social] fabric the results and implications of the Holocaust which they carried out against the Jews of Europe in Nazi Germany." [Regular columnist Adel Abd Al-Rahman in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 19, 2011]

History program on PA TV: Jews' money lending "Shylock" behavior caused Antisemitism Jordanian academic Arafat Hijazi: "150 years ago, when there were no Jews in Palestine, the Jews were in Europe, in Eastern Europe, but the Jews suffered from persecution by the European nations. The reason was that they [the Jews] would harm the people of the lands in which they lived. They had a problem: Wherever they went, they were expelled, and were imprisoned."

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Jordanian academic Muhammad Dohal: "The Jews are hated in every society in which they have lived, because of their behavior relating to their great love of money. Their behavior led to [Shakespeare's] famous story, the story of Shylock about money lending, which clings to the Jews. This is how they harmed the societies that embraced them, including the Palestinian society, the Arab-Palestinian society." [PA TV (Fatah), Oct. 17, 2010]

PA TV: Jews praying at the Western Wall is "sin and filth" - broadcast 2 years in a row PA TV narrator: "They [Israelis] know for certain that our [Palestinian] roots are deeper than their false history. We, from the balcony of our home, look out over [Islamic] holiness and on sin and filth [Jews praying at the Western Wall]." [PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 10, 2010 and Aug. 10, 2011]

PA Mufti: Jews are "enemies of Allah" who "deviated from their humanity" Muhammad Hussein, Mufti of Jerusalem and Palestine: "The Al-Aqsa Mosque is threatened by the plans of the enemies of Allah [the Jews], who have violated all faith and religious laws, and even deviated from their humanity." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 26, 2010]

PA TV: Don't threaten kids with monsters, demons and Jews PA cleric: "Bringing up children with fear, anxiety and panic, scaring them when they cry - once by mentioning a monster, another time a scarecrow or a thief, and some other time a Jew, a demon, or the sound of the wind and other things, in order to silence them. Then the child grows up as a coward." [PA TV (Fatah), April 23, 2010]

Jews are "enemies of Allah," "enemies of humanity," and "the Prophet says... 'fight the Jews and kill them'" The following are excerpts of a PA TV Friday sermon from a mosque that was broadcast on PA TV: "The loathsome occupation in Palestine - its land and its holy places - by these new Mongols and what they are perpetrating upon this holy, blessed and pure land...The Jews, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger! Enemies of humanity in general, and of Palestinians in particular... Our enmity with the Jews is a matter of faith, more than an enmity because of occupation and the land... Oh Muslims! The Jews are the Jews. The Jews are the Jews. Even if donkeys would cease to bray, dogs cease to bark, wolves cease to howl and snakes to bite, the Jews would not cease to harbor hatred towards Muslims. The Prophet said that if two Jews would be alone with a Muslim, they would think only of killing him... The Prophet says: 'You shall fight the Jews and kill them, until the tree and the stone will speak and say: 'Oh Muslim, Oh servant of Allah' - the tree and the stone will not say, 'Oh Arab,' they will say, 'Oh Muslim'. And they will not say, 'Where are the millions?' and will not say, 'Where is the Arab nation?' Rather, they will say, 'Oh Muslim, Oh servant of Allah - there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'..." [PA TV (Fatah), Jan. 29, 2010]

PA Chief Justice of Religious Court: Quran says Jews "lack understanding" and "violate agreements" Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Dr. Tayseer Al-Tamimi, PA Chief Justice of Religious Court, and Chairman of Supreme Council of Islamic Law: "Concerning the Jews, the Holy Quran says that they lack understanding, are void of wisdom, know nothing, violate agreements, etc. However, the Jews were known - it was known about them throughout history - that they make false claims, lies, forgery, slander, and fabrications, in order to justify their aggression, land theft, defilement of holy sites, appropriation of land, destruction of homes, murder of children, women, and the elderly." [PA TV (Fatah), June 9, 2009]

Official PA daily: Jews are sadists and liars "[In his lecture, Dr. Yunes Amr, President of Al-Quds Open University] addressed the subject of 'Jerusalem, capital of Arab culture,' the characteristics of the Jews - their lies and their sadism." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 25, 2009]

Bulletin – September 27, 2012 PA hate-video returns on PA TV

In PA TV music video, Israel is: "My enemy, oh my enemy" "Treacherous" "Oh imperialism" "Oh snake, you are coiled around the land" "You have no choice, oh enemy, but to leave my country"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

A music video that defines Israel as the "enemy," "treacherous," and a "snake" was broadcast on official Palestinian Authority television twice recently.

The song refers to Israel as an "enemy" six times and compares Israel to a "snake" that is "coiled around the land." It also refers to Israel as a "treaty breaker" and accuses Israel of "imperialism." The last two verses of the song anticipate the day Palestinians will defeat Israel in battle, ending with the line, "You have no choice, oh enemy, but to leave my country."

Click to view

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Palestinian Media Watch reported on this PA TV hate speech when the song was being broadcast regularly from 2007-2009. After not appearing on PA TV for two years, it is now being rebroadcast.

PMW has documented the ongoing PA policy of demonizing Israel and denying Israel's right to exist. These PA messages are frequently expressed through cultural media like song and dance. Earlier this year, PMW reported on a Palestinian art piece shown on PA TV that depicted Israel as a monster impaling Palestinian babies and eating them.

The following is the transcript of the PA TV music video:

"My enemy, oh my enemy, stop your crimes. Treaty breaker! Treacherous! If you pull out my eyes, my heart will see. If you cut off my hands, my chest is knives and swords. My enemy, oh imperialism, this homeland is ours. This land will be tilled only by our hoes. My enemy, oh my enemy, stop your crimes. My enemy, oh snake, you are coiled around the land. We, noble and courageous, on the day of battle shall stand. You have no choice, oh enemy, but to leave my country." [PA TV (Fatah), repeatedly Oct. 2007- Feb. 2010, June 2010, and most recent broadcasts on Aug. 23 and Sept. 6, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – October 2, 2012 The PA's Jerusalem libel continues: Organizations and officials claim Israel plans to destroy Al-Aqsa Mosque

All deny Jerusalem's history, referring to "alleged Temple"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Palestinian Authority continues to deny Jerusalem's Jewish history and the existence of the Temple, referring to the "alleged Temple." In addition, the PA continues to promote its Jerusalem libel: "Israel is trying to achieve its desired goal: To build the alleged Temple on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

The use of the term "alleged Temple" to deny Jewish history has been PA policy under Chairman Mahmoud Abbas for many years. In August, after Abbas himself used the expression, Palestinian Media Watch reported that the term "alleged Temple" had been used nearly 100 times in 2011 - 2012. As this report documents, the PA continues to use the term.

The following are five recent examples of the PA libel that Israel plans to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and replace it with the "alleged Temple":

"The Minister for Jerusalem Affairs, and District Governor Adnan Al-Husseini, called for an aggressive Arab, Islamic, and international stand to protect the holy places of Islam and Christianity in the city of Jerusalem, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He added that for a long time Al-Aqsa has been subject to premeditated Israeli steps aimed at dividing it, as happened at the Al-Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron), thus facilitating the process of building the alleged Temple on its ruins." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 14, 2012]

"The Islamic-Christian Council for Jerusalem and the Holy Places said yesterday that the most recent excavations beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque foundations are a final warning [before] the mosque's destruction. The Council declared that Israeli occupation forces plan to damage the blessed mosque's foundation and weaken them, so that they will easily collapse at the first opportunity... The Council's Secretary General, Dr. Hanna Issa, called the digging under the Al-Aqsa foundations a dangerous desecration, a serious attack on the sanctity of the mosque, and a clear statement of the occupation's intentions on the mosque, and its decision to cause its collapse and build the alleged Temple on its ruins." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 14, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

"The Islamic-Christian Council for Jerusalem and the Holy Places denounced yesterday the 'invasion of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by extremists and settlers dressed as priests of the alleged Temple, and conducting Talmudic ceremonies in the mosque's plazas...' The Council declared that through all these violations, 'Israel' is trying to achieve its desired goal: To build the alleged Temple on the ruins of the Al-Aqsa Mosque... The Council declared that Jerusalem today is very different from the Islamic and Christian Jerusalem, since acts of Judaization, including demolition, destruction, and banishment, have made the occupied city into something different, [something] adapted to the Jews' extremist goals, and it (the Council) warned that the these programs' crowning achievement will be the destruction of Al-Aqsa and the building of the alleged Temple on its ruins." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 20, 2012]

Headline: "Al-Tamimi calls for Arab and Islamic Intifada for Al-Aqsa" "Elder Judge, former Chairman of the Supreme Council for Sharia Law, and Secretary of the Supreme Islamic Council in Jerusalem, Sheikh Dr. Tayseer Rajab Al-Tamimi, called for a strong Intifada (terror campaign) [to be conducted] by Arab and Islamic nations for the sake of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque. He said that the mosque is subject to daily invasions by settlers and extremist Jewish groups, and [subject] to attempts to desecrate [it], [all of which] are steps in implementing a Zionist plan to seize control and Judaize [the mosque], as preparation for its destruction, and for building their alleged Temple on its ruins." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 20, 2012]

"The [Israeli Arab] Al-Aqsa Institute for Islamic Trusts and Heritage warned yesterday of dangerous excavations being carried out by the Israeli occupation army and its agents beneath the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque... The Institute related to the occupation's false claims that during excavations in the area, various archaeological artifacts were found [dating] from the time of the alleged first and second Temples, [claims that] are dangerous for the Al-Aqsa Mosque from a structural, archeological, and historical point of view... The occupation claims that during the excavations it found archeological artifacts from the alleged first and second Temple periods... Also, the occupation has begun to Judaize the new section of the western wall of Al-Aqsa by placing Talmudic 'prayer and good-luck slips' between its stones." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 14, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – October 4, 2012 Girl on PA TV: "By the blood of the youth, Jerusalem will come back to us... We'll free every inch from the foreigner's clutch"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

On a children's program, Palestinian Authority TV broadcast a girl singing a song anticipating the defeat of Israel in battle. The opening of the song demonizes Israel as an oppressor that took the young girl prisoner, thereby preventing her from attending "school" and playing "games": Israel "took my book away... tied me up, blindfolded me and threw me in a tank."

The end of the song encourages youth to take part in "free[ing] every inch from the foreigner's clutch," and promotes sacrificing themselves "by the blood of the youth," so that "Jerusalem will return to us." [PA TV (Fatah, Sept. 8, 2012] Click to view

The aspiration to die for "Palestine" was also presented as a goal for children in another song, performed by young children and youth in front of senior PA leaders, including Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, at a PA-Fatah celebration in January this year: "How beautiful you are, my country... You waited patiently and discovered your heroic children Oh, my pure land, I shall saturate you with my blood I shall live and die upon your green ground... I shall redeem you with my life, oh my land" [PA TV (Fatah), Jan. 5, 2012] Click to view

In a song with a similar message, PA TV told children: "Oh children of the stones, teach the sinners [Israel] that shooting doesn't scare you, that your dignity is preserved, and that death for the sake of the country is not terror." [PA TV (Fatah), Feb. 24, 2012] Click to view

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

PMW has documented how PA TV broadcast children singing about violence and the destruction of Israel. Two young girls dedicated a song to their aunt imprisoned for aiding a suicide terrorist, which included the words "I want to carry a machine gun and a rifle" and "we shall strike Israel." [PA TV (Fatah), May 28, 2010] Click to view

During the PA terror campaign (the Intifada, 2000-2005), the PA actively encouraged children to seek Martyrdom- death- Shahada - and to sacrifice themselves to "liberate Palestine." Although less frequent, the PA still presents Martyrdom-death as an honorable goal for children today.

The following are the longer transcripts of the songs mentioned above:

Girl's song about "blood of youth" liberating Jerusalem on PA TV: Girl: "They say I'm a terrorist, but I'm no terrorist What can I do, Mother, they took my book away They tied me up, blindfolded me and threw me in a tank They threw me into a dark room under watch They wouldn't let me see you, Mother, and wouldn't let me see my friends I longed to go to school and I longed to have my games... I swear by a child's tears... By the blood of the youth Jerusalem will return to us... We'll free every inch from the foreigner's clutch." PA TV host: "Bravo, bravo, applause." [PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 8, 2012]

Children singing song at PA-Fatah celebration about "saturating the land with blood": "How beautiful you are, my country The love in my heart for you is great You have brought up and educated generation after generation, You waited patiently and discovered your heroic children Oh, my pure land, I shall saturate you with my blood I shall live and die upon your green ground Your ground satiates us, your goodness satisfies us I shall redeem you with my life, oh my land Your embrace warms us Your ground satiates us, your goodness satisfies us I shall redeem you with my life, oh my land Your embrace warms us" (emphasis added)

Applause by PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Secretary General of the President's office Tayeb Abd Al-Rahim and PLO Secretary General Yasser Abd Rabbo. [Live PBC broadcast from Ramallah, PA TV (Fatah), Jan. 5, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Song broadcast on PA TV presenting "death for the sake of the country" as honorable for children: "Teach the sinners [Israel]... that death for the sake of the country is not terror Don't cry Palestine -- stand tall for your heroes. Let the cowards [Israel] see that your kids didn't surrender to fear in the midst of horror. Oh children of the stones, teach the sinners [Israel] that shooting doesn't scare you, that your dignity is preserved, and that death for the sake of the country is not terror. Terror is the occupier and his helpers, not those who saw and tasted death but were not humiliated, and not the child who nurses fear and expulsion, yet surrenders not. He vows that when he grows up, he will follow the same path. Don't be sad, oh great nation, Allah is with you. Don't be sad with Allah's help." [PA TV (Fatah), Feb. 24, 2012]

Bulletin – October 10, 2012 Settlers "interested in making peace" - positive report in official PA daily

Palestinian artist acknowledges Jewish historical period in Jerusalem on PA TV

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

"Some settlers are 'interested in making peace' with the Palestinians," a rare headline stated in the official Palestinian Authority daily last week.

A reprint from Agence France-Presse, the article repeated the remarks of two Israelis who live in the West Bank. It described how a Palestinian obtained a building permit in the West Bank with the help of an Israeli man, Eliaz Cohen, who "as opposed to the vast majority of settlers, thinks that peace will be achieved through mutual recognition of each party's rights to the land itself."

The article went on to describe how another Israeli, Nahum Pachenik, who looks "like the typical extremist settler who is far from any dialogue with Palestinians," founded the Land of Peace movement which "promotes religious, social, and economic cooperation with Palestinians," and has "1,700 members, of whom 150 are Palestinians [and] the rest are settlers."

Pachenik was quoted describing how the movement has "arranged inter-religious meetings, distributed packages to the poor, arranged demonstrations against the separation (i.e., security) fence" and has "many more projects [planned], like working a shared field."

The official PA paper did not comment on the remarks or the initiatives by the Israelis.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA media rarely publishes positive statements or reports on Israelis and Jews, but has a policy of demonizing them.

Another rare statement was broadcast on PA TV when a Palestinian artist, introducing a painting, acknowledged that there was a Jewish historical period in Jerusalem: "This painting represents Jerusalem in different periods. This is the Islamic period. This is the Christian period. Prior to that is what I called the Jewish period. This is the Canaanite period. It's important to me and to all Palestinians because it's a map or document."

Click to view

PA TV and media in general rarely publish statements acknowledging Jewish history in Jerusalem or anywhere in the land, but instead has a policy of denying Jewish history in the land and the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem in particular, referring to it as "the alleged Temple."

The following is the translation of the AFP article in the official PA daily reporting positively on "settlers interested in making peace":

Headline: "Some settlers are 'interested in making peace' with the Palestinians"

"A Palestinian, Muhammad Saad, recently received permission from the occupation army (i.e., Israeli Defense Forces) to construct apartment [buildings] in the Khirbat Zakaria village in the occupied West Bank. [This happened] with the help of Eliaz Cohen, a settler from Kfar Etzion (i.e., Kibbutz Kfar Etzion). This village [Khirbat Zakaria] is located in the Etzion settlement (bloc) west of Bethlehem. The Etzion Bloc is made up of 22 settlements in which approximately 70,000 settlers live, and it was built - like all the settlements - on Palestinian land occupied by Israel in 1967.

Cohen, a poet who would like to see dialogue between settlers and Palestinians, explained: 'For three years he [Saad] and I have been struggling together to succeed in this matter.' As opposed to the vast majority of settlers, Cohen thinks that peace will be achieved through mutual recognition of each party's rights to the land itself, and he noted that 'my intention is not to divide the land in two, but to share it with one another.' He added: 'I think that it is possible to have two national entities in the same location, whether in confederation or in two [separate] states. But neither will lose its historic rights to this land, to which both nations are tied.'

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

In 2010, [Cohen's] friend Nahum Pachenik founded the 'Land of Peace' movement (Eretz HaShalom in Hebrew), to which a small number of settlers belong. It promotes religious, social, and economic cooperation with Palestinians. Pachenik, a father of four who lives in the Etzion Bloc, explained: 'Peace is crucial for us.' This man has a beard and [wears] a traditional kippah (Jewish skullcap) and sandals just like the typical extremist settler who is far from any dialogue with Palestinians. However, [Pachenik, who is] the son of a rabbi [and] who has lived in settlements since the day he was born and doesn't think he'd be able to live anywhere else, says: 'I'm tied to this land, and [here] I'll stay. But the Palestinians are here too, and I have to learn to live with them.'

'Land of Peace' is unusual in settler circles, and it is not popular. At best, it is seen as a group of crazy idealists. Or, it is seen as a group of traitors. Nahum says: 'Am I crazy? Yes. I'm crazy about peace.'

In reality, however, [human] rights organizations warned last July of an escalation in settler attacks...

'Land of Peace' has 1,700 members, of whom 150 are Palestinians. The rest are settlers, [from] among the 500,000 settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Pachenik says: 'We've already arranged inter-religious meetings, distributed packages to the poor, arranged demonstrations against the separation (i.e., security) fence, and we have many more projects [planned], like working a shared field.' He went on: 'The name of the project is Heaven's Field or Allah's Field (Hakel Allah in Arabic) since as Jews and Muslims we believe that ultimately the land belongs to God. We intend to divide the whole crop among needy families.'

He refuses to suggest political solutions, but he stresses that if the two-state plan is ever adopted, he'll want to continue living in Palestine. He went on [to say]: 'I have the right to be part of a Jewish minority in a democratic Palestinian state, like the million Palestinians who are living in the State of Israel.' And he points out: 'Peace is made in the field, by people of good will, and not in the garden at the White House.'

Ibrahim Anbawi from Ramallah, who is a member of the [Land of Peace] movement, says: 'These settlers are ready to live in a Palestinian state, be part of the Palestinian nation, and carry Palestinian passports.' Nahum Pachenik recently met President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah together with a delegation of Jewish clergymen.

Pachenik enthusiastically pointed out that 'the meeting was very important for us, since Mr. Abbas allowed us to continue the dialogue, and that is a step towards peace.' Cohen thinks that 'mentality is changing, and there is a growing number of people among the settlers or Palestinians who are beginning to understand that our futures are bound together, and we have been sentenced to making peace.'" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 5, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Following is the transcript of the PA TV broadcast of artist acknowledging Jewish period in the history of Jerusalem:

Palestinian artist, Ismail Midya: "This painting represents Jerusalem in different periods. This is the Islamic period. This is the Christian period. Prior to that, is what I called the Jewish period. This is the Canaanite period. It's important to me and to all Palestinians because it's a map or document." [PA TV (Fatah), July 24, 2012]

Bulletin – October 14, 2012 PA TV song broadcast more than 15 times: "Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, and Nazareth are ours"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Palestinian Authority TV keeps reinforcing the message that all of Israel is Palestinian land. A song stating that "Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, and Nazareth are ours," has been broadcast more than 15 times, most recently on October 5th.

Click to view

The song, called On the way to Jerusalem, mentions cities and places all over Israel, but declares them "Palestinian." This is a clear example of the PA's policy to present a world in which Israel does not exist and is replaced by "Palestine."

Since Palestinian Media Watch first reported on the song in May 2011, it has appeared nearly once a month on PA TV.

PA TV has broadcast another song with a similar message numerous times: "I am returning to you, oh land. From Rafah to Rosh Hanikra (northern Israel) our coast, and Beit Shean (Israeli city)... From Haifa (Israeli city) and Tantura to the [Jordan] valley (i.e., all of Israel). I am returning to you, the purest land, oh land of the free."

Click to view

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

This song was performed in front of PA Chairman Abbas and other senior PA officials at a Fatah event in 2011. Since then, PA TV has broadcast it more than 30 times.

