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Jerusalem under assault

Current news

This section follows important news issues as they are unfolding in the PA world and media. It is important to note that the PA-controlled Palestinian media is also used by the PA leadership as an avenue to create stories and events, often inciting hatred around specific themes. PA media not only reports news but creates news as well.

The Hamas – Fatah conflict is an example of a central developing story in the PA press. Jerusalem under assault is an example of how the PA leadership and the media try to create hatred of Israel with fabrications and libels surrounding Jerusalem.

Jerusalem under assault

In 2009 the Palestinian Authority has initiated an unprecedented campaign of historical revision and anti-Israel libels concerning Jerusalem, the focal point being the erasure and denial of 3,000 years of Jewish history in Jerusalem.

In addition, the PA disseminates the libel that Israel is acting both to expel Arabs from

Jerusalem and to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Jerusalem libels are designed to evoke religious hatred by portraying Israel and the Jews as a threat to Arabs and Islam.

This section documents the recent intensification of the Palestinian Authority's campaign of distortion, historical revision and hate incitement surrounding Jerusalem.

This cartoon with the caption "Judaization of Jerusalem" shows, from right to left, a sinister-looking Jew first sharing the chair with an Arab and then shoving him off.
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, official PA daily, Feb 24, 2009]

Topics on this page

1- Denial of Jewish connection to Jerusalem

2- "Judaization" of Jerusalem

3- Jerusalem is "Ribat" - holy Islamic land

1- Denial of Jewish connection to Jerusalem

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"Jerusalem is the religious, political and spiritual capital of Palestine - the Jews have no right to it," declared senior PA religious official, Dr. Tayseer Al-Tamimi, PA Chief Justice of religious court. Accordingly, any Jewish life and development in Jerusalem is labeled as "Judaization." Jerusalem is presented as an exclusively Muslim and Christian city, with no regard to history or archeology, and even the existence of the Temple being denied.

PA's former PM denies Jewish history in Jerusalem

Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), June 23, 2010

Headline: "He [former PA Prime Minister Abu Alaa (Ahmad Qurei)] demanded of the international community to intervene in order to prevent war – Abu Alaa warns of a religious war breaking out in view of the fact that Israel continues with the Judaization and Israelization of the holy city"
"[Abu Alaa said that Israel's demolition order in Jerusalem is] part of feverish efforts to blur and to erase Palestinian existence in Jerusalem, to melt the Palestinian, Arabic and Muslim Jerusalem characteristics, and to color them with artificial Jewish Talmudic symbols."

PA conspiracy theory: Hurva synagogue as prelude to 'alleged Temple'

Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), Mar. 16, 2010

PA TV news broadcast:
Newsreader: "The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has exposed a 300-year old Jewish legend which is behind the building of the Hurva synagogue in the Old City. This [Jewish] prophecy regards the building of the synagogue as a concrete step toward the building of the alleged Temple."

Report on the riots in Jerusalem
Reporter: “The building of the alleged Temple will begin March 16 this year. The prophecy includes signs that the Jews will begin building their alleged Temple together with the inauguration of the Hurva synagogue in the Old City (of Jerusalem). In other words, the Hurva synagogue is a prelude to the destruction of Muslim Jerusalem."

Interview with Yasser Abd Rabbo, secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, concerning the riots in Jerusalem:
"[Israel] entered the holy places to fulfill a [prophetic] legend in order to build what is called ‘the alleged Temple,’ and [Israel] sees the building of a new synagogue as a prelude to this."

PA cartoon: Hurva synagogue depicted as mushroom

Source: Al-Ayyam, Mar. 16, 2010

Text: “Al-Kharaab”

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2- "Judaization" of Jerusalem

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Since Jews are said to have no connection to Jerusalem, nor any right to live in the city, any Israeli action in Jerusalem is defined as "Judaization" and an attempt to erase the city's supposedly authentic Islamic Arab character. The PA has launched an incendiary libel campaign which presents as fact the lie that Israel is acting to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to expel Arabs from the city. The goal of this PA alarmist campaign is to promote fear and hatred of Jews and Israelis.

