Girl sings Haifa and Jaffa are “Palestine” at PA ministry festival
Girl performs song misrepresenting Israeli cities
Safed, Tiberias, Acre, Haifa and Jaffa as “Palestine”
at festival organized by PA TV children's program
in cooperation with PA Ministry of Tourism
Abbas’ PA TV continues propagating ideology
that all of Israel is “Palestine”
by Nan Jacques Zilberdik
by Nan Jacques Zilberdik
At a festival in Bethlehem, a young girl performed the Palestinian hit song "Oh flying bird," which misrepresents several Israeli cities and towns as being in “Palestine.”
The festival was organized by official Palestinian Authority TV’s children’s program The Best Home in cooperation with the PA Ministry of Tourism and local NGOs. The festival was broadcast on PA TV.
In the song, a bird is told to send greetings to different places in "my beautiful country Palestine." The full version mentions the following places in Israel as “Palestine”: Safed, Tiberias, Acre, Haifa, Nazareth, Beit Shean, Jaffa and Ramle.
Click to view
At least 12 other versions of this song have appeared on official PA TV over the years. Palestinian Media Watchdocumented five of them in 2013 and more recently prepared a compilation of eight different versions.
The festival was organized by official Palestinian Authority TV’s children’s program The Best Home in cooperation with the PA Ministry of Tourism and local NGOs. The festival was broadcast on PA TV.
In the song, a bird is told to send greetings to different places in "my beautiful country Palestine." The full version mentions the following places in Israel as “Palestine”: Safed, Tiberias, Acre, Haifa, Nazareth, Beit Shean, Jaffa and Ramle.
Click to view
At least 12 other versions of this song have appeared on official PA TV over the years. Palestinian Media Watchdocumented five of them in 2013 and more recently prepared a compilation of eight different versions.
The PA uses its official TV station extensively to disseminate its ideology that Israel has no right to exist and that all Israeli cities and places are “Palestinian.” Another song, which also refers to Israel as “Palestine,” has been broadcast numerous times since 2011, most recently on Jan. 12, 2015. It presents Jaffa, Acre, Haifa, Nazareth, the Galilee, the Golan Heights, Lod, Ramle, Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias and Ashkelon as “ours” and “Palestinian”.
Similarly, a filler on PA TV, most recently broadcast on Jan. 11, 2015, presents Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, Nazareth, Acre, and the Negev Desert as "Palestine."
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Text on image: “A picture from Palestine - occupied Jaffa.” [Facebook page of the Palestinian National Security Forces, Dec. 8, 2014] |
Abbas’ Fatah movement and the Palestinian National Security Forces have lately reinforced this message visually by posting maps of “Palestine” on Facebook that include all of Israel in addition to the PA areas, as well as photos of places in Israel designated as “pictures from Palestine.”
Click to see more examples of the PA and Fatah expressing their ideology that Israel has no right to exist.
The following are the full lyrics of "Oh flying bird":
"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.
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
greeting 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."
[Official PA TV, Jan. 9, 2015]