PA TV is directly controlled by the office of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

The following are the words of the song On the way to Jerusalem:

"Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, and Nazareth are ours. [ I ], Muhammad, sing about the Galilee and the Golan (Heights). Jaffa, Acre, Haifa and Nazareth are ours. [ I ], Kabha, sing about the Galilee and the Golan (Heights). From Bethlehem to Jenin is Palestinian, Ramle, Lod and Sakhnin are Palestinian. Nowhere is more beautiful than Jerusalem; no matter how much we travel From Safed to Al-Badhan (near Nablus) is Palestinian; Tiberias and Ashkelon are Palestinian." [PA TV (Fatah), May 13, 2011 and June 24, July 14, July 15 (twice), Aug. 20, Sept. 2, 2011, and again Jan. 5, 8, Feb. 25, March 19, April 6, July 27, Aug. 3, 10, 24 (twice), Sept. 14 and Oct. 5, 2012]

Note: Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, Nazareth, the Galilee, the Golan Heights, Lod, Ramle, Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias and Ashkelon are Israeli cities and places.

The following are the words of the song from the Fatah event:

"We commit and promise to stand behind you, oh Mahmoud Abbas, until Judgment Day. I am returning to you, the purest land, oh land of the free. No matter how long the nights of exile, I am returning to you, oh land. From Rafah to Rosh Hanikra (northern Israel) our coast, and Beit Shean (Israeli city). Above your soil, oh my land, is a picture of Garden of Eden. From Rafah to Rosh Hanikra our coast, and Beit Shean. Above your soil, oh my land, is a picture of Garden of Eden. From Rafah to Rosh Hanikra, north and south, are the picture's borders. From Haifa (Israeli city) and Tantura to the [Jordan] valley (i.e., all of Israel). I am returning to you, the purest land, oh land of the free." [PA TV (Fatah), broadcast dozens of times in 2011, Jan. 22, 2012 and Feb. 4, 8, March 5 (twice), April 20, May 12, 30, June 4, July 14, Aug. 5, 13, 22, and Sept. 6, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – October 18, 2012 Suicide terrorist who killed 21 receives "highest honor" from Palestine Committee of Arab Lawyers Union

Union is observer at UNESCO, in consultative status with ECOSOC

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Female Palestinian suicide bomber Hanadi Jaradat, who killed 21 Israelis and injured more than 50, has been chosen worthy of "the highest honor” by the Palestine Committee of the Arab Lawyers Union. The Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam reported earlier this week that the Arab Lawyers Union had “created the ‘Martyr Hanadi Jaradat plaque of honor,’” which a delegation presented during a visit to Jaradat's family.

Hanadi Jaradat was working as a lawyer when she carried out a suicide terrorist attack in a restaurant in Haifa in [Al-Ayyam, Oct. 14, 2012] 2003.

The honorary plaque refers to the day of her suicide bombing as “the sweet anniversary of her Martyrdom”:

Dedicated by the Arab Lawyers Union - Palestine Committee to the family of the Martyrdom-seeker, the lawyer Hanadi Jaradat on the sweet anniversary of her Martyrdom

[signed:] Committee Chairman Lawyer Said Abd Al-Ghani [paltoday.ps, accessed Oct. 18, 2012]

The Palestinian paper reported: "The delegation conveyed to the family of Martyr Jaradat the good wishes of the head of the Union, Mr. Omar Al-Zayn... and also emphasized the pride of the Arab Lawyers Union for what their daughter had done in defense of Palestine and the nation."

The Arab Lawyers Union (ALU), which is "an NGO [and] a pan-Arab confederation of bar associations and law societies based in Cairo," states on its website that it "is in consultative status with ECOSOC, an observer at UNESCO national, regional and international Organizations (such as; UIA, IADL, ILAC) and a member in several UN committees."

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

As its "mission," the ALU includes the following statements: - "Promote and protect human rights, basic freedoms and the primacy of law" - "Struggle with the Arab Palestinian people to liberate Palestine from Zionist settlers colonialism." - "Struggle against Zionism and its greed as a form of racism." - "Resisting all forms of naturalization with the Zionist enemy and all projects which aim at dominating the Arab region and eradicating its identity."

In 2005, suicide terrorist Jaradat was also honored by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Culture when the ministry produced a poetry collection named after Jaradat entitled "What did Hanadi say," which it distributed with the daily newspaper Al-Ayyam.

Book's dedication: "'To the rose of Palestine, the iris of the Carmel, the Martyr Hanadi Jaradat'" The poem in Jaradat's honor ends as follows: "Oh Hanadi! Shake the earth under the feet of the enemies! Blow it up! Hanadi said: 'This is my wedding' It's Hanadi's wedding, the day when death as a Martyr for Allah becomes the highest goal that redeems my land." [Al-Ayyam, Aug. 22, 2005]

According to Islamic tradition male martyrs marry 72 virgins in Paradise. "Hanadi's wedding" seems to be a reference to that tradition, applying it to women as well.

Palestinian Media Watch has reported on the PA's glorification of terrorists as heroes.

The following is the report on the Arab Lawyers Union honoring suicide terrorist Jaradat from the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam:

Headline: "Jenin: Arab Lawyers Union honors family of Martyr (Shahida) Hanadi Jaradat" "Yesterday, the Arab Lawyers Union honored the family of martyred lawyer Hanadi Jaradat (i.e., suicide terrorist) from the city of Jenin, marking the ninth anniversary of her death as a Martyr, during a visit by a delegation representing the union to the family's home. The visiting delegation awarded a plaque from the Arab Lawyers Union to honor the family of Martyr Jaradat, who died a Martyr's death on Oct. 4, 2003, in an operation (i.e., terror attack) during which 19 Israelis were killed and about 50 injured. Member of the Palestine Committee of the Arab Lawyers Union, Ayman Abu Aysha, said that the honoring of the family of Martyr Jaradat came in the wake of a decision taken by the Palestine Committee of the Arab Lawyers Union during a meeting held in Cairo on Sept. 8, 2012. The delegation, which included Khatam Al-Hih, Muhammad Alan, Muhammad Halaweh, and Adi Alawi, conveyed to the family of Martyr Jaradat the good wishes of the head of the Union, Mr. Omar Al-Zayn, and of the head of the Palestine Committee in the Union, Mr. Said Abd Al-Ghani, and also emphasized the pride of the Arab Lawyers Union for what their daughter had done in defense of Palestine and the nation. Deputy Secretary of the Arab Lawyers Union, Said Abd Al- Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Ghani, said that the Union created the "Martyr Hanadi Jaradat plaque of honor," the highest honor awarded by the Union in esteem for any [female] lawyer in the Arab homeland." [Al-Ayyam, Oct. 14, 2012]

Hanadi Jaradat - One of the first female Palestinian suicide terrorists. Her bomb in restaurant Maxim in Haifa in 2003 killed 21 people and injured 51.

The following is the text describing the Arab Lawyers Union and its "mission" on the union's website:

"Arab Lawyers Union (ALU) is an NGO. It is a pan-Arab confederation of bar associations and law societies based in Cairo. ALU is in consultative status with ECOSOC, an observer at UNESCO national, regional and international Organizations (such as; UIA, IADL, ILAC) and a member in several UN committees. ALU was engaged in founding the Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR) at Tunis."

"The ALU is constituted of bar associations, organizations and law societies in Arab countries and individual Arab practice lawyers. ALU currently has a membership of bar associations in 15 countries and 27 affiliated organizations, with a membership of more than 200,000 individual lawyers and 27 bar associations."

"The 15 countries are: ALGERIA - BAHRAIN - EGYPT - IRAQ - JORDAN - KUWAIT - LEBANON - LIBYAN ARAB JAMAHIRIYA - MAURITANIA - MOROCCO - PALESTINE - SUDAN - SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC - TUNISIA - YEMEN"

"Mission: - To develop the profession of lawyer in the Arabic countries to make it a true auxiliary of justice. - To work for the independence of the judiciary power. - Contribute to the development of the law and to the unification of laws and legal nomenclature in Arab countries. - Promotion of training of young lawyers. - Promote and protect human rights, basic freedoms and the primacy of law - Participate in the decolonization of the Arab Countries, to their liberation and the establishment of social justice. - Struggle with the Arab Palestinian people to liberate Palestine from Zionist settlers colonialism. - Struggle against Zionism and its greed as a form of racism. - Resisting all forms of naturalization with the Zionist enemy and all projects which aim at dominating the Arab region and eradicating its identity. - Struggle against colonialism and new colonialism, and participation in the defense of the basic rights of all people and supporting the solidarity, cooperation and equality among them and its rights of independence, sovereignty and self-determination and the causes of liberation, progress and peace in all parts of the world. - Struggle to liberate the Arab person from all forms of oppression, backwardness and exploitation through guaranteeing their right to political and social democracy, public freedom and freedom of association, protection against torture and extermination and guaranteeing his basic rights included in the International human rights convenient, so Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

as to enable his active participation in decision making about his future and the future of his country. - Endeavor to liberate Arab countries from all forms of domination and guaranteeing its independence and development as means to realize social justice." [Arab Lawyers Union, http://www.alu-1944.org/Default.aspx accessed Oct. 17, 2012]

Bulletin – October 18, 2012 What is Abbas' true ideology?

The official PA daily quotes Abbas' Facebook page: "...our land is occupied and not disputed territory, and this applies to all the territories that Israel occupied before June 1967 (i.e., all of Israel)."

A second Abbas Facebook page (not quoted in the PA daily): "...our land is occupied and not disputed territory, and this applies to all the territories that Israel occupied in June 1967."

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

This week the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida quoted a letter that "President Abbas wrote on his Facebook page." Part of the letter read:

"The [sought UN] recognition will not liberate the land the following day, but will prove that we are right that our land is occupied and not disputed territory, and this applies to all the territories that Israel occupied before June 1967 (i.e., all of Israel)." (emphasis added)

A Facebook page in the name of "President Abbas" had this text posted on Oct. 11, 2012, as part of a letter to "the residents of Gaza." (See below)

Referring to all of Israel as "occupied Palestine" is very common in the PA official daily and on official PA TV. For example:

PA TV presenter: "Today, [May 15, Israel's Independence Day] 64 years ago, the Israeli Zionist gangs carried out the most extensive expulsion activities against our people, in the lands occupied in '48." [PA TV (Fatah), May 15, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

PA TV educational program for children: TV host: "You live in Jerusalem. Do you visit the 1948 occupied cities (i.e., Israeli cities)?" Girl: "I've been to Hebron." Host: "No, Hebron is a city [in the PA] that we all can enter. The occupied cities - such as Lod, Ramle, Haifa, Jaffa, Acre (i.e., all Israeli cities) - have you visited them?" Girl: "I've been to Haifa and Jaffa." Host: "Tell us, are they beautiful?" Girl: "Yes..." Host: "We hope all children of Palestine will be able to go to the occupied territories, which we don't know and have never been able to see. Personally, I have never been there." [PA TV (Fatah), Aug. 25, 2010]

See more examples below and on Palestinian Media Watch's website.

However, a second Facebook page also in the name of Mahmoud Abbas, linked to by his official website, had the same letter posted one day earlier, but without the word "before":

"...this applies to all the territories that Israel occupied in June 1967." (emphasis added) [http://www.facebook.com/President.Mahmoud.Abbas?fref=ts]

Which letter reflects Abbas' true message and ideology? Is it the one quoting him in his official daily, calling all of Israel "occupied?" This is the message that PA official media and many PA officials consistently send to the Palestinian population.

Or does the other version reflect Abbas' true message and ideology, the one defining "occupied" territory as those areas under Israel only since 1967? This is the message that Abbas and PA leaders consistently send to the international community.

The following is the full letter, parts of which were quoted in the official PA daily, and which appeared on one of the Facebook pages.

Mahmoud Abbas' Facebook page #1 [http://www.facebook.com/pages/President- Mahmoud-Abbas-/126646497354105] dated Oct. 11, 2012:

"Letter from His Excellency the President [Abbas] to the residents of Gaza

My dear friends, Since I returned from the UN where I spoke, and stressed our final decision to submit a request to recognize Palestine as a non-member state in the [UN] General Assembly, we and others are approached and pressured again and again to retract this step, and to convince the countries in the world not to vote. The economic pressures that are put on us by several parties are a result of this decision only.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The [UN's] recognition will not liberate the land the following day, but will prove that we are right that our land is occupied and not disputed [territory], and this applies to all the territories that Israel occupied before June 1967 (i.e., all of Israel).

I want you to know that this is a great political and diplomatic battle, and I am sorry that some Palestinian voices do not understand or do not want to understand the importance of this matter.

My dear friends in our beloved [Gaza] Strip, I'm a very touched by the messages I receive from you. I want you to know that you are all in my heart, and that Gaza of Hashim (i.e., an honorable name for Gaza. Hashim was Islam's prophet Muhammad's grandfather) is a dear part of this homeland, which has sacrificed thousands of Martyrs (Shahids), injured and prisoners during the journey of our struggle to end the occupation and to establish our independent state whose capital is our eternal Jerusalem. I recognize the difficulties that you are experiencing: blockade that does not allow you movement, limitations of freedom of opinion, lack of work places and suffering as a result of Israel's never- ending attacks. I know as you know, my dear friends, that the rift [between Fatah and Hamas] must end immediately." [Facebook page in the name of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Oct. 11, 2012 and partially reprinted in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 17, 2012]

Mahmoud Abbas' Facebook page #2 [http://www.facebook.com/President.Mahmoud. Abbas?fref=ts] dated Oct. 10, 2012:

The part of the letter with the text defining "occupied territory":

"The [UN's] recognition will not liberate the land the following day, but will prove that we are right that our land is occupied and not disputed territory, and this applies to all the territories that Israel occupied June 1967." [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' official Facebook page, Oct. 10, 2012]

The following are examples of PA use of terminology that defines all of Israel as "occupied":

PA daily: Israel is "the territories occupied in 1948" "[Palestinian] Civil defense teams yesterday extinguished a huge fire that raged over hundreds of dunams of land in Kufr Jabara... reaching the town of Tayibe in the territories occupied in 1948 (i.e., Israel). [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 24, 2012]

PA TV: Israel is "lands occupied in '48" PA TV special broadcast marking 64th anniversary of the Nakba: PA TV presenter: "Today, 64 years ago, the Israeli Zionist gangs carried out the most extensive expulsion activities against our people, in the lands occupied in '48." [PA TV (Fatah), May 15, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Israel referred to as "Palestine occupied in 1948" "The National Committee to Defend the Right of Return (committee marking the 64th anniversary of the Nakba) held... a political symposium... with the participation of the chairman of the Hadash [Israeli political] party from Palestine occupied in 1948." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 12, 2012]

PA daily: Israel is the "Interior" and "occupied Palestine" "Star [Arab] goalkeeper Majdi Khalaileh rejected out of hand the idea that he might play in the Palestinian league for any club other than Jabel Mukaber... Khalaileh emphasized that only two options are open to him: either to remain in the Palestinian league, with Jabel Mukaber, or to go back to the Interior (i.e., Israeli) league in occupied Palestine." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 3, 2012]

PA daily refers to Israel as "the territories occupied in 1948" "A state funeral was held for the deceased, with the participation of leaders and senior members of the PLO and the PA, and some leaders of the Palestinian population in the territories occupied in 1948." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 3, 2012]

Fatah press release refers to Israel as "occupied Palestine" "In a press release published yesterday by the Information and Culture Commission, the [Fatah] movement said:'[Ahmad] Jibril and the merchants of Palestinian and Arab blood who are with him, have not succeeded in pushing the members of our Palestinian nation in Syria and in Lebanon to the fields of meaningless carnage... and the electrified fences of the Israeli occupation, on the border between occupied Palestine [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 1, 2012]

PA TV program for kids: The Galilee is "occupied lands, land occupied after 1948" PA TV program The Best Home PA TV host tells children: "You must all be asking what this day commemorates, or why Land Day is specifically on March 30...On March 30, dear friends, in 1976, Israeli occupation forces confiscated a region - in other words, thousands of dunams of land in the Galilee (northern Israel), occupied lands, that is, land occupied after 1948." [PA TV (Fatah), March 30, 2012]

Israeli-Arabs are from "the territories occupied in 1948" "The women of Palestine marked March 8 with a central rally, attended by a group of released female prisoners from the various districts of the West Bank... and representatives from the territories occupied in 1948..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 9, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

PA daily in name of Ahmed Qurei (Abu Alaa) refers to Israel as the "Palestinian Interior occupied in 1948" "In a press release published yesterday, Ahmed Qurei [head of the PLO's Jerusalem Department]... called upon residents of Jerusalem and residents of the Palestinian Interior occupied in 1948 (i.e., Israel) to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Sunday, in order to stand against the Zionist calls and to maintain the sanctity of the Al-Aqsa Mosque." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 10, 2012]

The Galilee [in Israel] is the "occupied Palestinian Interior" "District Governor of Jenin, Qadura Musa, met yesterday in his office with a delegation of women - the founding members of the Arab Association of the Galilee... Musa enlisted all the district's resources to bring about the success of the cooperation between the district dignitaries and the occupied Palestinian Interior." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 5, 2012]

Bulletin – October 22, 2012 Terrorists who killed 6 labeled "heroes" by PA TV in its annual praise of two terror attacks

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Again in 2012, Palestinian Authority TV chose to broadcast a tribute to terrorists who killed 6 Israelis in two terror attacks in 1975 and 1980.

On the 44th anniversary of the Palestinian Arab Front (formerly Arab Liberation Front), the organization responsible for the attacks, PA TV broadcast a clip showing two pictures of the terrorists who committed the killings, with captions that read "the heroes of the Kfar Yuval operation" and "the heroes of the Misgav Am operation."

Palestinian Media Watch reported on the PA TV clip when it was broadcast in 2010 and 2011.

The attack on Kfar Yuval On June 15, 1975, terrorists from the Arab Liberation Front "The heroes of the Kfar Yuval operation," penetrated the Israeli village Kfar Yuval near the Lebanese PA TV (Fatah), Oct. 10-12, 2010, border. Four terrorists seized control of one of the homes Oct. 12, 2011, Oct. 11 and 13, 2012 and held its inhabitants hostage. Three Israelis were killed.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The attack on Misgav Am On April 7, 1980, five terrorists from the Arab Liberation Front took control of the children's house in Kibbutz Misgav Am in northern Israel, holding the children hostage. They killed two adults and one child before they were subdued by the Israeli army.

PMW has documented the PA's policy of glorifying terrorists.

"The heroes of the Misgav Am operation," PA TV (Fatah), Oct. 10-12, 2010, Oct. 12, 2011, Oct. 11 and 13, 2012

Bulletin – October 23, 2012 PA TV parody mocks PA for blaming all problems on Israel

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Palestinians are used to hearing their leaders blame Israel for all the problems in Palestinian society, as Palestinian Media Watch has reported, but some Palestinians are not accepting this excuse anymore.

During Ramadan, a satirical PA TV show made a joke out of the PA's blaming Israel. In the skit, a young Palestinian woman complains to her boyfriend that he was late because he was cheating on her. The man responds that he was held up because of an Israeli roadblock, blaming "the [Israeli] occupation": "You must know that I've never ever cheated on you. It's the [Israeli] occupation! The occupation killed our beautiful moments together, and kept me from getting to you."

The woman complains that whenever he is not with her, he always blames "the occupation," and challenges him: "You always go back to the same old excuse... Was it the [Israeli] occupation that made you spend all that time with her?"

Click to view [See full transcript below.]

This TV parody seems to be a response to the PA's routine blaming of Israel for every failure of PA society and often for the failings in the Arab world as well. In recent years, the PA has blamed Israel for initiating Hamas missile attacks, for drug addiction among PA youth, for AIDS among Palestinians, and for "spreading boars to destroy PA agriculture," just to name a few. The PA has also accused Israel of orchestrating pan-Arab troubles such as the civil war in Lebanon, the division of Sudan, the civil strife in Yemen, the massacre of Christians in Iraq and the persecution of Palestinians in Iraq.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

A similar voice speaking out against the PA's automatic blaming of Israel was heard in the Palestinian paper Al-Quds in an article about problems with water supplies in Ramallah area: "However, the occupation cannot be blamed every time for every failure and shortcoming, since it is not responsible for the unfair allocation of the water, for water pollution, for citizens having to pay 'air prices' because of [faulty] water meters (according to the writer, the meter readings are too high because of air in the water pipes. - Ed.), for delays in repairing faults, or for most problems that could be fixed if the existing failures and faults that cause citizens great suffering, were dealt with." [Al-Quds, Aug. 13, 2012]

Following is the transcript of the video: Amanda: "Where have you been, Jose? I waited a long time for you, and you didn't come." Jose: "I was on my way to Ramallah, Amanda. The roads were packed and the [Israeli] roadblock was shut and crowded. Very crowded. I tried to convince the soldiers that you were waiting for me, but it didn't help." Amanda: "Jose! You're always apologizing. While you were having a good time with her, you left me waiting a long time for you." Jose: "You must know that I've never ever cheated on you. It's the [Israeli] occupation! The occupation killed our beautiful moments together, and kept me from getting to you. Damn!" Amanda: "Jose! You always go back to the same old excuse: The [Israeli] occupation! The occupation! The occupation! Was it the occupation that made you spend all that time with her?" [PA TV (Fatah), July 26, 2012]

Bulletin – October 25, 2012 PMW material in Israel's public diplomacy

The government of Israel recently released its "Index of Palestinian Incitement" as a PowerPoint presentation. Virtually all of the examples in the government report were from Palestinian Media Watch's research.

