Which songs define Palestinian “cultural and… national identity”?
Songs about rifles, violence, murderers, and Martyrdom are PA’s “cultural and… national identity”:
“I'm coming with my rifle… I’m coming towards you, my enemy”
“Take my blood… The Martyrs’ blood illuminates our path”
Murderers of Jews in 1929 are “noble heroes”
PA misrepresents photo of three Syrian independence leaders hung by Turkish Ottoman forces in 1916 as Arab murderers hung by the British in 1930. Those three had “committed particularly brutal murders [of Jews] at Safed and Hebron” [British Government report]. The PA defines their brutal murders as "the most wondrous things in the pages of the [history of the] struggle against the invading occupiers. They are the noble heroes of Palestine.”
The Palestinian Authority currently broadcasts a TV quiz with songs that the PA views as an integral part of Palestinian culture and which “still fascinate us with values and meanings,” as the narrator of the quiz explains. Palestinian Media Watch has exposed that the content of these revered songs and accompanying visuals praise violence and terror against Israel.
One song is apparently so valuable to the PA that it decided to feature it twice in the quiz. The lyrics address the “enemy” – Israel – and state that “I'm coming with my rifle… I'm coming towards you, my enemy… with cleavers and knives.” The second time the PA broadcast this song in the quiz, it was added to another song by the same writer. While the songs play, images and footage of Palestinians carrying and firing weapons and buildings exploding are shown:
Official PA TV narrator: “Because songs are a basic part of our culture and they express our national identity… and because these songs are present in our consciousness and still fascinate us with values and meanings… It’s here: ‘The Tune of the Homeland.’”
Lyrics: “We pledge to Allah - we won’t leave! ...
We pledge to the revolution, the revolutionaries, and the public – we won’t leave! ...”
Narrator: “Who wrote the song ‘We pledge to Allah - we won’t leave!’?”
Lyrics: “I'm coming towards you, my enemy, from every house, neighborhood, and street
I'm coming with my rifle and my faith, I'm coming towards you, my enemy
Our war is a war of the streets
I'm coming towards you, my enemy”[Official PA TV, The Tune of the Homeland, Jan. 1 (twice), 2, 4 (twice), 5, 6 (twice), 2021]
Additional lyrics of the last song, which were not included in the sound bite at the end of the quiz, explicitly mentions the weapons to be used against “the enemy”:
“I'm coming towards you, my enemy, from every house, neighborhood and street
We're going down from every house with cleavers and knives”
Another popular Palestinian song featured in the quiz encourages and glorifies martyrdom-death: “Take my blood”:
Lyrics: “The Palestinian people – a revolution
A revolution against Zionism
It has carried its weapons and begun its struggle
Take, O revolution, and give to me –
Take my blood, and give me victories…”
Official PA TV narrator: “Who is the composer the song ‘The Palestinian people – a revolution, A revolution against Zionism’?” ...
Lyrics: “I’m confronting you with my bullets
O my enemy, stop in front of me
and don’t cross”
[Official PA TV, The Tune of the Homeland, Jan. 9 (twice), 10 (twice), 11, 2021]
This song is not just an old national song, but very much part of 21st century’s Palestinian culture. Abbas’ Fatah recently disseminated it through Facebook together with other songs promoting death for “the struggle,” posting a video from a Fatah anniversary rally in Gaza in 2020 at which a band performed a longer version of this song in front of thousands of Palestinians:
Lyrics song 1: “Stand on the Martyr’s grave, make sounds of joy, and read out verses of struggle
For Fatah does not forget the blood of its men”Lyrics song 2: ”The Palestinian people – a revolution
A revolution against Zionism
It has carried its weapons and begun its struggle
Take, O revolution, and give to me –
Take my blood, and give me victories …
I’m confronting you with my bullets
O my enemy, stop in front of me
and don’t cross ...
Make the stab, I’ll fire back
O my enemy, count your days
The revolution is behind you everywhere
None of us is sparing his blood
We have declared revolution …
There’s no reconciliation and no submission
We’ll liberate Palestine with our weapons”Lyrics song 3:“We waved DP machine guns and RPGs
With our bullets we rushed to death and did not fear
We carried out the operation (i.e., terror attack) and returned…
The Martyrs’ blood illuminates our path
And we are loyal to the vow, O comrades…
Our vow to the revolution: We won’t relinquish our weapons.”
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Dec. 23, and Dec. 30, 2020]
Visual: A child dressed in military uniform and wearing a keffiyeh is holding what appears to be a toy assault rifle. Member of Fatah’s Central Committee and Fatah Commissioner of Mobilization and Organization in Gaza, Ahmed Helles, is standing next to the boy.
The ideal of dying a ”Martyr” for “Palestine” and “the struggle” is also repeatedly emphasized by the PA’s idolization of three Arab murderers who were sentenced to death by the British Mandate in 1930 for murdering Jews during violent Arab riots in 1929. Still today, for the PA, murderers of Jews are heroes, so it is not surprising that the PA’s new TV quiz included a song about them too:
Lyrics: “From Acre Prison went forth the funeral of Muhammad Jamjoum and Fuad Hijazi,
Take revenge for them, my people”
Official PA TV narrator: “This is the chorus of the pain and suffering from the torture of prison… which expresses the pride of the young ones who presented the most wondrous things in the pages of the [history of the] struggle against the invading occupiers. They are the noble heroes of Palestine – Martyrs Muhammad Jamjoum, Ataa Al-Zir, and Fuad Hijazi (i.e., murderers from the 1929 Arab Riots)... Our poet was witness to the three becoming Martyrs, and his talent provided the poem “The Ground Shook Under the Invaders’ Feet”:
They were three heroes
Who competed with each other who would die first
Their feet rose above the hangman’s neck
They became an example, O my friend
Throughout the length and width of the land
And from Acre Prison went forth the funeral.”[Official PA TV, The Tune of the Homeland, Jan. 15 (twice), 16 (three times), and 17 (twice), 18 (twice), 2021]
Wanting to concretize their “Martyrdom,” the PA repeatedly falsely presents a photo of three Syrian independence leaders hung by Turkish Ottoman forces in 1916 as the three “martyred” Arab murderers being hung by the British in 1930.
Yet another song presented on the quiz Tune of the Homeland praised the fire of the singing rifle:
Lyrics:“The fire ignited and the rifle sang
O homeland, ask for the young people and have hope
The fire ignited from Acre to Tira (i.e., Israeli cities)
A handful of children who were raised on a mat
And they have grown up and not forgotten the land
The fire ignited slowly
The people is one, not families and tribes”[Official PA TV, The Tune of the Homeland, Dec. 27, 2020]