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    Even in crossword puzzles the PA presents a world without Israel

    Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik  |
           
    Even in crossword puzzles
    the PA presents a world without Israel
    • Official PA daily crossword puzzle clue presents Israel's Galilee as "Palestine"
       l
    • Official PA TV: Israel doesn't exist, only "Palestine," which borders "Egypt, Syria, and Jordan"
       k
    • PA leader presents honorary plaque with map in which "Palestine" replaces all of Israel
       k
    • Schoolbook maps present world without Israel
    by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

    Has the Palestinian Authority returned to its use of crossword puzzles to indoctrinate Palestinians to see a world in which Israel does not exist? The following was a crossword puzzle clue and solution in the official PA daily last week:

    Clue: "A mountain in Palestine that overlooks the Mediterranean Sea"
    Solution: "The Galilee" 
    [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 27, 2018]



    The Galilee is a region in northern Israel and includes coastal mountains which overlook the sea. Presenting the Galilee as if it is "in Palestine," as the PA did in this crossword puzzle, is consistent with the PA policy of presenting a world in which "Palestine" replaces Israel. 

    Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA's use of crossword puzzles in the past to deny Israel's existence and right to exist:


     

     
    Clue: "A Palestinian city"
    Solution: "Jaffa"
    [Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 
    Aug. 14, 2013]
    Clue: "A port in occupied Palestine"
    Solution: "Haifa" 
     
    [Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 
    Aug. 20, 2016]
    Clue: "A southern Palestinian city"
    Solution: "Be'er Sheva"
    [Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida,
    Dec. 26, 2012]
     
    		Clue: "A Palestinian city"
    Solution: "Tel Aviv"

    Clue: "A Palestinian city"
    Solution: "Tiberias"

    Clue: "A Palestinian city"
    Solution: "Jaffa"
    [Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida,
    Feb. 20, 2011]
     

    The PA school system also uses maps that ignore Israel's existence. For example, the map below is presented as the "geographical area" of the "State of Palestine" in the new PA Social Studies Textbook, Part A, for grade 7 (pg. 4,) published in August 2017.

     
    Official PA TV likewise regularly presents a world in which Israel doesn't exist. A recent program taught viewers that "Palestine" borders "Egypt, Syria, and Jordan," entirely erasing the State of Israel:


    Official PA TV narrator: "Palestine - an Arab state on the Asian continent, and one of the states of the Levant. Palestine borders Egypt, Syria, and Jordan by land, and every inch of the land of Palestine is sacred."
    [Official PA TV, I'm Palestinian, March 24, 2018]

    "Palestine" could only border these countries if Israel didn't exist.

    The PA's official map that is used by PA leaders, in offices, at events, and in schoolbooks also presents a world in which     "Palestine" erases and replaces Israel. 

    Last week, Saeb Erekat, Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, Fatah Central Committee member and PLO Chief Negotiator, offered an honorary plaque with the PA's map of "Palestine" to "the creative and outstanding female teachers":

    [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 27, 2018]

    PMW has shown numerous times that PA and Fatah officials routinely give representations of this map of "Palestine" as gifts to foreign officials or the map appears on honorary plaques given to Palestinians who have excelled in some way.

    Likewise, a sculpture of the PA's map of "Palestine" is on display in the office of Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations Abbas Zaki as seen here (marked with red arrow below) in a photo from when Zaki hosted a new Chinese ambassador.


    [Official Fatah Facebook page, April 18, 2018]

    Similarly, PA TV chose to broadcast pictures of a sand sculpture on a beach in the Gaza Strip which was in the shape of the PA map of "Palestine" that includes all of Israel. The names of several Israeli and PA cities and regions appear in their location on the map, including the Israeli cities of Be'er Sheva and Jerusalem, and the Negev region. [Official PA TV, You Have a Boat, April 25, 2018]

    Map of 'Palestine'
    "Be'er Sheva"

    "Jerusalem"
    "The Negev"

    The following is a longer excerpt of the report on Erekat presenting an honorary plaque with the PA's map of "Palestine" to teachers:

    Headline: "Erekat honors the teachers who won in the 2018 Creative Teacher Competition"
    "Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee, [Fatah Central Committee member, and PLO Chief Negotiator] Dr. Saeb Erekat honored the creative and outstanding female teachers who won in the 2018 Creative Teacher Competition, which was held by the association of education employee unions in the public and private sector."
    [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 27, 2018]

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