Click to see PMW's English language translation of the government index. PMW has included the links to the original PMW reports and documentation, which did not appear in the government's Hebrew report.

PMW material documenting PA terror glorification, promotion of hatred and denial of Israel's right to exist, is being used not only by the Israeli government but by MPs and governments worldwide to document, expose and fight these critical impediments to peace. In recent years, PMW has made presentations before MPs from the UK, EU, Canada, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Australia, and members of US Congress.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

When the index was released, Israeli PM Netanyahu made the following public statement on the importance of the material: "The index sheds light and helps us prepare ourselves and avoid the mistake of not understanding with whom we are dealing, who cooperates with and initiates this awful incitement. The Palestinian leadership is bequeathing this incitement to the coming generations... We must bring this to the attention of the governments of the world, especially ahead of the upcoming UN General Assembly." [http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Spokesman /Pages/spokehasata120812.aspx]

The Israeli government also presented PMW's recently published book Deception as documentation of PA violations during negotiations with the PA. Israeli negotiator Yitzhak Molcho presented a copy of the book to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat as proof of ongoing PA violations of their fundamental commitments: "In the latest meeting between the special Israeli envoy, Yitzchak Molcho, and the head of the Palestinian negotiating team Saeb Erekat, Molcho presented Erekat with a book that sets forth what Israel defines as severe incitement in the PA... Deception: Betraying the Peace Process, was published last month by Palestinian Media Watch." [Walla News (Israel), Jan. 24, 2012]

Click here to view the English translation of the government's "Index of Palestinian Incitement."

Bulletin – October 29, 2012 Mother places suicide belt on her child: "I will put it on you and you will go to your death," on Fatah-Lebanon Facebook page

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Facebook page for Fatah in Lebanon has posted this picture of a mother dressing her young son with a suicide belt. Palestinian Media Watch has documented the ongoing glorification of violence and Martyrdom by the PA. This picture was posted on the Fatah Facebook page together with an imaginary conversation between the son who is being sent to his death and the mother encouraging it. "Why me and not you?" the child innocently asks his mother, who answers that she will continue to have more children "for the sake of Palestine":

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

"My mother dressed me in a strange belt (i.e., a suicide 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, accessed Oct. 28, 2012]

The Facebook page states that it is "the official page of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission in Lebanon," and is linked to from the official website of the Fatah Information and Culture Commission (www.fatehmedia.ps).

The PA-funded educational magazine for children, Zayzafuna, published an essay earlier this year written by an 11 year-old lauding death as a Martyr:

"How do you know that you're a Palestinian?" by Asil Khaled, 5th grade student - El-Bireh

"If you know that you were born with a death sentence, and if you go to your death without caring - then you're a Palestinian! If your song is the song of Martyrdom (Shahada), and death, for you, is birth - then you're a Palestinian! If you love death, and you say the Shahada [declaration] (i.e., the Islamic creed: "There is no God but Allah, Muhammad is Allah's messenger.") aloud - then you're a Palestinian! If you've ever felt that you're an exploding body and that your soul will long one day to be a knight for the homeland - then you're a Palestinian! If the stone is your weapon against oppression, and if those who hate [you] criticize your struggle - then you're a Palestinian! Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

If you have saturated the tree of the homeland with your free blood, with love, and have offered the remnants of your bodily parts as a bridge for those who are yet to come - then you're a Palestinian! If you have shattered the chains, and carried the key to the house from which [your] grandparents were expelled - then you're a Palestinian! If your wedding (i.e., a Martyr's funeral in Islamic tradition is a wedding to 72 Maidens of Paradise) was amidst a hail of bullets between the shoulders of friends [who carried your body], against the sound of tears mingled with joy (i.e., of achieving Martyrdom) and the searing pain of separation- then you're a Palestinian, and you're full of pride at being a Palestinian." [Zayzafuna, Jan. 2012]

Click for more information on Zayzafuna.

During the years of the Palestinian Authority terror campaign (the Intifada, 2000 - 2005), Palestinian Media Watch documented that the PA actively promoted Martyrdom (Shahada) as an ideal that children should strive for. Music videos for children indoctrinating them to see Martyrdom as "sweet" were broadcast hundreds of times on PA TV. In recent years, Martyrdom for children continues to be glorified by the PA in contexts for children but with lesser frequency.

The following are two examples of encouraging children to seek death as Martyrs for Allah, and one example of two girls embracing this ideal:

This video, designed to offset a child's natural fear of death, portrays Martyrdom as both heroic and tranquil. The film's hero, a teenager, leaves a farewell letter describing the death he is seeking as pleasurable: "Don't be sad my dear [father], and don't cry over my parting. My dear father, for my country, I sacrificed myself. With determination and desire, I will keep my promise. How sweet is Martyrdom (Shahada), when I am embraced by you, my land! How sweet is Martyrdom (Shahada), when I am embraced by you, my land! My beloved, my mother, most dear to me, be joyous over my blood, don't cry for me." [PA TV (Fatah), broadcast hundreds of times from 2001-2004]

Click to view

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Muhammad Al-Dura (a boy who was killed in a televised crossfire) calls other children to follow him to a joyous child-Martyr Paradise. Al-Dura runs on the beach with his kite, and even goes to an amusement park: Text on screen: "I am waving to you, not in parting, but to say follow me. By Muhammad Al- Dura." Narrator: "How sweet is the fragrance of the martyrs. How sweet is the fragrance of the earth, its thirst quenched by the gush of blood flowing from the youthful body. How sweet is the fragrance of the earth. The boy [Muhammad Al- Dura] cried: Oh father, till we meet, till we meet, father, till we meet, I will go with no fear and without crying. How sweet is the fragrance of the martyrs. I will go, father, to my place in heaven. How sweet is the fragrance of the martyrs. Oh father, till we meet, till we meet, Oh father, till we meet." [PA TV (Fatah), hundreds of times, 2001-2008]

Click to view

Host: "You described Martyrdom (Shahada) as something beautiful. Do you think it is beautiful?" Walla, age 11: "Martyrdom (Shahada) is a very, very beautiful thing. Everyone yearns for Shahada. What could be sweeter than going to paradise?" Host: "What is better, peace and full rights for the Palestinian people, or Shahada?" Walla: "Shahada. I will achieve my rights after becoming a Shahida (Martyr)." Host: "Ok, Yussra, would you agree with that?" Yussra, age 11: "Of course; Shahada is sweet. We don't want this world, we want the Afterlife. We benefit not from this life, but from the Afterlife." Host: "Do you actually love death?" Yussra: "Death is not Shahada." Host: "No, I mean the absence after death." Yussra: "No child loves death. The children of Palestine adopted the concept that Shahada is very good. Every Palestinian child, say someone aged 12, says: Oh Lord, I would like to become a Shahid." Host: "We've got a call, Sabrine from Ramallah." Sabrine (on telephone): "Ayyat Al-Akhras was 17 when she blew herself up - Host: "Sabrine, are you for it or against it?" Sabrine (on telephone): "Of course I support blowing up, it is our right." Host: "Sabrine, now, is it natural that Ayyat Al-Akhras blows herself up?" Sabrine (on telephone): "Of course it's natural." [PA TV (Fatah), June 9, 2002]

Click to view

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – November 1, 2012 PMW report in UK Parliament: UK money pays salaries to terrorists by funding PA's general budget

Palestinian Media Watch director Itamar Marcus made a presentation in London to British parliamentarians, releasing two PMW reports.

The first report, which connects British funding to salaries that the PA pays to terrorists in prison, has already generated articles in the Wall Street Journal and the Daily Mail.

Report: UK money pays terrorists' salaries UK Minister of State for International Development Alan Duncan wrote a letter to MP Robert Halfon in which he rejected PMW's earlier findings that exposed the Palestinian Authority's payment of salaries to terrorists with UK money, claiming that the PA only pays "social assistance programmes to provide welfare payments" to families of prisoners. In response, Palestinian Media Watch prepared and presented in UK parliament a second report that reiterates and verifies our original findings, and rejects Duncan's categorization of the PA payments as "social assistance."

Executive Summary:

1. The Palestinian Authority is currently paying salaries totaling approximately 17,500,000 shekels (£2,798,825) each month to all Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons, including mass murderers. 2. The word used in the PA law is Ratib - salary; the law never mentions "social assistance" or "welfare." 3. The amount of the salary rises based on number of years in prison, an amount related to the severity of the terror crime and not family need. 4. Unmarried terrorists receive the same basic salary as those who are married and have children. 5. A separate small stipend is given to married prisoners with children. The average prisoner salary is over 3,000 shekels (£480) a month and can reach as high as 12,000 (almost £2,000) a month for those in prison more than 30 years. The additional stipend for a married prisoner is 300 shekels (£48) and a mere 50 shekels (£8) per child. 6. The terrorist prisoner is the only one who can appoint an "authorized agent" to handle his money when he is in prison. He is not obligated to give it to his wife, children, or parents. 7. All of these points and more citations in the report refute Minister Duncan's assertion that the money is "social assistance" for families. 8. As long as the UK continues funding the PA's general budget, it will be a participant in the payment of these high monthly salaries to terrorist murderers.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Conclusion: The fact that the PA uses its general budget to reward terrorists with high monthly salaries should be a matter of very serious concern for Britain and for all donor countries to the PA.

Click to view report in PDF on UK money paying for PA salaries to terrorists.

The second report examines the responsibility of the UK and other Western funders for continued PA hate promotion. The report will be released shortly.

Bulletin – November 2, 2012 Official PA daily: PMW "incites" against the PA

Following PMW's reports that terrorist prisoners receive PA salaries, PA Min. Karake defends the prisoners as "lawful freedom fighters"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, accused Palestinian Media Watch of "inciting" against the PA, saying that PMW is trying to cut off the PA's sources of Western funding. "'Palestinian Media Watch' [is] a Jewish organization that incites [against the PA] and speaks about Palestinian Authority aid to prisoners, describing it as support for terrorists, in order to stop financial support to the PA."

This was reported together with Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Issa Karake's response to PMW reports documenting that the PA pays salaries to prisoners imprisoned in Israel for terror crimes.

Responding to PMW's reports, Minister Karake has maintained that the payments to prisoners are "humanitarian welfare assistance" to the prisoners' families and children, and that this aid is "a national, humanitarian, and moral obligation being fulfilled by the PA."

On one occasion the Minister has stated that the prisoners are"lawful freedom fighters who fought for the right of their cause and for the freedom and independence of their people." On another occasion, he said that the PA "will not abandon our prisoner sons or their families, for they are fighters who resisted the occupation's oppression."

Karake made the last comment while visiting the families of the following prisoners, who are all serving life sentences in Israel for their involvement in suicide terrorists' bombings: Ibrahim Sarahneh - an Israeli Arab resident of the Deheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem. He drove three suicide bombers to their attacks. With his wife Irena Sarahneh, he drove a suicide bomber to his attack in Rishon LeZion in 2002 that killed two and injured

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

many. With his brother Musa Sarahneh, he drove a female suicide bomber to a supermarket in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat HaYovel, where she killed two people.

With his brother Khalil Sarahneh, he drove a suicide bomber who killed a policeman in Jerusalem in 2002. Ashraf Hajajreh drove a suicide bomber who killed 11 people to his attack in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem in 2002.

Earlier this year, Karake referred to the Palestinian prisoners in Israel as "prisoners of war and as legitimate fighters," when he explained that the aim of the International Conference for Prisoners under the auspices of the Arab League in December is to secure "recognition of prisoners in the occupation's prisons as prisoners of war and as legitimate fighters."

The Israeli government and many Western governments view Palestinian suicide bombings as terror and completely reject the PA view that those responsible for suicide bombings are "freedom fighters." PMW has reported to Western governments that even terrorists like Abdullah Barghouti, who is serving 67 life sentences for planning many suicide bombings, are receiving high monthly PA salaries. This has led to discussion in various parliaments about the justification for Western funding of the PA's general budget, which pays these salaries.

Karake is now responding to these PMW reports about the salaries to prisoners, which are causing the PA damage internationally. Karake is claiming that they are not salaries for the prisoners but social welfare for the families.

Documenting original PA sources, PMW reports show that the PA's payments to prisoners are in fact salaries and not social welfare:

1. The Palestinian Authority is currently paying salaries totaling approximately 17,500,000 shekels each month to all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, including mass murderers. 2. The word used in the PA law is Ratib - salary; the law never mentions "social assistance" or "welfare." 3. The amount of the salary rises based on number of years in prison, an amount related to the severity of the terror crime and not family need. 4. Unmarried terrorists receive the same basic salary as those who are married and have children. 5. A separate small stipend is given to married prisoners with children. The average prisoner salary is over 3,000 shekels a month and can reach as high as 12,000 a month for those in prison more than 30 years. The additional stipend for a married prisoner is 300 shekels and a mere 50 shekels per child. 6. The terrorist prisoner is the only one who can appoint an "authorized agent" to handle his money when he is in prison. He is not obligated to give it to his wife, children, or parents.

PMW documents the PA's policy of glorifying terrorists.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The following are two recent articles reporting on Minister Karake's response to PMW's reports, one given while visiting the homes of terrorists who drove suicide bombers to their attacks:

"The Minister for Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Karake, said... 'Israel carries out political and media incitement internationally in order to stop the financial aid to the Palestinian Authority because it supports families and children of Palestinian prisoners incarcerated in the occupation's prisons.' Karake responded to an article in the British Daily Mail that quoted the organization 'Palestinian Media Watch', a Jewish organization that incites [against the PA] and speaks about Palestinian Authority aid to prisoners, describing it as support for terrorists, in order to stop financial support to the PA. Karake explained that Israel is trying to deny the legitimacy of the prisoners' national struggle, to punish their children and families, and to lay a financial siege on the PA, in an attempt at political blackmail... Karake explained that the biased Israeli campaign is intended to put political pressure on President Abbas and deter him from applying to the UN for recognition of Palestine as a non-member state, through financial pressure on the PA. He added:'We will not abandon our prisoner sons or their families, for they are fighters who resisted the occupation's oppression. Instead of freeing them as a basic step in a process to achieve a just settlement and regional peace, Israel persists in its attempt to damage the image of the prisoners and the Palestinian national struggle in the eyes of the international community.' Karake and those accompanying him visited the families of Ramzi Abu-Zirr who was sentenced to 18 years; brothers Ibrahim, Musa, and Khalil Sarahneh who were sentenced to life imprisonment, Ashraf Hajajreh who was sentenced to life in prison, Adnan Al-Afandi who was sentenced to 30 years, Rizq Salah who was sentenced to life in prison, and Issa Abd Rabbo who was sentenced to life in prison." [Al-Ayyam, Oct. 30, 2012]

Information about some of the terrorists whose families PA Minister Karake visited:

Ibrahim Sarahneh - an Israeli Arab resident of the Deheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem. He drove three suicide bombers to their attacks. With his wife Irena Sarahneh, he drove a suicide bomber to his attack in Rishon LeZion in 2002 that killed two and injured many. With his brother Musa Sarahneh, he drove a female suicide bomber to a supermarket in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Kiryat HaYovel where she killed two people. With his brother Khalil Sarahneh, he drove a suicide bomber who killed a policeman in Jerusalem in 2002. Ashraf Hajajreh drove the suicide bomber who killed 11 people in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem in 2002.

"The Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Karake... said that recent Israeli incitement in the media against aid to families of prisoners held in the occupation's prisons is part of a policy of Israeli incitement against the National [Palestinian] Authority, President Mahmoud Abbas, and the prisoners in the occupation's prisons. It is intended to tighten the siege on the Palestinian Authority and discontinue foreign aid to it. Karake spoke in response to a recent Israeli TV Channel 2 report on aid to prisoners, (Israeli Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

TV Channel 2 reported on PMW's first report on PA salaries to terrorist prisoners. - Ed.) and the accusation of the Palestinian government of 'supporting terrorists'... In addition, Karake explained that aid to prisoners is humanitarian welfare assistance, just like social insurance in all countries, including Israel, to help those in any society who have been hurt and experienced tragedy... Karake said: 'The prisoners and their families are victims of the occupation, and from the Palestinian Authority's inception, its laws have mandated aid to their children. And Israel knows about these laws that were passed by the Palestinian Parliament years ago.' Karake said that aid to prisoners' and Martyrs' (Shahids) families is a national, humanitarian, and moral obligation being fulfilled by the PA, and he said that the prisoners are lawful freedom fighters (i.e., "lawful combatants") who fought for the right of their cause and for the freedom and independence of their people. In addition Karake said: 'The Israeli executioner has no right to kill his victim twice, and we will not allow him to do so. All prisoners must be released, since they are victims of the most prolonged occupation in modern history. This occupation still commits the most heinous violations [of the rights] of our prisoners, violations that defy international law and the principles of human rights. And Israel is behaving like a country above the law." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 6, 2012]

Minister Karake on prisoners "as prisoners of war":

Headline: "To be held in Iraq under auspices of the Arab League, Karake: The International Conference for Prisoners will focus on recognition of Palestinian detainees as prisoners of war" "Karake said that the conference to be held under the auspices of the Arab League on Dec. 10-11, 2012, will focus on the request for support and pressure towards securing recognition of prisoners in the occupation's prisons as prisoners of war and as legitimate fighters." [Al-Ayyam, Aug. 12, 2012]

Bulletin – November 6, 2012 Abbas spokesman: The purpose of [Abbas'] interview on Israeli TV was to influence Israeli public opinion."

Abbas: "I never gave up and never will give up the right of return." What was said about Safed was "a personal position."

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was recently interviewed on Israeli TV (Channel 2), where he talked about the final status agreement with Israel. During the

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

interview, he said that the future borders of a Palestinian state should be the 1967 borders (i.e., before the Six Day War). He also stated that he would like to visit his hometown of

Safed, but that he has no desire to live there since it is part of Israel. These statements contradict the messages that are repeated again and again by senior Palestinian officials and transmitted by the government-controlled PA media.

Following the interview, Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said that "a TV interview does not mean negotiations. The purpose of [Abbas'] interview on Israeli TV [Channel 2] was to influence Israeli public opinion."

The official PA newspaper reported that Abbas himself was quick to clarify what he said. In an interview with an Egyptian TV channel, he stressed that he "never did - nor will he ever - give up the right of return [for Palestinian refugees]" and that what he said about Safed was his own "personal position."

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the Palestinian Authority's policy of denying Israel's right to exist.

Click to view Abbas' interview with Israel TV 2 (cited parts are in English).

