Skip to main content

Despite Corona crisis: PA's 1967 borders proposal is part of stages plan to replace Israel, indicates Fatah official

Nan Jacques Zilberdik  |
  • “Palestine is all of Palestine” including Haifa, Jaffa, Acre, and Nazareth

Top Fatah official Tawfiq Tirawi hasn’t let the Corona crisis affect his policy of denying Israel's right to exist and promote the notion that all of Israel is “Palestine,” or in his words: “Palestine is all of Palestine.”

In an interview earlier this month, Tirawi, who is a Fatah commissioner and member of its Central Committee, repeated his view that the 1967 borders – which the PA claims it will be content with as “Palestine” - is not the PA goal. All Israeli cities such as “Haifa, Jaffa, Acre," he says are also “Palestine”:

Tirawi: "My homeland is Nablus, Jenin, Haifa, Jaffa, Acre. (Last three are Israeli cities). Therefore, my homeland is all of Palestine, and this is what I was brought up on. And I always say that Palestine is all of Palestine. This is far from the plans that were offered [at Oslo] in order to achieve something for our people… When the Palestinian leadership established the Fatah Movement [in 1965], it offered proposals. Then following the first proposal, for all of Palestine – the first proposal [in 1965, sought] a democratic state that will include the Muslims, Christians, and Jews. [In 1993, Fatah] raised the issue of the [smaller] Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. This was so that we would achieve something for our people. However, I say to you:  Are we forgetting that Jaffa is ours? No. That Acre is ours? No. That Nazareth is ours? No. (All three are Israeli cities). I am convinced of this, and this is my viewpoint that I am always saying and presenting. Always."

[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, March 10, 2020]

Recently, Tirawi also participated in an event at which a huge poster with the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel as “Palestine” together with the PA areas was displayed. The map is made up of puzzle pieces in the colors of the Palestinian flag.

Posted text: “[Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner of Popular Organizations] Maj. Gen. Tawfiq Tirawi participates in the inauguration of the 2020 Working Women’s National Camp in the Jericho and [Jordan] Valley district”

[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, March 2, 2020]

Palestinian Media Watchhas exposed Tirawi’s view that “Palestine” stretches from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea and is "waqf" - an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law.

Tirawi’s ideology that “Palestine” encompasses all of Israel and replaces Israel is not a lone extremist claim in the PA. Rather, as PMW has repeatedly shown, it reflects the view of the so-called “moderate” Palestinian leadership. It is the ideology taught by the PA curriculum to Palestinian school children. It is the ideology voiced by other Fatah leaders. It is also the ideology of the Palestinian terror organizations such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hamas.

In PMW’s recent submission to the International Criminal Court, we highlighted the fact that while the Prosecutor may have sought to invent a “State of Palestine” that is limited to the “West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza,” the PA leadership itself rejects these borders which allow for a state of Israel.

Tawfiq Tirawi also holds the position of Fatah Commissioner of Popular Organizations.

Tirawi’s text posted on Facebook page with his radio interview: “[Fatah Commissioner of Popular Organizations and Fatah Central Committee member] Maj. Gen. Dr. Tawfiq Tirawi in a radio interview on the recent developments to which the Palestinian arena is witness”

RelatedView all ❯