PA to kids: Remain Refugees

Itamar Marcus | May 18, 2018

PA to kids: Remain Refugees

By Itamar Marcus

To mark the Palestinian "Nakba Day" - the "catastrophe" of the creation of Israel 70 years ago - PA TV and PA TV Live have been broadcasting special fillers between programs and have also created a new logo for all their broadcasts.

One striking message to children is that they should remain refugees. In the words of one filler:

"From generation to generation, there is no alternative to the return and Jerusalem"

[Official PA TV, numerous times daily since May 10, 2018]

Click to view video

The PA TV filler shows an old man passing a key to a child. The message to the Palestinian children who are classified by the PA as refugees is clear: Although you live within the Palestinian Authority areas you should not be satisfied with your current residence and must see yourself forever as waiting to "return" - i.e., as a refugee. Instead of telling children to be build a life in the PA areas and to embrace a future there, the PA tells them to see themselves "from generation to generation" - never satisfied, always seeking to "return," meaning to live somewhere in Israel,

which, according to the PA internal messaging, would then be called "Palestine."

PA TV's filler also states that: "Our return is certain" - again reinforcing the message to children that they should not create a life for themselves in the PA areas but remain longing for a life within the land that is now Israel:

"Our return is certain, and Jerusalem is the eternal capital of our state"

[Official PA TV, numerous times daily since May 10, 2018]

A newly released very significant Palestinian Media Watch video is a compilation of personal stories of refugees whose testimonies show that the Arab flight during Israel's War of Independence in 1948 was not an Israeli "expulsion," as the PA claims, but was the result of a strategic decision by the Arab leaders and Arab armies who demanded that the Arabs leave.

Fatah reinforced this message of a "return" to "Palestine" on Facebook with this photo and text:

Text in Hebrew and Arabic: "The destination is Palestine"

Text in Hebrew at bottom left: "#I_am_returning"

[Official Fatah Facebook page, May 13, 2018]

The new Nakba logo used by PA TV and PA TV Live is in the shape of the PA's map of "Palestine" that presents all of Israel together with the PA areas as "Palestine." Two crossed keys representing the return of Palestinian refugees appear behind the map, and text on the map alternates between "70," (top picture) representing 70 years since the Nakba, and "The return - a right" (second picture below). [Official PA TV and PA TV Live, since May 9, 2018]

Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day on May 15, the day after the establishment of Israel. On May 15, 1948, combined forces from Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq joined local Arab forces in an attempt to eradicate the newly established State of Israel. The Nakba (Arabic = catastrophe) refers to the establishment of Israel, and the subsequent defeat in the war, including the killing and displacement of Arab civilians that occurred during the war.

PA to kids: Remain Refugees

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