The following are the translations of Abu Rudeina and Abbas' statements, as reported in the official PA daily: "The president's [Abbas'] spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina... said: 'The President and the Palestinian leadership will not agree to a state with temporary borders, and those who agree to a temporary state forsake the right of [Palestinian refugees'] return (he hints at Hamas, -Ed.), do harm to national principles, and bring disaster for Palestinian generations in the future.' In a press release yesterday, Abu Rudeina added... that the right of return and the refugee issue are among the still outstanding final-status issues to be negotiated with the Israelis, as are the questions of borders and water. He noted: 'We are committed to the national principles as confirmed by the [Palestinian] National Council (the legislative body of the PLO, -Ed.) in this matter. There is nothing new in our position on this matter.' Abu Rudeina noted that 'a TV interview does not mean negotiations. The purpose of [Abbas'] interview on Israeli TV [Channel 2] (broadcast on Nov. 3, 2012) was to influence Israeli public opinion.'" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 4, 2012]

Headline: "The President: I never gave up on and never will give up on the right of return. The attack on me began even before the interview." "President Mahmoud Abbas said that he never did - nor will he ever - give up the right of return [for Palestinian refugees], and the attack on him based on parts of his statements in an Israeli Channel 2 interview Friday [Nov. 3, 2012] began before the interview was broadcast in full. Interviewed from the Jordanian capital on the Egyptian Al-Hayat channel yesterday, Saturday, President Abbas said, 'All the reactions and commentary came before the interview was broadcast. The attack on me began before anyone saw the interview in full. That's a biased approach used by some in the media, especially Al-Jazeera and some factions who go 'fishing in troubled waters'. I'm no hypocrite, and what I say to the Palestinian people is no different from what I say to Israeli people or Americans or anyone else.' Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The President added: 'In 1988 the Palestinian National Council (the legislative body of the PLO) recognized UN resolutions 242 and 338, and that decision has been confirmed time and time again... All Palestinians agree to the two-state solution with a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders. Hamas and the [Islamic] Jihad agree to that. In the most recent reconciliation agreement [between Fatah and Hamas] in Cairo, the 1967 borders were agreed upon, as was the process of non-violent, popular resistance, and holding elections... There is no problem in agreeing to June 1967 borders and to East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian State. All Arab and Islamic states are agreed on this.' The President explained: 'What I said about Safed was my own personal position, and it did not mean giving up the right of return. No one can give up the right of return, since all international records and Arab or Islamic resolutions speak explicitly of a fair and agreed upon solution to the refugee problem, in accordance with resolution 194. The expression 'agreed upon' means [agreed upon] with the Israeli side.' He added: 'The six core issues, the refugee issue being one of them, will be put on the table in the final stage [of negotiations], in accordance with the principles of international bodies. The refugee issue [will be dealt with] on the basis of Resolution 194, and it will be brought to a referendum. The people will either approve it or reject it. Resolution 194 speaks explicitly of the right to return or - for those who choose not to return - to receive compensation. The [right to] return, then, is fundamental. Also, the Arab peace initiative speaks explicitly of a just and agreed upon solution to the refugee problem, in accordance with the resolution mentioned above.' The President went on to say: 'From its beginning, I thought the second Intifada (PA terror campaign 2000-2005 against Israel) was a mistake, and that we should not continue it because it was armed. At the time, my opinion ran counter to popular opinion, and when I ran for election I stated that I opposed the armed Intifada and supported negotiations and peaceful resistance. To this day I believe there should be no armed Intifada. All factions have agreed to popular resistance, and even in Gaza they shoot at those who fire missiles... The use of weapons is a violent act, and I do not want to use violence because I don't believe in that. That's a lost battle against Israel, but popular resistance has a positive effect in building world solidarity with us. I've said it over and over, and I say again: There is no armed Intifada during my administration... Our nation has agreed, by way of its representatives, to peaceful popular resistance, including representatives of the [Palestinian] movements in Damascus like Ahmed Jibril, As- Sa'iqa and the others, as well as it includes Hamas and the [Islamic] Jihad. They all stress peaceful popular resistance. And should the people decide otherwise, I'll either accept it or not....' The President stressed that the Palestinian leadership will apply for non-member state status at the U.N. in spite of American threats and heavy pressure, during the current month (November 2012), or after the sixth of the month, to be more exact. He stressed that he is convinced that this step will prove successful, based on the fact that most countries in the world recognize a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders - a fact that angers Israel and those who stand with it." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 4, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – November 6, 2012 Abbas to Israelis: Safed is an Israeli city

Abbas' TV to Palestinians: Safed is a Palestinian city and so are Ashkelon, Haifa, Acre, Tiberias, Beit Shean, Jaffa, Nazareth, Ramle, and Lod

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said on Israeli TV last week that Palestine's borders will be on the 1967 borders, and although he wishes to visit Safed, his place of birth, he does not wish to live there because that city is part of Israel. In contrast to this statement, Abbas' official PA TV continues to present a world without Israel in which all of Israel is defined as "Palestine." Dozens of times, PA TV broadcasts programs and music videos in which Israeli places and cities like Ashkelon, Haifa, Acre, Tiberias, Beit Shean, Jaffa, Nazareth, Ramle, Lod, Safed, Mt Carmel, the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights are described as "Palestinian," "ours" or as part of "my country Palestine."

The following are texts and links to four videos that were broadcast as recently as last week on official PA TV:

Song broadcast on PA TV in various contexts, most recently at The Summer Nights Festival in Jerusalem, under the auspices of PA PM Salam Fayyad: Sign: "Under the auspices of Prime Minister Dr. Salam Fayyad: The 3rd Summer Nights Festival in Jerusalem" Song: "Oh flying bird, circling around, by Allah, oh traveling [bird], I burn with envy. My country Palestine is beautiful. Go to Jenin and bring me from its valley greetings to Nablus, Tulkarem and their soil. Drink the water of Jaffa's port, don't forget Ramle and Ramallah. Oh flying bird, circling around, by Allah, oh traveling [bird], I burn with envy. My country Palestine is beautiful. Turn to Safed, and then to Tiberias, and send regards to the sea of Acre and Haifa. Don't forget Nazareth, the Arab fortress, and tell Beit Shean about its people's return." [PA TV (Fatah), Oct. 24 and Oct. 29, 2012] Click to view

A different version of the same song has been broadcast numerous times on PA TV.

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Documentary film about the geography of "Palestine": "The West Bank and Gaza have another section in Palestine which is the Palestinian coast that spreads along the [Mediterranean] sea, from... Ashkelon in the south, until Haifa, in the Carmel Mountains. Haifa is a well-known Palestinian port. [Haifa] enjoyed a high status among Arabs and Palestinians especially before it fell to the occupation [Israel] in 1948. To its north, we find Acre. East of Acre, we reach a city with history and importance, the city of Tiberias, near a famous lake, the Sea of Galilee. Jaffa, an ancient coastal city, is the bride of the sea, and Palestine's gateway to the world." [PA TV (Fatah), broadcast dozens of times, most recently on Oct. 30, 2012]

Click to view

Song broadcast numerous times on PA TV: "Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, and Nazareth are ours. [ I ], Muhammad, sing about the Galilee and the Golan (Heights). Jaffa, Acre, Haifa and Nazareth are ours. [ I ], Kabha, sing about the Galilee and the Golan (Heights). From Bethlehem to Jenin is Palestinian, Ramle, Lod and Sakhnin are Palestinian. Nowhere is more beautiful than Jerusalem; no matter how much we travel From Safed to Al-Badhan (near Nablus) is Palestinian; Tiberias and Ashkelon are Palestinian." [PA TV (Fatah), broadcast dozens of times, most recently on Nov. 2, 2012]

Click to view

Song on PA TV expressing a longing for a world without Israel: "I wish I could enter my country with no borders... I will go about in Bethlehem and in Al-Aqsa [Mosque], which is held captive I will eat lunch in Nazareth and eat dinner in Beit Sahour... I do not forget Jenin nor Nablus, and the Galilee I do not forget you, Jaffa, your long sea [shore] I will never forget the olives of the Galilee Even if our path has grown long, one day we will return: To Jerusalem, to Gaza, to Acre, to Haifa, oh Lord. To Jerusalem, to Ramle, to Acre, to Haifa, oh Lord... I wish I could enter my country with no borders." [PA TV (Fatah), broadcast dozens of times, most recently on Oct. 30, 2012] Click to view Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – November 11, 2012 "The Jews" killed Arafat: Palestinian kids' hate speech in PA TV annual broadcast

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

"The Jews poisoned him [Arafat] and I hate them very much. Allah will repay them what they deserve."

Every year, this statement is repeated by a young Palestinian girl during PA TV's annual rebroadcast of a program commemorating the anniversary of Yasser Arafat's death.

Other young children also repeat the libel that Israel/the Jews killed Arafat. One boy admits that he does not really know how Arafat died, but he knows who did it: "He [Arafat] died from poisoning by the Jews. Well, I don't know what he died from, but I know it was by the Jews."

Click to view

Palestinian Media Watch has documented PA TV's rebroadcast of these statements since it first aired on the fifth anniversary of Arafat's death in 2009. At the time, the children's statements appeared as part of a televised memorial ceremony.

The fact that children repeat that "the Jews" poisoned and killed Arafat shows the success of the continuous demonization of Jews and Israelis by the PA. The fact that the government- controlled PA TV chooses to rebroadcast these statements every year suggests that this is a message that the PA wishes to emphasize and continue to transmit to children.

The following is the transcript of the children's messages on the annual PA TV program:

Ceremony host: "Blessings to Yasser Arafat, and here are messages from the children of Palestine." [From 2009 PA ceremony, not part of PA TV 2010, 2011, 2012 broadcast, - Ed.] Boy: "I was very, very sad when Arafat died as a Shahid (Martyr), because he was a good man and he was a fighter. He did things through struggle, he participated in the struggle and did not make peace and so on. He wanted to fight." Boy 2: "Yasser Arafat was a very, very important president. He stood up to all the enemies and was not afraid of anyone. And anyone who approached - he managed to stop him. All the Jews and the Israelis and the people who are against us, were afraid of him. When he died, he died of poisoning." Girl: "I say that he died from poisoning by the Jews. That's what I say."

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Boy 3: "Arafat used to say: "They want me dead, they want me prisoner, but I say to them: Martyr! Martyr! Martyr!" Girl 2: "He [Arafat] was our former president. He was under siege in Ramallah, and when he was under siege we were very upset. The Jews poisoned him and I hate them very much. Allah will repay them what they deserve." Boy 4: "He [Arafat] died from poisoning by the Jews. Well, I don't know what he died from, but I know it was by the Jews." Boy 5: "They destroyed his whole house and he was left in one room and in the end the Jews poisoned him and blamed someone else." [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 10, 2009 and 2010, Nov. 11, 2011 and 2012]

Bulletin – November 11, 2012 PA TV News: No trace of Jewish history in "our land" "Temple exists only in the minds of radical organizations"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Recently, Palestinian Authority TV News exemplified the PA policy of denying the existence of any Jewish history in Jerusalem. In a report about Israel's excavations on the Temple Mount exposing part of the Western Wall, the government-controlled PA TV stated: "There's [an Israeli] race against the clock to complete the excavations in search of [Jerusalem's] Temple that exists only in the minds of radical organizations."

Click to view

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA's continued denial of Jewish history and particularly its denial of the existence of the Temple, referring to it as the "alleged Temple." To prove their claim to the land, the PA actively rejects all Jewish history in the land of Israel, inventing an ancient Palestinian history in its stead. The PA accuses Israel of stealing Palestinian heritage, claiming that it does not have any history on its own.

PMW has also documented how Israel's excavations of the Western Wall near the Al-Aqsa Mosque are presented by the PA as part of an Israeli plan to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Following is the excerpt from PA TV News denying Jewish history in Jerusalem:

PA TV newsreader: "Deep underground beneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque, there's [an Israeli] race against the clock to complete the excavations in search of [Jerusalem's] Temple that exists only in the minds of radical organizations. These images reveal the extent of the excavations. ... Here, you can see an underground city excavated by Jewish radical organizations. They falsify historical facts by linking them to Jewish history, the traces of which don't exist in our land." [PA TV (Fatah), Oct. 25, 2012] Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – November 15, 2012 PMW Special report on Operation Pillar of Defense #1

From the PMW archives: Al-Ja'abari: "The Jew who comes to the soil of Palestine... is fighting us, and we will fight him and kill him"

"Sacrifice your souls for the sake of Allah, until the rats (i.e., Israelis) return to their holes" "Haifa, Jaffa, and Tel Aviv... all of Palestine" will be liberated

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Launching what has been named "Operation Pillar of Defense," Israel killed the head of Hamas' military wing Ahmed Al-Ja'abari yesterday. The operation comes as a response to Hamas' and other terrorist organizations' continuous rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

Al-Ja'abari was a member of Hamas' political bureau and the leader of Hamas' military wing since 2002. He actively encouraged suicide bombings and other terrorist attacks against Israel.

Al-Ja'abari was Hamas' chief negotiator during the negotiations to release Hamas-captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

When asked in an interview on Al-Jazeera in 2006 about targeting civilians, Al-Ja'abari said: "The Jew who comes to the soil of Palestine is a murderer, a criminal, a thief and an occupier. That is the Jew we are fighting. Whereas the Jew in his synagogue in Britain or in the US, we have nothing to do with him. But if he comes to the soil of Palestine - then he is fighting us, and we will fight him and kill him on the soil of Palestine."

Following Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in 2005, Al-Ja'abari encouraged members of Hamas' military wing, the "brave Jihad fighters," to "sacrifice [their] souls for the sake of Allah" in order to liberate "Jerusalem, the West Bank, Haifa, Jaffa, and Tel Aviv, until the liberation of the homeland, all of Palestine."

Click to view

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In another statement around the same time, Al- Ja'abari expressed satisfaction that Hamas possessed "the technology that can precisely strike the city of Sderot (town in southern Israel) and other places in the '48 territories (i.e., Israel)."

Click to view

Palestinian Media Watch has also documented Al-Ja'abari's praise for Palestinian women who participate in Jihad against Israel.

The following are excerpts of Al-Ja'abari's statements:

Head of Hamas' military wing Ahmed Al-Ja'abari: "The Jew who comes to the soil of Palestine is a murderer, a criminal, a thief and an occupier. That is the Jew we are fighting. Whereas the Jew in his synagogue in Britain or in the US, we have nothing to do with him. But if he comes to the soil of Palestine - then he is fighting us, and we will fight him and kill him on the soil of Palestine." [Al-Jazeera, July 3, 2006]

Head of Hamas' military wing Ahmed Al-Ja'abari: "Brave Jihad fighters, you sacrifice your souls for the sake of Allah... until the rats (i.e., Israelis) return to their holes. Today, Gaza [was liberated by Hamas]. Tomorrow, Allah willing, Jerusalem. Tomorrow, the West Bank. Tomorrow, Haifa, Jaffa, and Tel Aviv (Israeli cities)... until the liberation of the homeland, all of Palestine." [Hamas' website, Jan. 1, 2006]

Head of Hamas' military wing Ahmed Al-Ja'abari: "Praise Allah, the Jihad fighters who manufacture [rockets] have obtained this technology that can precisely strike the city of Sderot (town in southern Israel) and other places in the '48 territories (i.e., Israel)." [Hamas' website, Jan. 2006]

Head of Hamas' military wing Ahmed Al-Ja'abari: "[Female suicide bomber] Reem Riyashi's operation (i.e., terror attack) led to a major change in the Jihad operations regarding the participation of women. Therefore, [a Palestinian] mother no longer stops her son when he goes on Ribat and Jihad (religious war)." [Hamas' website, Jan. 2006]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – November 15, 2012 PA leaders condemn killing of Al-Ja’abari

Official PA daily: "His self-sacrificing actions (i.e., terror attacks) will be told for generations to come and will be eternalized in memory"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Palestinian Authority leaders have condemned Israel’s killing of Ahmed Al-Ja’abari, head of Hamas’ military wing, which came as a response to Hamas' and other terrorist organizations' continuous rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas demanded that the “Arab countries in the Security Council discuss courses of action to end the [Israeli] aggression,” while Prime Minister Salam Fayyad “called on the international community to do its duty, act immediately to stop this escalation [and] force Israel to stop its aggression.”

Palestinian Media Watch has documented Al-Ja’abari’s statements on killing Jews on the soil of Palestine, “liberation of all of Palestine,” rockets that can strike Israel, and women’s participation in Jihad.

In a headline, the PA’s official daily referred to Al-Ja’abari’s death as Shahada - Martyrdom death for Allah, calling it “the crowning achievement of his life of struggle.” The article also said that “his self-sacrificing actions (i.e., terror attacks) will be told for generations to come and will be eternalized in memory.” Likewise, Abbas’ advisor Al-Aloul called Al-Ja’abari “the Martyr of the entire Palestinian people,” whereas a host on official PA TV sent “condolences to all of the Palestinian people on his death as a Martyr (Shahid).”

Others, such as PLO Executive Committee member Saeb Erekat, demonized Israel by referring to an Israeli “policy of war and terror.” Erekat stated in a press release: “The fact that Israel continues to kill and target our defenseless people in the Gaza Strip is nothing but the continuation of [its] policy of war and terror. We place sole responsibility on the Israeli government and demand that it stop spilling the blood of our people for the purpose of election campaigns.”

Similarly, Israeli Arab member of Israeli Parliament Muhammad Barakeh said that “the Prime Minister of the occupation, Benjamin Netanyahu, has decided to strengthen his rule at the expense of Palestinian blood.”

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The following are the excerpts from the official PA daily and PA TV:

Mahmoud Abbas: Headline: “Eight Martyrs (Shahids), including Al-Ja’abari, and the aggression continues” Sub-headlines: “The president calls upon the Security Council to stop the aggression” “Egypt objects by recalling its ambassador in Tel Aviv” “Obama looks for excuses for the Israeli aggression”

“Last night, President Mahmoud Abbas sent a letter to the current president of the Security Council (India)… demanding that it take action to stop the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip. The president charged ambassador Mansour [the Palestinian Permanent Observer to the UN] with contacting the representatives of the Arab countries in the Security Council, to discuss courses of action to end the aggression. The president condemned the aggression and warned of the severity of the current escalation. He demanded for it to be stopped immediately in order to save our people in the [Gaza] Strip from the calamities of war. President Abbas called his Egyptian counterpart, Mohammed Morsi, and demanded that he make every effort to end the Israeli aggression in the [Gaza] Strip.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 15, 2012]

Official PA daily: Headline: “The crowning achievement of his life of struggle was Shahada (i.e., Martyrdom death for Allah) - Flashes from the life of the fighter Ahmed Al-Ja’abari” “Self-sacrificing fighter, the Martyr (Shahid) Ahmed Al-Ja’abari, was unique. Those close to him described him as likeable, serious and strict, to such an extent that some feared his surprise visits in disguise to the [military] posts of the Al-Qassam Brigades and the harsh punishments that he imposed on those who slacked off and didn’t follow directions. Al-Ja’abari did not like to appear [in public], even though his name was heard in every corner and neighborhood in the Gaza Strip. Gaza residents did not exactly know what he looked like until he appeared [in 2011] with the Israeli soldier, the captive Gilad Shalit, during his transfer to the Egyptians through the Rafah Crossing. He knew well how to hide and perform tasks. After his commander [Muhammad] Deif was injured, he became the de facto commander of the Al-Qassam Brigades. In a short time, he managed to turn the Al-Qassam Brigades from a system of [separate] units into a military system. Al-Ja’abari (Abu Muhammad) vanished (i.e., died) when he was targeted by an Israeli reconnaissance aircraft, but his self- sacrificing actions (i.e., terror attacks) will be told for generations to come and will be eternalized in memory.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 15, 2012]

Prime Minister Salam Fayyad: Headline: “Prime Minister condemns the Israeli military escalation and the policy of assassinations” “Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the Israeli military escalation and the policy of assassinations against our people in the Gaza Strip, which brought about the deaths of Martyrs (Shahids) and injured many among the residents… Fayyad called on the international community to do its duty, act immediately to stop this escalation,

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force Israel to stop its aggression against our people in the Gaza Strip and offer them protection" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 15, 2012]

Member of PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat: Headline: “Erekat: The war over the Gaza Strip is a continuation of [Israel’s] policy of terror” “Member of PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat, condemned [Israel’s] latest attack and the assassination operations that the occupation army is carrying out in the Gaza Strip. He stated in a press release: ‘The fact that Israel continues to kill and target our defenseless people in the Gaza Strip is nothing but the continuation of [its] policy of war and terror.’ He added: ‘We place sole responsibility on the Israeli government and demand that it stop spilling the blood of our people for the purpose of election campaigns.’” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 15, 2012]

PA TV and Abbas’ advisor Al-Aloul: PA TV host: “Ahmed Al-Ja’abari was the commander of the Hamas movement. Condolences to all of the Palestinian people on his death as a Martyr (Shahid).” Abbas’ advisor Al-Aloul: “Condolences to all of us. He [Al-Ja’abari] is our Martyr and the Martyr of the entire Palestinian people.” [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 14, 2012]

Israeli Arab MP, Muhammad Barakeh: Headline: ”Barakeh: Netanyahu has decided to strengthen his rule at the expense of Palestinian blood" “Chairman of [Israeli party] Hadash and [Israeli-Arab] Member of the Israeli Parliament Muhammad Barakeh said yesterday evening [Nov. 14, 2012] that the Prime Minister of the occupation, Benjamin Netanyahu, has decided to strengthen his rule at the expense of Palestinian blood. He added that Netanyahu strives to stay in office and hinder the acceptance of the State of Palestine as a member of the UN. Barakeh added: ‘The Netanyahu-Liberman-Barak government, along with the military establishment… knew what the best timing was to carry out the terrorist crime of assassination. It was preceded by a row of assassinations of [other] Palestinian activists as an attempt to draw a response from the Palestinian factions after which a broader attack [by Israel] against the Gaza Strip would follow.’” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 15, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – November 18, 2012 PMW special report on Operation Pillar of Defense #3

Hamas disinformation: Israel's international airport closed, planes redirected to secret base

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

On the fifth day of Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense that targets terrorist infrastructure in Gaza and which has successfully destroyed many Hamas rocket launching points, Hamas issued false information about its own successes fighting Israel.