[It should be noted that the PA allegation that Israel is pursuing a policy of ridding Jerusalem of its Arab inhabitants is blatantly untrue. In fact, according to May 2009 statistics released by the Jerusalem Center for Israel Studies, since Israel’s liberation of all of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War, Jerusalem's Jewish population has increased by 186%, with the Arab population of east Jerusalem growing by 291%, almost twice the growth rate of the Jewish population.]

Israel threatens 2,000 year old Palestinian artifacts in Jerusalem

Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), July 4, 2010

"The Western Wall Museum project, which is being built by the occupation authorities in the destroyed Mughrabi neighborhood, threatens important Palestinian artifacts that are approximately two thousand years old."

PA's former PM: Jewish connection to Jerusalem is "artificial"

Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), June 23, 2010

“Abu Alaa (Ahmed Qurei) said that… this [home demolitions in Jerusalem] is part of the feverish efforts to blur and to erase Palestinian existence in Jerusalem, to melt the Palestinian, Arabic and Muslim Jerusalem characteristics, and to color them with artificial Jewish Talmudic symbols."

PA's former PM denies Jewish history in Jerusalem

Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), June 23, 2010

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3- Jerusalem is "Ribat" - holy Islamic land

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The Palestinian Authority has adopted the Hamas ideology of framing the conflict with Israel as a religious war for Allah. Jerusalem and all of Israel are defined as "Ribat" - holy Islamic land - whose "liberation" and defense are said to be mandatory under Islamic law. The significance of the PA defining the conflict as “Ribat” is clear when reading how a PA schoolbook defines “Ribat":

"The Ribat for Allah is one of the actions related to Jihad ...The persistence of Palestine's people on their land in these days [i.e., Israel], and their persistence against the damage and the aggression they endure - is one of the greatest of the Ribat [fighting for Islamic land], and they are worthy of a great reward from Allah.... they are found in Ribat until Resurrection." [Islamic Education, grade 12, p. 86-87]

Since 2008, Palestinian leaders have frequently defined all of Israel, and particularly Jerusalem, as land of "Ribat" - i.e., areas which Muslims have a religious obligation to defend and liberate for Islam. In the past, it was specifically Hamas that defined the conflict with Israel as a religious war. Now, the PA - Fatah leadership regularly presents its war against Israel as a religious battle for Islam.

PA Mufti: Muslims must carry out Ribat to protect Al-Aqsa

Source: Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (Fatah), June 26, 2010

PA Mufti, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, in sermon in the Al-Aqsa Mosque:
"Oh Muslims, oh people of Ribat (religious war) in Jerusalem and its environs, oh beloved of Allah's Messenger, you have come to the Al-Aqsa Mosque under circumstances that require you to carry out Ribat in it (the Al-Aqsa Mosque)... Safeguard the unity of your people, safeguard the unity of your Word (Islam), so that you will be worthy to carry out the Ribat in this land and worthy of the badge of honor of protecting and preserving the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

PA Min of Religious Affairs: Religious war in land of Ribat

Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), June 4, 2010

Mahmoud Al-Habbash, PA Minister of Religious Affairs:
"This [Palestinian] nation carries out Ribat (religious war) today in the land of Ribat; this is the nation that is defending its holiness, dignity and blessing – the land of Jerusalem… Has this occupation [Israel] succeeded in breaking the strength of the Palestinian people? Has it succeeded in breaking the strength of the Ribat fighters on the land of Jerusalem, upon the holy and blessed land of Palestine?"

Abbas: Allah commands us to save holy Jerusalem from Israel

Source: Palestinian TV (Fatah), Mar. 27, 2010

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, addressing the leaders of Arab countries at the Arab League summit in Libya, on March 27, 2010:
“I say to the leaders of our Arab nation and to its peoples: Jerusalem and its environs are a trust that Allah entrusted to us. Saving it [Jerusalem] from the settlement monster and the danger of Judaization and [land-] confiscation, is a personal commandment incumbent on all of us. Therefore I call upon all of you to serious and urgent action to save [Jerusalem] and to supply all capabilities in order to strengthen our steadfastness and to maintain its historical, cultural and religious character.” Click here to view