Today, a news ticker on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV incorrectly claimed: "Media of the enemy: International airport Ben Gurion closed, planes being redirected to a secret base in the north [of Israel]."

Similarly, the Hamas website Al-Risala falsely claimed yesterday that Hamas had succeeded in shooting down an Israeli F-16 plane: "Hamas' military wing Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed that an 'Israeli' F-16 fighter [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012] plane was shot down... A reconnaissance aircraft was shot down as well."

Likewise, on Thursday, when Israel launched the operation, Hamas immediately set out to create an illusion of its own success by reporting on TV and on a Hamas website that one of its missiles had hit Tel Aviv, falsely claiming that it had cut off electricity in the city: "Al-Qassam Brigades shelled Tel Aviv for the first time with a locally made rocket. The electricity network in the southern part of the city was hit."

The following are the articles from the Al-Risala website: [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 15, 2012] "Hamas' military wing Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades confirmed that an 'Israeli' F-16 fighter plane was shot down in the Al-Wusta Governorate. A reconnaissance aircraft was shot down as well. Abu Ubeida [the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades' spokesperson] said that the resistance and the Al-Qassam Brigades are doing well, and the occupation's claim that the power of the Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip has been destroyed is merely a lie. He described the Iron Dome (Israeli system that can intercept and destroy missiles in the air), which was built by the occupation and which costs it millions in order to intercept Palestinian rockets, as the 'Paper Dome.'" [Al-Risala website (Hamas), Nov. 17, 2012]

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"Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, officially announced that occupied Tal Al-Rabia ("Tal Al-Rabia" is the Palestinians' Arabic translation of Tel Aviv, to wrongly imply the existence of an Arab village of that name prior to Tel Aviv - Ed. ) was shelled with an improved Fajr-5 rocket on Thursday morning. Yesterday, Al- Qassam [Brigades] stated that Tal Al-Rabia was shelled with a locally made rocket. They emphasized in an announcement that what comes next will be worse. Hebrew (i.e., Israeli) media sources said that the rocket cut off electricity in 'Tel Aviv,' which is 70 kilometers from Gaza." [Al-Risala website (Hamas), Nov. 15, 2012]

News ticker on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV, broadcast on Nov. 18, 2012: "Media of the enemy: International airport Ben Gurion closed, planes being redirected to a secret base in the north [of Israel]." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

News ticker on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV, broadcast on Nov. 15, 2012: "Al-Qassam Brigades shelled Tel Aviv for the first time with a locally made rocket. The electricity network in the southern part of the city was hit." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 15, 2012]

See Palestinian Media Watch's earlier reports on Operation Pillar of Defense: #1 on Ahmed Al-Ja'abari, head of Hamas' military wing #2 on PA leaders' responses to killing of Al-Ja'abari

Bulletin – November 18, 2012 PMW special report on Operation Pillar of Defense #4

Hamas to Israelis: "We've missed the suicide attacks Expect us soon at bus stations and in cafés"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

In response to Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense that aims to cripple the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza and protect Israeli civilians, Hamas' military wing, the Al- Qassam Brigades, has produced videos addressing Israelis.

"From the Palestinian people to the Zionists: We've missed the suicide attacks. Expect us soon at bus stations and in cafés." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

Click to view

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"From the Palestinian people to the Zionists: Don't go to sleep, because we may get you in your sleep." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

Click to view

The videos, which include footage of fighting Al-Qassam Brigades members, missiles being fired, and pictures of injured soldiers, also address Israeli soldiers:

"From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionist soldiers: On the edge of Gaza [your] grave is waiting for you." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

Click to view

"Zionist soldiers: Come forward, brave one, so that you can be killed." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

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Part of a song on Al-Aqsa TV also encourages suicide operations: "Strap on your [explosive] belt, brave one, and burn them with fire. Shake the earth beneath those who occupied our home." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 15, 2012]

Click to view

See Palestinian Media Watch's earlier reports on Operation Pillar of Defense: #1 on Ahmed Al-Ja'abari, head of Hamas' military wing #2 on PA leaders' responses to killing of Al-Ja'abari #3 on Hamas' false information about its success

The following is the full transcript of Hamas' videos addressing Israelis:

"From the Palestinian people to the Zionists: We've missed the suicide attacks. Expect us soon at bus stations and in cafés. From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionists: Don't go to sleep, because we may get you in your sleep. From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionist soldiers: On the edge of Gaza, [your] grave is waiting for you. From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionist soldiers: Come forward, brave one, So that you can be killed." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – November 19, 2012 PMW special report on Operation Pillar of Defense #5

Hamas TV to Israelis: We "love death more than you love life"

"The price will be high, Sons of Zion... All of Palestine is ours. There is nothing here for you but death"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

In an attempt to scare Israelis and boost morale among Palestinians, Hamas and its military wing, the Al- Qassam Brigades, have created videos with messages for Israelis which are being broadcast on Hamas' Al- Aqsa TV.

One such message addressed Israeli soldiers: "From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionist soldiers: The Al-Qassam Brigades love death more than you love life."

Click to view

Palestinian Media Watch has documented how both Hamas and the PA have promoted the idea of Martyrdom death as a worthier goal than life.

Another video shows footage of Hamas launching missiles on Israeli targets and carrying out terror attacks. This footage is mixed with pictures of Israeli victims, including former hostage Gilad Shalit. Shalit is shown standing next to Ahmed Al- Ja'abari, Hamas' former head of military operations who was killed by Israel last week. The video also shows mourning Israelis and scenes of funerals in Israel. In this video, the narrator addresses Israeli soldiers: "The price will be high, Sons of Zion. Are you willing to pay the price? ... Oh occupier, we are coming towards you. Leave our land. All of Palestine is ours. There is nothing here for you but death. There is nothing here for you but to be killed and to leave."

Click to view

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

See Palestinian Media Watch's earlier reports on Operation Pillar of Defense: #1 on Ahmed Al-Ja'abari, head of Hamas' military wing. #2 on PA leaders' responses to killing of Al-Ja'abari. #3 on Hamas' false information about its success #4 on Hamas' videos threatening to resume suicide attacks

The following are the transcripts of the videos:

"The price will be high, Sons of Zion. Are you willing to pay the price? We promise that you will regret your foolish crimes. ... Oh occupier, we are coming towards you. Leave our land. All of Palestine is ours. There's nothing here for you but death. There's nothing here for you but to be killed and to leave. ... On the mountains, behind the hills and inside the valleys, you will be defeated. Whether you come by land, by sea or by air, you will be crushed. If your arms reach [us], they will be cut off. If your eyes look [at us], they will be gouged out. If [your] defeated army attacks again, it will not return [alive]. We came to you as fear. If we return it will be worse for you. In the land that you came to alive, you will end as body parts. That is Allah's promise." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 16, 2012]

"From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionist soldiers: The Al-Qassam Brigades love death more than you love life" [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

Bulletin – November 19, 2012 PMW special report on Operation Pillar of Defense #6 Hamas launching rockets near civilian homes

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

During the last few days, Hamas terrorists have fired more than 100 rockets and missiles per day at Israeli cities. Israel launched Operation Pillar of Defense to destroy the terrorists' launching points and the rockets.

Now footage broadcast by Hamas on its Al-Aqsa TV documents what Israel has been reporting - that Hamas is launching its rockets from residential areas near civilian homes, essentially using the civilians as human shields.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

See below for more picture of launches near homes.

Click to see a series of launches by Hamas near homes, broadcast on Hamas TV in the last few days.

In the past, Hamas has expressed pride in its policy of using civilians as human shields, and during the Gaza war (2008- 2009) Palestinian eye witnesses explained how they became human shields when Hamas used their property as a launching site for rockets.

See Palestinian Media Watch's earlier reports on Operation Pillar of Defense: #1 on Ahmed Al-Ja'abari, head of Hamas' military wing. #2 on PA leaders' responses to killing of Al-Ja'abari. #3 on Hamas' false information about its success #4 on Hamas' videos threatening to resume suicide attacks #5 on Hamas' videos promising death to Israeli soldiers

More Pictures of launches near homes

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Bulletin – November 20, 2012 PMW special report on Operation Pillar of Defense #7

Hamas trying to scare Israelis, boosting morale among Palestinians

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

As part of its psychological warfare and its efforts to scare Israelis, Hamas is using TV and other media to threaten Israelis with a number of different messages. On the website of its military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas posted several pictures with short texts designed to scare Israelis. Pictures showing armed Hamas fighters, scenes of combat and wounded Israeli soldiers warn Israelis that "your army jeeps, your vehicles, your planes, your battle ships, are potential targets for our Qassam "Your army jeeps, your vehicles, your [rockets]," and that "the Qassam rockets will chase you planes, your battle ships, are potential everywhere." targets for our Qassam [rockets]."

Other pictures showing Israeli leaders warn Israelis that "Netanyahu doesn't care about your security or about the lives of your children. He only cares about winning the upcoming elections," and that "your leadership started this battle, but it won't be able to put an end to our rocket attacks."

A third group of pictures promise death to Israeli soldiers if they enter Gaza: "We warn you - don't send your sons "Your leadership started this battle, but it (i.e., soldiers) to Gaza because you won't see them won't be able to put an end to our rocket again." attacks." Or "Enter Gaza and we will crush your arrogance," and "To arms! The response is ready and my weapon is impatient.”

Two pictures appear with quotes from the Quran which recall Allah's victory over an enemy army by the way of birds striking the enemy with stones: "Our resistance - 'flocks of birds striking them with stones of Sijjil' (Quran, Sura 105:3-4)" and "oh soldiers of [Allah] the Merciful, of 'flocks of birds striking with stones of Sijjil' (Quran, Sura 105:3-4) and crushing the tyranny of the

villains." "To arms! The response is ready and my weapon is impatient."

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Following are more pictures posted on the Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades' website, accessed Nov, 18, 2012

"The Qassam rockets will chase you "Netanyahu doesn't care about your everywhere." security or about the lives of your children. He only cares about winning the upcoming elections."

"Enter Gaza and we will crush your "We warn you - don't send your sons arrogance" (i.e., soldiers) to Gaza because you won't see them again."

"Oh soldiers of God, of 'flocks of birds "Our resistance - 'flocks of birds striking striking with stones of Sijjil' (Quran, Sura them with stones of Sijjil' (Quran, Sura 105:3-4) and crushing the tyranny of the 105:3-4)." villains."

See Palestinian Media Watch's earlier reports on Operation Pillar of Defense:

#1 on Ahmed Al-Ja'abari, head of Hamas' military wing. #2 on PA leaders' responses to killing of Al-Ja'abari. #3 on Hamas' false information about its success #4 on Hamas’ videos threatening to resume suicide attacks #5 on Hamas’ videos promising death to Israeli soldiers #6 on Hamas using civilians as human shields

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – November 18, 2012 PMW special report on Operation Pillar of Defense #8

Palestinian Authority responses to Pillar of Defense

Columnists in PA daily: "Like hidden snakes whose fangs bite in the darkness, the oppressing invaders (i.e., Israel) chase after our children"

"Childhood in Palestine [is] subject to killing, torture and fear of the executioner"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense is being condemned by Palestinian Authority leaders and the official media for a variety of reasons. Some have chosen to demonize Israel as a blood- thirsty state that intentionally targets children. Others have accused Israel of initiating the war for political purposes, either to gain an advantage before Israel's upcoming elections or to prevent the Palestinian UN statehood bid.

A regular columnist in the official PA daily wrote: "Like hidden snakes whose fangs bite in the darkness, the oppressing invaders (i.e., Israel) chase after our children... They have no shame. They are very happy to be snakes that stick out their tongues and slither with malice, and then attack, thirsty and hungry for human blood and liver." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 19, 2012]

A reporter on PA TV News repeated the allegation that Israel intentionally targets children: "It seems that targeting children is the identifying mark of [Israel's] repeated air strikes and the continuing Israeli bombings of the Gaza Strip." [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 16, 2012]

In the sports pages of the official PA daily, a regular columnist voiced the same opinion, viewing Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense as just another example of everyday life in "Palestine": "This is what childhood is like in Palestine: it is subject to killing, torture and fear of the executioner."

Addressing the head of the Union of European Football Associations Michel Platini in an open letter, he asked: "Isn't it a disgrace that this entity (i.e., Israel) commits acts like this, while you encourage fair play and honest competition? This is part of the entity's fair play

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against our children. Isn't it a disgrace that this entity remains a member of UEFA, [the organization] that you preside?" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 19, 2012]

Referring to Israel's "state terror against the Palestinian people" in letters to UN officials, the Palestinian Permanent Observer to the UN, Riyad Mansour stated: "Israel - the occupying authority - continues to carry out bombings from the air and fire missiles that intentionally target residential houses and the populated areas all over the Gaza Strip." (emphasis added) [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 19, 2012]

PA Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki stated: "Israel... deems Palestinian blood permissible and destroys what it pleases in the [Gaza] Strip, just as it kills, destroys, confiscates [land], arrests [Palestinians] and builds settlements every day in the West Bank, and in occupied Jerusalem." (emphasis added) [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 17, 2012]

In the name of the Palestinian leadership, the Foreign Minister placed "full responsibility on Israel for the consequences of this "assault" and "responsibility on the international community for the continuation and recurrence of these attacks against our beloved [Gaza] Strip. It is the silence of the international community that has encouraged the Israeli occupation to continue these aggressions."

His ministry "demanded of the international community, and particularly the International Quartet, to act immediately to end the aggression against Gaza, place full responsibility on the Israeli government for these crimes and their repercussions on the region and the world, and bring the criminals and murderers to justice in the relevant international courts."

At the same time, the PLO Executive Committee "called for sister Arab states to take whatever measures necessary to end and deter Israeli aggression in Gaza, including a reevaluation of relations with the occupation state, 'because this Israeli government strives to continue this war, to bring about the most widespread destruction in Palestinian territories, and present the world with a new fait accompli.'" (emphasis added)

From the beginning of Israel's air strikes, targeting the terror infrastructure in Gaza, PA Chairman Abbas accused Israel of attempting to derail the PA's diplomatic efforts to become accepted as a non-member at the UN:

"The President [said]: 'Everything Israel is doing is meant to undermine our efforts to go to the UN.'" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 17, 2012]

Meeting with other Arab leaders, Abbas said that the PA "warned that Israel intends to massacre our people." Abbas also warned the PA leadership that any Israeli escalation "will cause more destruction and bloodshed, and will increase the threat against the security and stability of the whole region." He interpreted Israel's "aggressive and unfair war against our people in [the] Gaza [Strip]," as an attempt to "strengthen the rift [between Fatah and Hamas] and deepen the separation between the two parts of the Palestinian Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

homeland and soil," and encouraged "national unity." (emphasis added)

The former head of Hamas' military wing Al-Ja'abari, who was responsible for numerous terror attacks against Israel and who was killed by Israel at the beginning of the operation, was praised by Fatah official and PA daily columnist Yahya Rabah as a "great Jihad fighter" and "heroic":

"Israel is trying yet again to upset the cart with a new bloody round of violence begun with the assassination of [Hamas'] Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades commander, our brother, the great Jihad fighter Ahmed Al-Ja'abari... the heroic Martyr (Shahid) Ahmed Al-Ja'abari, may Allah have mercy on him... We pray that he will be granted mercy and pardon, and that Allah will bring him to His most capacious garden, and that his family be accorded patience and comfort." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 16, 2012]

Fatah’s Revolutionary Council expressed its solidarity and support for the Palestinians in Gaza and “salute[d] ‘the brave resistance of all the factions in the Gaza Strip’”: “Fatah’s Revolutionary Council said that our [Palestinian] people is united in all its national battles against the occupation… The Council said… that the war against the Gaza Strip is a war against our whole people and its national existence. It [the Council] salutes ‘the brave resistance of all the factions in the Gaza Strip.’”

Others have said that Israel's "aggression against Gaza" is only for Israeli election purposes. In a press release, the PLO Executive Committee "stressed that the occupation state's barbaric and bloody aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza... is meant to drag the region into a bloody conflict, to re-shuffle the [political] deck... and take advantage of Palestinian blood in the [upcoming] Israeli elections market." (emphasis added)

Similarly, PLO's Ambassador to Moscow Faed Mustafa stated that "[Israeli] aircraft are attacking our people: our children, our women, and our old people. They are smashing their beds in the Gaza strip," the official PA daily reported. The article continued to describe how the ambassador "also pointed out that this bloody scene repeats itself every time elections are called in Israel."

Along the same lines, PA Minister of Religious Affairs Al-Habbash said that one of Israel's goals with the operation is "to use the Palestinian blood spilled in the streets of Gaza in the Israeli election game." [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 16, 2012]

See Palestinian Media Watch's earlier reports on Operation Pillar of Defense: #1 on Ahmed Al-Ja'abari, head of Hamas' military wing. #2 on PA leaders' responses to killing of Al-Ja'abari. #3 on Hamas' false information about its success #4 on Hamas' videos threatening to resume suicide attacks #5 on Hamas' videos promising death to Israeli soldiers #6 on Hamas using civilians as human shields #7 on Hamas attempting to scare Israelis

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The following are longer excerpts of the articles cited above:

Op-ed by regular columnist Adli Sadeq Headline: "The oppressors kill the nightingales" "Like hidden snakes whose fangs bite in the darkness, the oppressing invaders (i.e., Israel) chase after our children. They throw fire at their tender bodies, while the little ones' hearts full of love pour forth like rivers and see hope through the holes made in the walls by the raids! They have no shame. They are very happy to be snakes that stick out their tongues and slither with malice, and then attack, thirsty and hungry for human blood and liver... The oppressors who kill the nightingales lay the foundations for a war that will last one or two hundred years, while thinking that they are achieving security for themselves. The walls of disgrace and wretchedness in our [Arab] nation are collapsing... we will not remain for long in the cage under siege. Dams, walls, [political] calculations and policies separate us from the flow of a great nation whose rulers - with scarves that became worn from waving the flag of "peace" too much - caused it [the nation] pain and filled it with a sense of wretchedness! ... Salvation will only come when the walls collapse, so that we will stay far away from their alleged "peace." Then the cloud will dissipate along with the smog in it..." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 19, 2012]

PA TV News reporter: "It seems that targeting children is the identifying mark of [Israel's] repeated air strikes and the continuing Israeli bombings of the Gaza Strip." [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 16, 2012]

By sports columnist Bader Maki (open letter to the president of UEFA, Michel Platini)

Headline: "To Michel Platini, greetings from Palestine" "My dear general [Michel Platini], you are currently the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), and the Hebrew entity [Israel] is part of this union. Are you satisfied, my brother Michel, that this entity kills our children in Gaza? ... This is what childhood is like in Palestine: it is subject to killing, torture and fear of the executioner. Isn't it a disgrace that this entity commits acts like this, while you encourage fair play and honest competition? This is part of the entity's fair play against our children. Isn't it a disgrace that this entity remains a member of UEFA, [the organization] that you preside? How can you agree [to the fact] that this entity is above the law? You sow the love of the game and its moral values, and they kill us in the cradle. Michel, you must act so that this entity will not remain in your midst. It is time for this entity to leave [UEFA]... If you follow our news from Gaza, [you can see that] they bombard our infrastructure, our stadiums and our [sports] clubs. They want to eliminate our history, our present and the future of our children... This cursed entity must be kicked out of this sports union that believes in justice and fair play. The blood of [the children] Ahmed Abu Daqqa and his friends will not have been spilled in vain only if national unity is achieved. We must achieve it to honor the souls of our Martyrs (Shahids), especially those of our children who dazzled the world with only stones and RPGs in their hands. The occupier knows them well from the Intifada and Beirut." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 19, 2012]

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"The [Palestinian] Ambassador [to the UN,] Riyad Mansour (i.e., the Palestinian Permanent Observer to the UN) sent... letters to the president of the [UN] Security Council, the president of the [UN] General Assembly and the Secretary General of the UN, in which he informed them that Israel - the occupying authority - continues to carry out bombings from the air and fire missiles that intentionally target residential houses and the populated areas all over the Gaza Strip... Ambassador Mansour condemned in the harshest terms the Israeli military attacks and the continuation of the state terror against the Palestinian people. He stressed that many of the victims of this [Israeli] aggression are children, women and elderly Palestinians." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 19, 2012]

"Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki called to convene an emergency Arab Summit as soon as possible in order to take a responsible stand regarding the tragic situation that is recurring in Gaza and that continues in the rest of the occupied Palestinian territories. During his speech at the emergency meeting of the Arab foreign ministers this evening [Nov. 17, 2012] in Cairo... he said: 'The new challenge that we are now facing... is that Israel challenges all of us. It has again challenged all of the Arabs without considering their reactions or even [the reactions] of the entire world. It deems Palestinian blood permissible and destroys what it pleases in the [Gaza] Strip, just as it kills, destroys, confiscates [land], arrests [Palestinians] and builds settlements every day in the West Bank, and in occupied Jerusalem. We must show it [Israel] today that we have changed, and that the Arabs do not allow the continuation of this aggression and this occupation... The Palestinian leadership stands with our resolute people in the Gaza Strip. It supports them to the best of its ability, even though these abilities are limited. While it condemns the recent continuing Israeli assault against the Palestinian, his home, his infrastructure, his daily life, his safety and security, it also places full responsibility on Israel for the consequences of this assault. In addition, it places responsibility on the international community for the continuation and recurrence of these attacks against our beloved [Gaza] Strip. It is the silence of the international community that has encouraged the Israeli occupation to continue these aggressions." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 17, 2012]

"The Foreign Ministry demanded of the international community, and particularly the International Quartet, to act immediately to end the aggression against Gaza, place full responsibility on the Israeli government for these crimes and their repercussions on the region and the world, and bring the criminals and murderers to justice in the relevant international courts." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 17, 2012]

Headline: "They must reevaluate relations with Israel. PLO demands that Arabs call the Security Council to stop the aggression" "The PLO Executive Committee called for sister Arab states to take whatever measures necessary to end and deter Israeli aggression in Gaza, including a reevaluation of relations with the occupation state, 'because this Israeli government strives to continue this war, to bring about the most widespread destruction in Palestinian territories, and present the world with a new fait accompli.' In a press release yesterday evening (Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012), the Committee stressed that the occupation state's barbaric and bloody aggression against the Palestinian people Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

in Gaza - that has resulted in many Martyrs (Shahids) and wounded, first and foremost senior Hamas official Ahmad Ja'abari - is meant to drag the region into a bloody conflict, to re-shuffle the [political] deck, to avert attention from its daily aggressive actions against the Palestinian people, and to intensify [Israeli] settlement activity on the independent Palestinian state's land, and take advantage of Palestinian blood in the [upcoming] Israeli elections market." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 15, 2012]

"The President [Abbas] went on to say: 'Everything Israel is doing is meant to undermine our efforts to go to the UN, and he said: "We are going to the UN on the 29th of this month [November 2012] with the aim of having a vote (Ed: to upgrade Palestinian status to that of a non-member state) - not to submit an application, and nothing will prevent us from doing so.' ... The President noted that he has held discussions with all regional and international Arab bodies, and (he said): 'We warned that Israel intends to massacre our people.'" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 17, 2012]

Excerpt from Abbas' speech at the PA leadership's meeting on Nov. 18, 2012: "Israel continues its aggression for the fifth day in a row and threatens [to enter] a new phase of escalation of its military operation, something that will cause more destruction and bloodshed, and will increase the threat against the security and stability of the whole region... Through its aggressive and unfair war against our people in [the] Gaza [Strip], Israel is trying to strengthen the rift [between Fatah and Hamas] and deepen the separation between the two parts of the Palestinian homeland and soil. The Palestinian response to this aggression [should] first and foremost [be] to hurry and leave behind [us] the dark rift and restore the national unity... Besides the challenge of the aggression against Gaza, today the Palestinian people is facing additional challenges that are no less dangerous: the Judaization of Jerusalem, the expansion of the settlements and the continuous Israeli threats against the PLO in response to our UN petition [for non-member status]. Today we are all the more in need of Palestinian unity to face these challenges. Therefore today I call to convene an urgent meeting of leaders that will include the brothers, the members of the Executive Committee, the chairman of the National Council, the general secretaries of all the Palestinian factions as well as national Palestinian personalities agreed upon [by all parties] The aim is to discuss ways to face these challenges unified as one within the framework of the PLO the sole and legitimate representative of our people... I bless the multitudes of our people who started to [demonstrate] in the squares here in Jerusalem and in Ramallah, in other parts of the homeland and in the diaspora to show their support for our resolute people in Gaza. I encourage you to continue this blessed peaceful activity and to intensify it to convey to the world a united Palestinian voice calling it [the world] to become involved in order to stop this aggression." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 19, 2012]

Yahya Rabah, member of the Fatah Leadership Committee in Gaza and regular columnist for the official PA daily: Headline: "Israeli aggression and formulating a new Palestinian position!" "And so, Israel is trying yet again to upset the cart with a new bloody round of violence begun with the assassination of Izz A-Din Al-Qassam Brigades commander, our Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

brother, the great Jihad fighter Ahmed Al-Ja'abari who in recent years assumed a greater public political role as well -- as became clearly apparent at the Cairo talks among Palestinian factions. The fact that Israel's assassinating him was the first step in this bloody assault is significant in many ways regarding relations within Hamas and regarding the Palestinian state of affairs in general. This is so because the heroic Martyr (Shahid) Ahmed Al-Ja'abari, may Allah have mercy on him, was a levelheaded leader whose strong presence was always welcome throughout the Palestinian arena and in the Gaza Strip, where in particular he had an undisputedly important role in preventing the security forces from bullying, while maintaining good, balanced contacts with them all. We pray that he will be granted mercy and pardon, and that Allah will bring him to His most capacious garden, and that his family be accorded patience and comfort." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 16, 2012]

“Fatah’s Revolutionary Council said that our [Palestinian] people is united in all its national battles against the occupation… The Council said… that the war against the Gaza Strip is a war against our whole people and its national existence. It [the Council] salutes ‘the brave resistance of all the factions in the Gaza Strip.’” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 21, 2012]

"[The Palestinian Student Union] ceremony included a number of speeches, first of which was by the Palestinian Ambassador to Moscow, Faed Mustafa, who noted that the meeting was taking place with the roar of [Israeli] aircraft in the background, aircraft that are attacking our people: Our children, our women, and our old people. They are smashing their beds in the Gaza strip. He also pointed out that this bloody scene repeats itself every time elections are called in Israel." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 17, 2012]

PA Minister of Religious Affairs Al-Habbash: "One of Israel's goals with the operation is to "to use the Palestinian blood spilled in the streets of Gaza in the Israeli election game." [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 16, 2012]

Bulletin – November 27, 2012 Hamas: Killing Jews is worship of Allah

"Repeat in the name of your Jihad: Death to Israel!"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

During the eight-day military conflict between Hamas and Israel, Hamas broadcast various ideological messages on its official Al-Aqsa TV station. One recurring message called for the killing of Jews, which Hamas defined as a religious Islamic act in worship of Allah. During one music video, these words were shown on the screen:

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"Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah"

The following are additional lyrics from the video which boasted of "terrifying the Jews" and glorified Hamas' military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades: "[Oh] lovers of the trigger: Killing the occupiers [Israelis] is worship that Allah made into law... Arabic text on sign: 'Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah' Arise, oh determined men. The color of [the Martyr's] blood protects the land. Oh masked one wearing a keffiyeh (i.e., Arab head scarf), terrifying the Jews... call out in Zionism's face: 'Muhammad's army has begun to return.'"

Click to view

Another song on Hamas TV also bragged about killing Jews in a series of short phrases highlighting the achievements of Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades:

"Brigades - we kidnap soldiers, Brigades - we kill Jews"

While the song was broadcast in Arabic, Hebrew words appeared on the screen addressing Israelis, while pictures of Israelis being attacked and of an Israeli funeral were shown:

"Your body parts are scattered everywhere" "The cemeteries await you"

Click to view

This song also had an Islamic aspect as it called for liberating the land for Islam: "Destroy the usurper's dens and set fire to the oppressors Through training and preparations, you roar, oh lion of Qassam [Brigades] It's in your hands to get [our] country back and then we will raise the banner of Islam."

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Even the ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities did not end the Hamas hate promotion. The day after Hamas signed a ceasefire agreement with Israel, the same Islamic ideology was broadcast in a different music video:

"Repeat in the name of your Jihad: Death to Israel!"

While showing footage of explosions and Hamas fighters firing rockets, this song called to "destroy" Israel - "the house of absolute evil" and "the enemies of humanity."

Click to view

Hamas calling to kill Jews is not new. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that both Hamas and the PA in the past have called for killing Jews. PMW has also documented that both Hamas and the PA describe the conflict with Israel in religious terms as a war for Allah and not merely a territorial conflict.

The following are longer excerpts of the broadcasts on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV:

"Bless [Hamas'] Al-Qassam men, guardians of Palestine... Oh pride of Salah Shahada, oh wisdom of Immad [Aqel] (i.e., Hamas leaders killed by Israel) [Oh] the explosives of [Yahya] Ayyash (i.e., Hamas bomb maker killed by Israel), Martyrdom, [Oh] lovers of the trigger: Killing the occupiers [Israelis] is worship that Allah made into law... Arabic text on sign: 'Killing Jews is worship that draws us close to Allah' Arise, oh determined men. The color of [the Martyr's] blood protects the land. Oh masked one wearing a keffiyeh (i.e., Arab head scarf), terrifying the Jews... call out in Zionism's face: 'Muhammad's army has begun to return.'" [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 15, 2012]

"We are [Hamas' Al-Qassam] Brigades Brigades - we kidnap soldiers Brigades - we kill Jews Brigades - we watch the borders Brigades - we ride at night Brigades - on horseback Brigades - we are not afraid of death Brigades - gear up your weapon Gear up, gear up Prepare the force Prepare, prepare Prepare the force and get ready Destroy the usurper's dens and set fire to the oppressors Through training and preparations, you roar, oh lion of Qassam It's in your hands to get [our] country back and then we will raise the banner of Islam." Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

In addition to the song in Arabic, Hebrew words appeared on screen addressing Israelis as pictures of Israelis being attacked and of a funeral were shown: "Your body parts are scattered everywhere" "The cemeteries await you" [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 21, 2012]

Hamas music video broadcast the day after Hamas and Israel signed a ceasefire agreement:

"Destroy the throne of Zion, the house of absolute evil... Raise the banner of victory Be like the fire of a volcano... Repeat in the name of your Jihad: Death to Israel! ... With blood and fire, resist until freedom Defeat the soldiers of aggression, the enemies of humanity." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 22, 2012]

Bulletin – November 28, 2012

PMW op-ed in JPost: Did Israel kill Yasser Arafat? And if so, was it justified?

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Did Israel kill Yasser Arafat? That is the question being discussed as the Palestinian Authority exhumes his body this week for French prosecutors investigating his death. This follows the announcement by a Swiss institute that they found remnants of the poison polonium on Arafat's clothes.

However, the more fundamental questions are why would Israel have wanted to kill Arafat and would it have been justified. The assessment must be based on the objective data as to Arafat's role at the time. Was he just a political leader or was he also an archterrorist leading the most systematic and deadly terror war that Israel ever faced? Yasser Arafat died in November 2004 after four years of a PA terror campaign, also called the second intifada. One thousand Israelis had already been murdered in attacks coming from PA territory under Arafat's leadership.

Was Arafat directing this terror campaign? If so, he would belong in the same category as terror leaders like Osama bin Laden and Hamas leader Ahmad Yassin, who were killed by the US and Israel respectively, as measures in the war on terror being fought by Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

democracies.

Evidence abounds that Arafat was the force behind the terror war against Israel. First, the PA actively promoted terror and glorified terror through the structures under Arafat's control.

PA-owned official TV was used repeatedly to call for killing Jews in the name of Islam.

For example, Ahmed Yusuf Abu Halabiah, a Palestinian religious leader, preached on PA TV: "The Jews are the Jews ... it is necessary to slaughter them and murder them, according to the words of Allah ... It is forbidden to have mercy in your hearts for the Jews in any place and in any land ... Any place that you meet them - kill them ... Have no mercy on the Jews, murder them everywhere." (PA TV, October 13, 2000)

Likewise, PA cleric Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Madi preached: "I was delighted when a youth said to me: 'Oh, Sheikh, I am 14 years old, I have four more years, and then I will blow myself up among Allah's enemies' ... We blow them up in Hadera, we blow them up in Tel Aviv and in Netanya ... they will not be deterred except by the color of the blood of their filthy people. They will not be deterred unless we blow ourselves up willingly and voluntarily among them." (PA TV, August 3, 2001) Then as now, PA TV was the official PA mouthpiece and controlled by the PA leadership.

It is impossible that ongoing directives like these to kill Israelis/Jews could have been expressed regularly for four years unless Arafat wanted it.

A second indicator that Arafat supported the killings was the way the PA honored those who succeeded in killing Israelis, including suicide bombers. For example, PA TV repeatedly broadcast a song-tribute honoring Wafa Idris, the first female suicide bomber, who killed one and wounded more than 150 Israelis: "My sister Wafa ... Oh the heartbeat of pride, Oh blossom who was on earth and is now in Heaven. Allah Akbar! [Allah is greater] ... you chose Martyrdom. In death you have brought life to the aspiration." (PA TV, May 1, 2002)

The PA leaders actively gave their stamp of approval for murders that were committed by all the various terror organizations. In 2003, the PA Ministry of Education held the Abd Al-Baset Udeh football tournament for 14-year-olds, named after the suicide terrorist who killed 31 at the Passover celebration in Netanya. Each team in the tournament was named after a Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

different terrorist. (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 21, 2003) Another example was when the PA held a football tournament, sponsored by the top PA leadership including Arafat, Saeb Erekat, the Mufti, the minister of sport and others. The event honored the "Martyrs of the Palestinian National Struggle" and the teams were named after 24 "martyrs," including: Hamas bomb-maker Yahya Ayyash; head of the terrorist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Abu Ali Mustafa; Fatah's Dalal Mughrabi, whose bus hijacking killed 37, and 21 other "martyrs."

Had the PA not supported suicide terror and not wanted to encourage more terror, as some Arafat apologists claim, these sermons inciting murder and genocide would not have been preached on official PA TV by PA clerics, suicide bombers like Idris would not have been honored by official PA TV, and sporting events glorifying terrorists like Udeh would not have been held by the PA Ministry of Education. And these are only representative examples among many.

More evidence that Arafat and the PA were actively directing the terror war is found in the testimonies of PA leaders themselves, both during the campaign and since its conclusion.

In 2002, the year 452 Israelis were murdered by Palestinian terror, Mazen Izzadin, deputy director of PA National Education, said proudly on PA TV that Arafat was directing the entire campaign: "The Al- Aqsa intifada - if we want to be truthful and open, history will reveal one day - that it [the intifada] and all its directives belong to the President and Supreme Commander Yasser Arafat." (PA TV, May 28, 2002)

Ashraf al-Ajrami, former PA minister of prisoners, likewise credited Arafat with being responsible for the terror war: "The master of resistance is, without doubt ... Yasser Arafat. Even this intifada, whose flag Hamas has tried to wave unjustly, forcibly, falsely and fraudulently - that flag belongs to Yasser Arafat alone ... The greatest number of [Palestinian] prisoners is from the [PA] security forces [under Arafat]. They are the ones who bore arms and carried out the greatest and most important [military] operations." (PA TV June 29, 2009)

More than once, PA leaders have emphasized Arafat's duplicitous strategy of condemning the terror as part of a facade to please the West and conceal his responsibility and at the same time orchestrate it and encourage Palestinian terror.

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Sultan Abu al-Einein, currently an advisor to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, explained: "Yasser Arafat used to condemn martyrdom operations [i.e., suicide attacks]. He used to condemn these operations in very severe terms, but at the same time, it is clearly determined that the martyr Yasser Arafat financed these military operations." (Al-Quds TV, April 6, 2009)

Muhammad Dahlan, then member of the Fatah Central Committee, also highlighted Arafat's successful deception strategy: "Arafat would condemn [military] operations [i.e., terror attacks] by day while at night he would do honorable things. I don't want to say any more about this." (PA TV, July 22, 2009)

Even the current PA chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, has admitted publicly that Arafat and the Palestinian Authority were the ones who ordered the killings. During a PA TV interview, Abbas argued for the release of all terrorists in Israeli prisons, saying: "I demand [the release of] prisoners because they are human beings, who did what we, we, ordered them to do. We - the [Palestinian] Authority. They should not be punished while we sit at one table negotiating. This is war. One [i.e., Israel] ordered a soldier to kill, and I ordered my son, brother, or others, to carry out the duty of resistance. This person killed and the other person killed." (PA TV, February 14, 2005) Significantly, Abbas admitted that it was "we" - the PA led by Arafat - who had given the orders to kill. The killers according to Abbas were merely following orders, and "did what we, we, ordered them to do."

Arafat, according to Abbas himself, had instructed his people that killing Israelis, even civilians, was their "duty of resistance."

So was Arafat the leader of the terror war responsible for the murder of over 1,000 Israeli civilians. His religious leaders called to kill Jews. His social frameworks and media glorified those who succeeded in murdering Israelis. Abbas said Arafat "ordered them... to kill" and al- Einein said Arafat "condemned" and "financed" the same suicide bombings.

In fact, the people closest to Arafat and the current internal Palestinian narrative, unanimously credit Arafat with the decision to start the terror war and the overall responsibility for the killings.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Did Israel kill Arafat? Certainly, there is no evidence of it, nor is it the critical question. What is important is that Arafat's role as the terror leader made him no different than the other terrorists who pulled the triggers or detonated suicide belts. The year was 2004. Over 1,000 Israelis had already been murdered under Arafat's guidance and direction. Arafat wasn't just a political leader during a conflict; he was leading a terror war that was targeting and murdering civilians at every opportunity.

There was ample justification if Israel had wanted to kill him.

Itamar Marcus is director and Nan Jacques Zilberdik senior analyst of Palestinian Media Watch. They are the authors of Deception: Betraying the Peace Process.

[The Jerusalem Post, Nov. 27, 2012]

Bulletin – November 22, 2012 Two Palestinian goals at UN: Have all disputed land declared "occupied" and have terrorists declared legitimate freedom fighters

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Palestinian Authority wishes to achieve a number of political gains by having the UN vote today, recognizing "Palestine" as a non-member observer state. First, all lands that are disputed and whose future must be negotiated according to the Oslo Accords, the PA wants declared Palestinian "occupied territory." Second, they claim that UN recognition would change the status of Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons to legitimate freedom fighters and prisoners of war.

1- Changing the status of land under Israeli administration since 1967 to "occupied territory"

PA Foreign Minister Riad Al-Maliki: "If Palestine receives status of a non-member state in the General Assembly, there will be positive effects on all levels in the future... Israel will no longer be able to define the occupied territories as disputed lands. They will become lands of a separate, occupied state." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 24, 2012]

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "During a speech at a meeting of the Arab League Ministerial Council, President Abbas said: ... 'We will hand in the application and request that it be voted on this November 29... We want to establish that the Palestinian territories that were [taken] in 1967 including Jerusalem [are occupied], since Israel has a different approach. It says that the territories occupied in 1967 are disputed territories. In other words, up for negotiations'" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 13, 2012]

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2- Changing the status of Palestinian terrorists who have targeted civilians into legitimate fighters and prisoners of war

"Minister of Prisoners, Issa Karake said that the [PA] leadership's application to the UN to wrest [from it] international recognition of a Palestinian state, which is not a member of the UN, will raise the legal status of the prisoners and will offer international protection of their rights and their honor... He said that the prisoners will become captives of a state (i.e., Palestine), hostages and detainees in another state (i.e., Israel). The state's (Palestine's) legal status will turn them into prisoners of war who are detained illegally in the prisons inside Israel." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 13, 2012]

Already last year, PA Minister of Prisoners Karake said that UN recognition would indicate that the international community retroactively legitimizes Palestinian terror:

"[PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa] Karake... explained that the international recognition of the Palestinian State changes all the imprisoned Palestinians into prisoners of a state, prisoners of war held hostage in another state... He noted that the recognition of the state means recognition of the legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle that the Palestinian nation fought, in the search for freedom and independence. In addition, it [recognition of a state] indicates that the struggles (Arabic- Nidalat) of the prisoners are legitimized and legal according to UN Resolutions, international laws and the third and fourth Geneva Conventions." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 8, 2011]

Note: The Palestinian Authority uses the word nidal - literally 'struggle' - as a general term that includes all acts against Israel - including terror against civilians.

Earlier this year, Palestinian Media Watch released a bulletin explaining the Palestinian Authority strategy. Last year, the PA went to the UN requesting full statehood recognition. In the days following last year's request for statehood, official PA TV celebrated the request by playing clips that show maps of the future Palestinian state. As opposed to Abbas' declaration at the UN recognizing Israel, the maps on PA TV showed a Palestinian state replacing Israel.

[PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 24, 2011]

The following are longer excerpts of the article on Karake's statements:

Headline: "Karake: Our application to the UN [to achieve] recognition of the State of Palestine will raise the legal status of the prisoners" "Minister of Prisoners, Issa Karake said that the [PA] leadership's application to the UN to wrest [from it] international recognition of a Palestinian state which is not a member of the UN will raise the legal status of the prisoners and will offer international protection of their rights and their honor... He said that the prisoners will become Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

captives of a state (i.e., Palestine), hostages and detainees in another state (i.e., Israel). The state's (Palestine's) legal status will turn them into prisoners of war who are detained illegally in the prisons inside Israel. He added: 'If the State of Palestine is recognized, it will be easy for us to call on the parties to the Geneva Conventions to assemble in order to apply the Geneva Conventions to the territories of the occupied state. This includes [applying the Conventions to] the prisoners and in addition, we will be able to prosecute the Israelis and hold them accountable for actions and crimes that have been committed and continue to be committed against the prisoners in prison.'" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 13, 2012]

Bulletin – December 5, 2012 PA radio song praises suicide bombings against Israelis:

"We are bombs when the homeland calls... We strapped ourselves with explosives... and praised Him [Allah] for the Martyrdom"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Voice of Palestine radio has broadcast a song glorifying suicide bombings targeting Israelis. The song on the official Palestinian Authority radio station was played two days after the PA was granted observer status at the UN, and included these words: "We are bombs... the enemies were beheaded... Grieve not, Mother, shed no tears over my torn flesh... heroic men who mock death... We praised the Lord, and set out for Martyrdom (Shahada). We strapped ourselves with explosives, and trusted in Allah... Onward men, on the roads to glory."

Click to hear

The song also glorified Martyrdom (Shahada - death for Allah) in general, and praised Allah for the opportunity to die for Him: "We trusted in [Allah] the Merciful and praised Him for the Martyrdom (Shahada)"

The song presented suicide bombings that killed Israelis as worthy Islamic religious deeds. The song described leaving for the suicide bombing with the words: "We praised the Lord, and set out for Shahada." According to Islamic belief, Shahada - Martyrdom death for Allah - is a lofty achievement. The Shahid - the Martyr - is rewarded by Allah with Paradise. Since suicide bombings are portrayed as a way to achieve Shahada, killing Israelis in suicide attacks is presented in the song as the fulfillment of Allah's will.

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Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA policy of promoting Martyrdom death for Allah.

Another religious component in the song was the call to "sacrifice oneself," which imitated the language of the Muslim call to prayer:

From the Muslim call to prayer: "Allah Akbar (Allah is Greater)... Come to prayer"

From the song: "Allah Akbar (Allah is Greater)... Come to self-sacrifice"

Click to hear

The following is the transcript of the song on official PA radio Voice of Palestine:

Introductory narration of song: "We have accepted [our] death, so that Jerusalem will return We are bombs, friends, when the homeland calls My heart, with fury, exploded and scattered The shrapnel of this life flew and the enemies were beheaded Grieve not, Mother, shed no tears over my torn flesh Gather [my] bones, Mother, return them to the earth..."

Palestinian singer, Abu Arab: "Allah Akbar (Allah is Greater)! If you summon: "Come to self-sacrifice" You will meet heroic men who mock death... We praised the Lord, and set out for Martyrdom (Shahada) We strapped ourselves with explosives, and trusted in Allah Carry the load, heroes, show disaster to the settler Neither day nor night will be sweet for him - until he leaves us. Raise your fire. Raise! Burn the settler with it. For the sake of Jerusalem and our holy place We strapped ourselves with explosives We trusted in [Allah] the Merciful and praised Him for the Martyrdom (Shahada) Onward, onward, men, on the roads to glory... We praised the Lord, and set out for Martyrdom (Shahada) We strapped on the explosives, and trusted in Allah." [PA radio Voice of Palestine, Dec. 1, 2012]

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Bulletin – December 9, 2012 Hamas: Martyrdom death for Allah is ideal "We love death more than you love life" "You [Israel] scare us with what we love"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

During Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense that aimed to destroy Hamas' terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, Hamas' TV propaganda included various ideological messages. Palestinian Media Watch documented one such message that promoted the killing of Jews as worship of Allah. Another ideological message promoted the Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood interpretation of Islamic tradition that places love of Martyrdom death for Allah - Shahada - above the desire for life. Addressing Israelis, Hamas' spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said:

"You [Israelis] think that we will be afraid of your killing policy and of these threats. We say to you: This policy is futile. Hamas leaders seek Martyrdom (i.e., death for Allah). You scare us with what we love (i.e., death)."

Click to view

The same spokesman presented Martyrdom death fighting Israel as the supreme achievement when he spoke of the head of Hamas' military wing, Ahmad Al-Ja'abari, who Israel killed at the outset of the conflict, stressing that death was his greatest aspiration: "The commander, the great Martyr (Shahid) Al-Ja'abari, achieved his greatest aspirations (i.e., when killed by Israel)."

A video broadcast on Hamas' Al-Aqsa TV during the recent conflict addressed Israelis with the same message: "From the Al-Qassam Brigades to the Zionist soldiers: The Al-Qassam Brigades love death more than you love life." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

Click to view

PMW has documented that both Hamas and the PA in the past have glorified and encouraged Martyrdom death for Allah.

During the recent conflict, Hamas also encouraged and comforted "every mother who has bid farewell to her beloved Martyrs" - her dead children - with the ideology that it is an honor to die:

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"Adorn yourself with a crown with inlaid blood. This is the blood of honor, for honor will not be disgraced." As this is read aloud, pictures of women embracing dead children and children being buried are shown.

Click to view

Since Hamas hides and launches its rockets against Israel from among the civilian population, innocent Palestinians lose their lives as Hamas uses them as human shields. Hamas has publicly acknowledged and prided itself in the past on the tactic of using "women, children, the elderly" as "a human shield." In 2008, member of Hamas' Legislative Council, Fathi Hamad, stated: "[Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire death, as you desire life."

The Hamas ideology that Martyrdom death is preferable to life is not a message that is acceptable in international discourse. Accordingly, during a press conference in both Arabic and English, Hamas' Minister of Health Mufid Al-Mukhalalati said in English to the international community: "We are human, we like life. We would like to live like other people living." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012] However, he did not make this statement in Arabic.

The following are longer excerpts of Hamas' broadcasts:

Statement by Hamas' spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, after Israel killed head of Hamas' military wing Ahmed Al-Ja'abari, explaining that achieving death while fighting Israel is what Palestinians "love": "We say to the occupier: You [Israelis] think that by killing us we will go underground. You think that we will be afraid of your killing policy and of these threats. We say to you: This policy is futile when dealing with leaders like Hamas leaders. Hamas leaders seek Martyrdom (i.e., death for Allah). You scare us with what we love (i.e., death). The commander, the great Martyr (Shahid) Al-Ja'abari, achieved his greatest aspirations (i.e., when killed by Israel and thereby achieving death as a "Martyr")." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 18, 2012]

The following is the text written and read aloud in a short clip about mothers of "Martyrs" on Hamas' TV: "To every mother who has bid farewell to her beloved Martyrs: Adorn yourself with a crown of inlaid blood. This is the blood of honor, for honor will not be disgraced." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 19, 2012]

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Member of Hamas' Legislative Council, Fathi Hamad speaking in 2008: "For the Palestinian people death became an industry at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire Death, as you desire Life." [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Feb. 29, 2008]

Bulletin – December 12, 2012 New Fatah logo erases Israel

Official logo celebrating Fatah's 48th anniversary includes map that shows all of Israel as "Palestine"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The official Palestinian Authority daily published a picture of the official logo chosen by Fatah for celebrations marking the movement's 48th anniversary. The logo features various symbols, including a map of "Palestine" that includes all of Israel, the number 48, the Palestinian flag, and the slogan for the 48th anniversary: "The state and the victory."

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that official PA maps do not acknowledge Israel's existence and mark all of Israel as "Palestine." The maps appear in all official frameworks including schools, government offices, official PA media, logos, at events and in official documents.

Other symbols central to Fatah ideology also appear in the logo, including a rifle and a key symbolizing the Palestinian claim of ownership to houses within Israel (see letters in yellow). The pattern in the map is reminiscent of the Palestinian keffiyeh-scarf. The dove breaking the chain symbolizes the freeing of all Palestinian prisoners. The golden dome represents both Islam and the Palestinian claim to Jerusalem.

The following is the article announcing the new logo in the official PA daily:

"Senior Fatah official in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Rabah, stressed that the movement this year will hold a big, central rally in the Gaza Strip on the day of the 48th anniversary of the beginning of the Palestinian revolution. Rabah explained to Ma'an that the event will be held considering the atmosphere of reconciliation and unity that has prevailed in the Palestinian arena in the last few weeks following the accomplishments in the battlefield (i.e., the Hamas- Israel military conflict in Gaza November 2012) and the accomplishments at the UN (i.e., UN

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vote granting "Palestine" observer status). The organizing committee for the 48th anniversary of the Fatah movement approved this year's main anniversary logo... [The rally] will take place in Gaza to mark the 48th anniversary of the modern Palestinian revolution under the slogan 'the state and the victory.'" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 10, 2012]

Bulletin – December 13, 2012 Fatah glorifies Hamas rockets from Gaza against Israel and supports armed conflict:

Fatah political leaders: Abbas Zaki: “May Allah bless Hamas… Nothing matters to me now except Israel's defeat” Jamal Muhaisen: “We praise and salute every hand that launched a rocket at Israel” Nabil Shaath: "May Allah have mercy on the hero [Hamas’] Ahmed Al- Ja'abari" Jibril Rajoub: “We will not return the sword to its sheath until there is a state” Mahmoud Al-Aloul: Hopefully Arab Spring will create climate for Palestinian armed struggle

Fatah military wing: We will continue “attacks until every last part of Palestine is liberated” Armed struggle is “sole solution for liberating land and eradicating occupation” We wanted “to respond and avenge his [Ahmed Al-Ja'abari’s] pure blood”

Official PA daily columnist: "The Heroic performance [of Hamas and Islamic Jihad] succeeded in bombing operations inside Israel... The bombing of a bus [in Tel Aviv], injuring 20 people, [was] an act that baffled the Israeli leadership"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Palestinian Authority and Fatah condemned Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense that aimed at destroying Hamas’ terror infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. It never once condemned Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israel during the 8-day conflict.

Instead, senior PA and Fatah leaders “bless Hamas,” “praise and salute” the launching of rockets against Israel, and even advocate “armed struggle.”

Five Fatah Central Committee members have recently lauded Hamas and Islamic Jihad for their rocket attacks against Israel and/or promoted the use of armed struggle.

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Abbas Zaki, member of Fatah’s Central Committee, said after the recent conflict in Gaza: “My feelings towards Hamas have softened. I salute them... May Allah bless Islamic Jihad, may Allah bless Hamas... I’m in favor of a Palestinian victory in Gaza, Hamas’ and [Islamic] Jihad’s victory. Nothing matters to me now except Israel's defeat.”

Click to view

His admiration for Hamas’ attacks on Israeli civilians was shared by fellow Central Committee member Jamal Muhaisen: “We of course praise our people’s resolve in Gaza. We praise and salute every hand that launched a rocket at Israel from Gaza, and every hand that threw a stone at the Israeli side in the West Bank.” (emphasis added)

Similarly, a regular columnist for the official PA daily expressed his satisfaction with “the heroic performance of the resistance organizations” (i.e., Hamas and Islamic Jihad) who succeeded in making “Palestinian resistance missiles reach] Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Eilat, surprising and baffling the Israeli leaders,” and who developed “the national response” in such a way that it “even advanced to bombing operations inside Israel… with the bombing of a bus [in Tel Aviv], injuring 20 people – an act that baffled the Israeli leadership even more.”

Senior PA leader Nabil Shaath also expressed solidarity with Hamas, mourning the death of “hero” Ahmed Al-Ja’abari, head of Hamas’ military wing who was killed by Israel: “May Allah have mercy on the hero Ahmed Al-Ja'abari and on all the Martyrs.”

Click to view

Reinforcing these Fatah members’ praise of Hamas’ terror against Israel, other Fatah Central Committee members have continued advocating the resumption of “armed struggle” against Israel. At a public gathering in Ramallah, senior PA leader Jibril Rajoub vowed: “Whoever invades our territory, will leave in a pine box. This land is our land… Let those terrorists (i.e., Israeli leaders) and the people supporting them – this government that carries out official terrorism, that brings us Baruch Marzel (advisor to right wing Israeli MP) and that cockroach named Liberman (Israeli Foreign Minister) – let them get out. …Out of loyalty to your blood, Arafat, you who died during this month, we will not return the sword to its sheath until there is a state, until your aspirations are Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

realized, until the refugees are returned. I say to you that the return [of the refugees] is among the holiest things for Fatah and all Palestinians. Resistance – in all its forms – is Fatah’s strategic right. Come, let’s agree -- and we are ready – if there’s shooting, we’ll shoot. If there are demonstrations, we’ll demonstrate. Long live Palestine! Long live Palestine!”

Click to view

Earlier this year Rajoub also stated that: “We still believe in all forms of the struggle. No one has removed the rifle from the equation.”

In October, another Fatah Central Committee member, Mahmoud Al-Aloul, reiterated that support for “armed struggle” against Israel is still a value in Fatah and the PA: “No one has eliminated armed struggle or resistance as an option,” he said to the private Palestinian TV channel Wattan. Referring to the text of Fatah’s “Political Program” that was confirmed at the 6th Fatah Conference in 2009, Al-Aloul said: “Fatah believes that resistance, in all its forms, is the legitimate right of occupied nations when confronting their occupiers. I do not think that there's a single Palestinian who has eliminated resistance, or any form of resistance whatsoever, from consideration, or from his plans.”

Click to view

In September, Abu Muhammad, spokesman for a unit of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah’s military wing), also referred to the “legitimate right,” saying that “it is important to see the armed struggle as strategy rather than a tactic, and as a legitimate right and the sole solution for liberating the land and eradicating the occupation."

Similarly, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, in a press release in October “demanded of all the factions [carrying out] armed actions that they return to the option of resistance in confronting the occupation, and emphasized that they will continue the resistance in all its forms. They said that there is no ceasefire with Israel and pointed out that they won’t stop their attacks until every last part of Palestine is liberated.” (emphasis added)

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades’ response to Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense was that “from the first moment after the assassination of Commander Ahmed Ja’abari, the Brigades thought to respond and avenge his pure blood.” Such were the words of spokesman Abu Muhammad, who also prided himself on how they “managed to fire three rockets half an hour after his death as a Martyr was announced,” and how “the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades fired 600 rockets and mortar shells towards the occupied territories during the days of aggression.” (emphasis added)

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A “fighter” in the Brigades said that “the war is over, but the Brigades’ supply of weapons and rockets is not exhausted, and we are ready for confrontation at this very moment, and we will not give up our weapons under any circumstances.” (emphasis added)

In his interview to Wattan TV in October, Al-Aloul also referred to another pillar of PA ideology: The need for timing the violence and alternating it with diplomatic efforts for political gain. Stating that “armed resistance has absolutely not been eliminated from anyone's options,” Al-Aloul specified that Fatah hopes “the 'Arab Spring'… will create the climate so that the Palestinians can employ it." “Every form of resistance has certain conditions that are necessary for its use. So every phase has a particular form of resistance best suited to it, and everyone has agreed that at this stage, that form is popular resistance (i.e., non-violent). At the same time, armed resistance has absolutely not been eliminated from anyone's options. It needs a suitable climate not only among us... We hope that what is being spoken of as the ‘Arab Spring’ and changes in the Arab world will create the climate so that the Palestinians can employ it (i.e., armed resistance).” (emphasis added)

PMW’s book Deception describes and documents the “terror needs timing” principle adopted by PA leaders. The use of “armed resistance” must be timed correctly for political benefit. Whenever it is perceived as undermining Palestinian political interests, the PA puts its promotion of violence and the use of “armed resistance” on hold, and instead encourages the use of political diplomacy and other non-violent means of “resistance.” Palestinian leaders have defined this strategy as “the rifle seeds, diplomacy reaps.”

Palestinian terror attacks have been criticized by PA leaders for their “bad timing” and for hurting Palestinian national interests, but never for being immoral. The PA continues to promote violence and glorify terrorists as heroes.

Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA’s continued promotion of use of the “armed struggle.”

Read reviews of PMW's book Deception and purchase it here.

The following are longer excerpts of the statements mentioned above:

Abbas Zaki, Member of Fatah Central Committee: “My feelings towards Hamas have softened. I salute them. I congratulate them for learning the lessons of 2008-2009 (previous Israel-Hamas conflict). They gave us great pleasure. May Allah bless them. (Note: Islamic Jihad and Hamas launched more than 1,000 rockets and missiles at Israeli cities during the 8-day conflict.) They told the Israelis that this is no joy ride... May Allah bless Islamic Jihad, may Allah bless Hamas. They decided to die to earn this honor... I’m in favor of a Palestinian victory in Gaza, Hamas’ and [Islamic] Jihad’s victory. Nothing matters to me now except Israel's defeat.” [Wattan TV, (Palestinian private channel), Nov. 21, 2012]

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PA TV show “Topic of the Day” discusses the ramifications of the cease fire between the Palestinian factions and Israel in the November 2012 conflict between Israel and Gaza with guest Dr. Jamal Muhaisen, member of Fatah Central Committee. Member of Fatah Central Committee Jamal Muhaisen: “We say again: We of course praise our people’s resolve in Gaza. We praise and salute every hand that launched a rocket at Israel from Gaza, and every hand that threw a stone at the Israeli side in the West Bank. And here, when signing agreements, it must not be done as if the battle was between Israel and Hamas only. The battle was [between Israel] and all the Palestinians.” [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 22, 2012]

Senior PA leader and member of Fatah Central Committee Nabil Shaath: “We are all gathered here [in Gaza] because of the unity [between Fatah and Hamas]. This unity will win further victories for us. Blessings to the Martyrs, and may Allah have mercy on the hero Ahmed Al-Ja'abari and on all the Martyrs.” [Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas), Nov. 22, 2012]

Note: Ahmed Al-Ja'abari was the head of Hamas' military wing and responsible for deaths of dozens of Israelis. He was killed by Israel at the start of Israel's Operation Pillar of Defense, aimed at crippling the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza (November 2012).

The following is a longer excerpt of member of Fatah Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub’s statements at a ceremony in Ramallah on the occasion of the PA’s application for observer state status at the UN in November 2012. Member of Fatah Central Committee, Jibril Rajoub: "We are Muslims and Christians, and there are people here from the Neturei Karta (i.e., anti-Zionist ultra- Orthodox Jews). We welcome you. In our eyes, you are Judaism's conscience. We in Islam recognize the three religions - there are Muslims, there are Jews, and there are Christians. The crimes that have been committed -- I think that what was done in the 1940's, they could take a lesson from Liberman and Netanyahu, from how they are committing crimes against the Palestinian nation. But the fact that a Palestinian can say this kind of thing is living proof that we are a nation with values and with a cause. And that we in fact look forward to a time of co-existence as there is between Christians and Muslims. That's how it will be among all religions. However, the Israeli occupation is unacceptable and the Israeli aggression is unacceptable. And those settlers - their place is in history's garbage dump. And from now I declare that we shall set up committees, we will form [human] chains. We will guard the olive trees, we will guard the mosques and we will guard the churches. Whoever invades our territory, will leave in a wooden plank (i.e., in a coffin). This land is our land... Let those terrorists and the people supporting them - this government that carries out official terrorism, that brings us Baruch Marzel (advisor to right wing Israeli MP) and that cockroach named Liberman (Israeli Foreign Minister) - let them get out... Out of loyalty to your blood, Yasser Arafat, you who died during this month, we will not return the sword to its sheath until there is a state, until your aspirations are realized, until the refugees are returned. I say to you that the return [of the refugees] is among the holiest things for Fatah and all Palestinians. Resistance - in all its forms - is Fatah's strategic right. Come, let's agree -- and we are ready - if there's shooting, we'll shoot. If there are demonstrations, we'll demonstrate.

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Long live Palestine! Long live Palestine! Mercy on our Martyrs (Shahids) with no exceptions, and Yasser Arafat first." [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 29, 2012, emphasis added]

Fatah Central Committee member, Jibril Rajoub: “This is a popular struggle. We still believe in all forms of the struggle. No one has removed the rifle from the equation. However, for us, the struggle is a means, and the end is freedom and independence.” [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 5, 2012]

The following is a longer excerpt of Fatah Central Committee member Al-Aloul’s statement on armed struggle: PA TV host: “Have the Palestinians, or the PLO, removed from their lexicon the term ‘revolution,’ in the sense of armed revolution?” Member of the Fatah Central Committee, Mahmoud Al-Aloul: “No. No one has eliminated armed struggle or resistance as an option. Recently, at the last Fatah conference, there was an important declaration in the Introduction to the Political Program that we considered an integral part of the Political Program and whose important points stated that Fatah, for example, is a national liberation movement, and that Fatah believes that resistance, in all its forms, is the legitimate right of occupied nations when confronting their occupiers. I do not think that there's a single Palestinian who has eliminated resistance, or any form of resistance whatsoever, from consideration, or from his plans. That's in principle and in theory. We have to understand this well: Every form of resistance has certain conditions that are necessary for its use. So every phase has a particular form of resistance best suited to it, and everyone has agreed that at this stage, that form is popular resistance (i.e., non-violent). At the same time, armed resistance has absolutely not been eliminated from anyone's options. It needs a suitable climate not only among us... We hope that what is being spoken of as the 'Arab Spring' and changes in the Arab world will create the climate so that the Palestinians can employ it (i.e., armed resistance).” [Wattan TV website, (Palestinian private channel), Oct. 8, 2012, emphasis added]

Columnist for official PA daily Adel Abd Al-Rahman: “The cease-fire [between Israel and Hamas] went into effect sponsored and guaranteed by Egypt, with American supervision by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The advantages are as follows: Firstly: Ending the barbaric Israeli aggression, and removing the threat of an even more despicable and bloody Israeli massacre of Palestinian people in the southern districts (i.e., Gaza Strip). Secondly: Realization of national unity between the people at various levels and the all over the homeland, the diaspora, and the interior (i.e., Israel). This in addition to blending political activity and struggle, and between all the VIPs– notably President Mahmoud Abbas [of Fatah] and other Palestinian figures, especially Khaled Mashaal, Head of the Hamas Political Bureau –paving the way for rapid progress towards a stable national unity. Thirdly: The heroic performance of the resistance organizations (i.e., Hamas and Islamic Jihad) reacting to the barbaric Israeli war, who succeeded in: Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

1. Absorbing the force and strength of the Israeli attack and quickly overcoming the moment of surprise. 2. Initiating a direct response through missiles of varying sizes and ranges, like the Fajr 5, Grad, 107 [mm rockets], etc., launched against Israeli cities and populated areas. 3. For the first time, Palestinian resistance missiles reached Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Eilat, surprising and baffling the Israeli leaders. This [was achieved], even though the Israeli leadership claimed in Netanyahu’s words to have destroyed the bulk of missile launching sites and storehouses. 4. Combining armed resistance with peaceful resistance. Cities of the West Bank – first and foremost Jerusalem – were witness to increased popular activity, in addition to sit-down strikes and demonstrations in the different cities’ squares and streets, to support and strengthen our people in the Gaza districts. 5. Development of the national response that even advanced to bombing operations inside Israel, as occurred on Wednesday with the bombing of a bus [in Tel Aviv], injuring 20 people – an act that baffled the Israeli leadership even more.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 23, 2012]

The following is the article that reported on the Fatah military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades’ statements praising Hamas’ Ahmed Ja’abari and about their own fighting Israel alongside Hamas during Israel’s Operation Pillar of Defense (November, 2012): “Fighters from units from Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades strongly reproached the Palestinian media for not emphasizing their role and for treating them unjustly regarding their challenging the [Israeli] aggression in Gaza (i.e., Israel’s “Pillar of Defense” operation, November 2012). ‘The Palestinian media did not treat us fairly at all,’ said Abu Muhammad, press spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades units, also known as the Martyr (Shahid) Nadal Al-Amoudi branch. He went on to say: ‘We don’t deprive people of their rights, and the media should have mentioned everyone and all the fighters who stood the test of battle and resistance’, and said that it was not right that the media focused on one group while ignoring the other. He said… that from the first moment after the assassination of Commander Ahmed Ja’abari the Brigades thought to respond and avenge his pure blood. He noted that in cooperation with the Jerusalem Company, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad, they managed to fire three rockets half an hour after his death as a Martyr was announced. Later they continued launching rockets along with the other military wings of the different factions… The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades fired 600 rockets and mortar shells towards the occupied territories during the days of aggression. He said that the Brigades announced these figures at a press conference, but the Palestinian media ignored them and related only to certain units. Abu-Yusuf, a Brigades fighter, said… that the war is over, but the Brigades’ supply of weapons and rockets is not exhausted, and we are ready for confrontation at this very moment, and we will not give up our weapons under any circumstances.” [Al-Ayyam, Dec. 2, 2012, emphasis added]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The following are the articles that reported on the Fatah military wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades’ statements encouraging armed struggle: “Abu Muhammad, spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades – Martyr (Shahid) Nidal Al-Amoudi unit, said in an exclusive interview with Al-Ayyam that the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza face the same economic problem, but in the West Bank the Palestinian people was allowed to express its opinion and take to the streets, in contrast to what has happened in Gaza… Abu Muhammad held the Israeli occupation mainly responsible for the economic problem. He said that the [Fatah- Hamas] rift is [also] partially responsible for this problem, and he noted that it is important to cancel the unjust Paris agreement. He said that the occupation has stopped abiding by the Oslo Accords completely, and [he] declared that it is important for the [Palestinian] leadership to respond with a political plan based upon political, military, and cultural resistance to the occupation… Abu Muhammad demanded of President Mahmoud Abbas to accede to demands to dismiss Salam Fayyad's government and to set up a new government that can put an end to the people’s suffering… He declared that it is important to see the armed struggle as strategy rather than a tactic, and as a legitimate right and the sole solution for liberating the land and eradicating the occupation." [Al-Ayyam, Sept. 13, 2012, emphasis added]

“Abu Muhammad, spokesman for the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades – Martyr (Shahid) Nidal Al-Amoudi unit… said… that the arrests [by Hamas security forces] of the [Fatah military wing’s] Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades fighters happen at a time when the Palestinian people, which is in Ribat (religious conflict/war defending or fighting for Islamic land), is subject to continued bombings and liquidations by the Israeli occupation’s planes and tanks. … In a press release the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades demanded of all the factions [carrying out] armed actions that they return to the option of resistance in confronting the occupation, and emphasized that they will continue the resistance in all its forms. They said that there is no ceasefire with Israel and pointed out that they won’t stop their attacks until every last part of Palestine is liberated.” [Al-Ayyam, Oct. 26, 2012, emphasis added]

Bulletin – December 17, 2012 Three PMW reports for Dutch parliament

On Dec. 18, the Foreign Affairs Committee of Dutch Parliament will be debating whether to support the Palestinian Authority's general budget in 2013. PMW was asked to supply documentation.

Palestinian Media Watch recently received several requests by Dutch MPs for documentation to be used in this week's parliamentary debate about proposed Dutch funding to the Palestinian Authority in 2013.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Following PMW presentations to the Foreign Affairs Committee in 2011, Dutch Parliament passed a motion "to prevent the supply of funding to the Palestinian Authority if no concrete and effective measures are being taken [by the PA] to act against the glorification and whitewashing of terrorism." [Motion no. 1039, passed in March 2011]

In response to this motion, PMW was asked to provide documentation showing whether PA glorification of terrorism has continued. PMW prepared three reports with representative examples, each of which show misuse of Dutch and international funding by the PA in different ways:

1- PMW report to Dutch Foreign Affairs Committee on PA glorification of terrorists This 40 page report brings clear and unequivocal evidence of the official PA policy of glorifying terrorists as heroes and role models. The PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs regularly visits the homes of terrorist murderers and honors them, five different weekly PA TV shows glorify terrorists in Israeli prison, and music videos honoring terrorist murderers are regularly broadcast on PA TV. All this and much more terror glorification is funded by the PA's general budget, which is supported by the Netherlands.

Click to view report

2- PMW report to Dutch Foreign Affairs Committee on PA use of budget This report documents the hatred and violence that is promoted by the PA through structures also funded by the general budget. It includes official PA TV children's programs that call Israel "Satan" and describe Christians and Jews as "inferior and despised" and preaches Islamic supremacy over Christians and Jews. It includes the PA Grand Mufti's statement on PA TV that the destiny of Muslims is to kill Jews. It includes many examples of glorification of terrorist murderers by official PA TV and the PA Minister of Prisoners' Affairs.

Click to view report

3- PMW report to Dutch Foreign Affairs Committee on PA salaries to terrorists, based on UK report This report is about PA payment of salaries to terrorists in Israeli prisons. This report was prepared earlier this year for British Parliament, but the information about the salaries going to terrorists is important and relevant for all countries that fund the PA. The report was first presented at a lecture to 30 members of British Parliament in October.

Click to view report

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – December 20, 2012 European-funded Palestinian NGO glorifies plane hijackings, terror, and hatred of Israel and the US

Poem read by hosts of youth program on PA TV funded by the EU, the World Bank, Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden

“Expect us always, expect us where least expected. We’re in every airport, and in every ticket… A small rifle in the hand of a small boy can kill the big one.”

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Two teenage hosts on the Palestinian Authority TV program for youth Speak Up, which is co- produced with the Palestinian NGO PYALARA, chose to read aloud a poem that glorified plane hijackings and threatened Israel and the United States:

“People of Israel, don’t get caught up in arrogance, the hands of the clock will surely come round... Expect us always, expect us where least expected. We’re in every airport, and in every ticket. We emerge in Rome and in Zurich from under the rock… Our men arrive without warning, with the fury of thunder and the pounding of rain. They come in the Prophet’s robe and with Omar’s sword (Muslim conqueror). Remember, always remember that America, important as it is, is not Allah the Almighty and Omnipotent, and that America with all its strength will not stop the birds from flying. A small rifle in the hand of a small boy can kill the big one.”

Click to view

The mention of Rome and Zurich in the poem is a reference to hijackings by PLO/PFLP terrorists. In July 1968, El Al Flight 426 from Rome was hijacked. In February 1969, terrorists attempted to hijack El Al Flight 432 before taking off from Zurich.

After reading the poem, the hosts sent greetings to NDC – the international organization that funds the NGO PYALARA, a co-producer of the TV program:

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

“Today we greet the NGO Development Center - NDC that helps us discuss youth affairs.”

Palestinian Media Watch reported earlier this year that this EU-funded NGO glorified 91 terrorists on the same TV program. During a report on the official PA military funeral for the terrorists, the two young program hosts stated that “these [Martyrs] are more honored than all of us... They are the greatest role models for us.” The terrorist “role models” included over ten suicide bombers.

When PMW reported on this, PYALARA’s website listed several aid organizations as its donors, among them the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office, Save the Children UK and Cordaid.

Following PMW’s disclosure, Save the Children UK said it would “investigate” the matter. A week later, PYALARA removed all the donors’ logos from its website.

Since neither the EU nor PYALARA made an official announcement, it is unclear if the funding was withdrawn or was continued without public acknowledgement.

Currently, PYALARA lists as “special sponsors” NDC - NGO Development Center and the Swedish Olof Palme International Center. NDC is financed by the European Union, a donor consortium of Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, the World Bank, the French government’s Agence Française de Développement, the Islamic Development Bank, the United Palestinian Appeal, and the private Palestinian organization the Welfare Association. [NDC website, www.ndc.ps, accessed Dec. 20, 2012]

The youth organization PYALARA also glorified and honored terrorists earlier this year when the organization’s other PA TV program Jerusalem Scenes visited the homes of three Palestinian terrorist prisoners serving multiple life sentences for planning suicide bombings that murdered many Israelis.

In 2010, PMW reported that PYALARA published an ad showing an ax chopping into a Jewish Star of David. At the time, PYALARA was supported by UNICEF, whose logo was also on the hate ad. In response to the ad, UNICEF then promised to “carefully review[ing] any proposed future partnerships with PYALARA.”

PMW has been documenting a recurring pattern. European countries, the UN and other well-intentioned donors fund programs that seem to be positive for Palestinian youth, only to withdraw their funding after PMW reports that these programs glorify terrorists or promote hatred. In this case, the EU may have withdrawn direct funding earlier this year due to PYALARA’s terror glorification, only to find itself funding the program again through NDC.

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The following is the transcript of the poem and statements read by the hosts on Speak UP produced by PA TV and the European-funded PYALARA:

TV host 1: “People of Israel, don’t get caught up in arrogance, the hands on the clock will surely come round. Theft of the land does not scare us… The long thirst does not scare us, for there is water still in the depths of the rocks. You defeated the armies, but you did not defeat the feelings. You cut off tree tops, but the roots remained.” TV host 2: “Expect us always, expect us where least expected. We’re in every airport, and in every ticket. We emerge in Rome and in Zurich from under the rock.”

Note: Reference to PLO/PFLP hijacking of an El Al plane in Rome in 1968 and the attempted hijacking of an El AL plane in Zurich in 1969.

“We emerge from behind statues and flowerpots. Our men arrive without warning, with the fury of thunder and the pounding of rain. They come in the Prophet’s robe and with Omar’s sword (Muslim conqueror). Remember, always remember that America, important as it is, is not Allah the Almighty and Omnipotent, and that America with all its strength will not stop the birds from flying. A small rifle in the hand of a small boy can kill the big one.”

TV host 2: “Good evening, dear viewers, and welcome to our youth program Speak Up. Tonight you have greetings from the Palestinian Youth Association – PYALARA and from PA TV. Today we greet the NGO Development Center – NDC that helps us discuss youth affairs.”

Note: PYALARA, the co-producer of this program, is funded by NDC. NDC's international donors include: the European Union, the World Bank, the French government’s Agence Française de Développement, a donor consortium of Switzerland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, the Islamic Development Bank, the United Palestinian Appeal, and the Palestinian private organization the Welfare Association. [NDC website, accessed Dec. 20, 2012] PYALARA is also funded by the Swedish Olof Palme International Center.

[PA TV (Fatah), Dec. 9, 2012; Speak Up co-produced with PYALARA (European and NDC-funded NGO)]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Bulletin – December 26, 2012 The Palestinian “holy Trinity”: Jesus, Arafat and Abbas

PA leader Rajoub: “The greatest Palestinian in history since Jesus is Yasser Arafat.”

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Palestinian leadership’s falsification of history by presenting Jesus as an ancient Palestinian increased in regularity as Christmas approached this year. In the last month alone, the PA media has transmitted six additional PA misrepresentations of Jesus as a Palestinian, including:

The Governor of Ramallah: “We all have the right to be proud that Jesus is a Palestinian” PA historian: “In the final analysis, Jesus the Messiah is a Palestinian” The PA Mufti: “Jesus is a Palestinian par excellence”

Palestinian Media Watch reported that the PA Mufti used the same expression already three years ago.

In addition, there is an attempt to connect Jesus to the Palestinian leaders themselves. Senior PA leader Jibril Rajoub said: “The greatest Palestinian in history since Jesus is Yasser Arafat,” and an editorial in the PA official daily referred to Arafat, Jesus and Abbas as the Palestinian “holy Trinity”: “Jesus is a Palestinian; the self-sacrificing Yasser Arafat is a Palestinian; Mahmoud Abbas, the messenger of peace on earth, is a Palestinian. How great is this nation of the holy Trinity!” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 30, 2012]

PMW has documented the ongoing PA historical revision, which falsely connects the current Palestinian-Arab population to a fabricated ancient Palestinian-Arab nation. Although there is no record of any Palestinian-Arab history and no people ever identified as being part of a Palestinian-Arab nation until very recently, the PA claims they are an ancient Palestinian people in an attempt to compete with Israel’s well-documented Jewish history in the land.

While Christian tradition and the historical writings of the period portray Jesus as a Jew living in the land of Judea/Israel, the PA consistently tells its people that they are the ones connected to Jesus. This is not only a distortion of Jesus’ personal history as reported in Christian writings, it is also an anachronism. The Romans changed the name of Judea/Israel to “Palestine” in order to punish the Jewish nation after its unsuccessful rebellion, a full 136 years after the birth of Jesus. Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

The following are recent examples of the PA's misrepresentation of Jesus as a Palestinian:

Fatah Central Committee member Jibril Rajoub: “The greatest Palestinian in history since Jesus is Yasser Arafat.” [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 29, 2011]

Official PA daily op-ed: “Jesus is a Palestinian; the self-sacrificing Yasser Arafat is a Palestinian; Mahmoud Abbas, the messenger of peace on earth, is a Palestinian. How great is this nation of the holy Trinity!” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 30, 2012]

Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories: “The Palestinian nation is rooted in this land since the Canaanites and the Jebusites. The Arab presence – Christian and Islamic – on this land is uninterrupted. Jesus is a Palestinian par excellence.” [PA TV (Fatah), Nov. 30, 2012]

Governor of the Ramallah district Leila Ghannam: “The Palestinian pain is one and the joy is one. We all have the right to be proud that Jesus is a Palestinian and that Palestine is the birthplace of the religions…” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 24, 2012]

Palestinian historian Khalil Shoka: "The Christian religion started here [Bethlehem]...The entire world is focused on this city because of its important historical and traditional role... because in the final analysis, Jesus is a Palestinian." [PA TV (Fatah), Dec. 16, 2012]

Official PA daily op-ed: “We can be proud, oh son of Mary, that you are the first Palestinian who redeemed mankind…” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 25, 2012]

Bulletin – December 26, 2012 Crossword puzzle in official PA daily: Be'er Sheva is a "Palestinian city"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

In its weekly crossword puzzle, the Palestinian Authority official daily presented the southern Israeli city of Be'er Sheva as a "Palestinian city":

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Clue: "A southern Palestinian city" Solution: "Be'er Sheva" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 26, 2012]

Palestinian Media Watch has reported in the past that the PA daily presents many Israeli cities and sites as parts of "Palestine." Lod, Acre, Tiberias, and even Tel Aviv have all been presented as "Palestinian" or "occupied" cities, as have places like Mount Carmel and Mount Meron.

Clue: "A modern city in occupied Palestine" Solution: "Tel Aviv" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 10, 2009]

Earlier this year, another crossword puzzle presented Israel's southernmost city and port Eilat as a "Jordanian port" and Jaffa as a "Palestinian port."

Clue: "A Jordanian port on the Red Sea north of Akaba" Solution: "Eilat"

Clue: "A Palestinian port on the Mediterranean [Sea]" Solution: "Jaffa" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 21, 2012]

With its crossword clues, the official PA paper continues the PA policy of denying Israel's existence.

At times, PA crossword puzzles have been used as a means for glorifying terrorists. For example, Dalal Mughrabi has been honored in crossword puzzles. Mughrabi led the mostlethal terror attack in Israel's history when she and other terrorists hijacked a bus and killed 37 civilians in an attack in 1978 known as the Coastal Road massacre:

Clue: "Palestinian Martyr (Shahida) and commander who led the Coastal Road operation (i.e., terror attack)" Solution: "Dalal Mughrabi" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 4, 2009]

A crossword puzzle clue also honored Yahya Ayyash, the first Hamas suicide bomb builder, who is considered the founder of Palestinian suicide terror. His attacks killed dozens of Israelis and injured hundreds:

Clue: "Martyr (Shahid) of Palestine, known as 'the Engineer'" Solution: "Yahya Ayyash" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 1, 2010]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

PMW has repeatedly documented the PA policy of glorifying terrorists.

In 1999, PMW reported on a crossword puzzle defining Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, Yad Vashem, as a "Jewish center for commemorating the Holocaust and the Lies." The report led to widespread international condemnation of the PA.

PMW has documented Holocaust denial and distortion in the PA.

The following are more examples of Israeli cities and sites defined as "Palestinian" or "occupied" in PA daily crossword puzzles:

Clue: "A Palestinian city" Clue: "A Palestinian city" Solution: "Tel Aviv" Solution: "Tel Aviv" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 26, 2011] Clue: "A Palestinian city" Solution: "Tiberias" Clue: "A Palestinian city" Solution: "Jaffa" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 20, 2011]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel

Clue: "Occupied Palestinian mountains - 1948" Solution: "Carmel" (Haifa) [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 4, 2009] Clue: "Palestinian city" Solution: "Acre" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 27, 2010]

Clue: "Occupied Palestinian city - 1948" Solution: "Lod" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 2, 2009] Clue: "The highest mountain in Palestine, overlooking the city Safed" Solution: "Mount Meron" [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 6, 2010]

Phone: 972-2-625-4140 • [email protected] • www.palwatch.org • Jerusalem, Israel