Fatah: “Palestine from the Sea to the River” – will be liberated
“The liberation of Palestine – Palestine from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, Palestine which is Arab and Islamic. It will remain ours.”
Toward the end of the recent Fatah/Hamas riot and rocket war, a Fatah official repeated what Palestinian Media Watch has pointed out repeatedly over the last two and a half decades: Fatah - like Hamas - tells Palestinians that Fatah’s ultimate goal is Israel's destruction.
Using the well-known Palestinian slogan “from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea” to define the area of “Palestine,” the Deputy Secretary of Fatah’s Shuafat and Beit Hanina branch, Musa Al-Rajabi, vowed that Palestinians will continue to fight Israel until “the liberation of Palestine”:
Fatah Shuafat and Beit Hanina Branch Deputy Secretary Musa Al-Rajabi: “We are remaining here. Jerusalem won’t agree to being divided in two. Jerusalem is ours. Jerusalem is Arab, Islamic, and Christian… We’ll protect Sheikh Jarrah as we’re protecting the Al-Aqsa Mosque. We’ll protect the Damascus Gate as we’re protecting the Lions’ Gate. We’ll rise up every day against this tyrannical occupation that is heavily armed … We’ll continue to confront it with bare chests until the liberation of Palestine – Palestine from the [Mediterranean] Sea to the [Jordan] River, Palestine which is Arab and Islamic. It will remain ours.”
[Official PA TV, May 18, 2021]
This message was reinforced by Fatah and the PLO in this year’s Nakba logo – The Nakba being “the catastrophe” of the establishment of the State of Israel:
The logo shows the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel together with the PA areas as “Palestine,” with “73 [years since] the Nakba” written on it. To the left of the map is a Palestinian flag, and to the right of it is an upraised fist holding a key symbolizing the Palestinian refugees’ “right of return.”
Text right of logo: “Our resolve is the path to our return.”
At the top of the image is the PLO logo featuring a flame, the Palestinian flag, and the PA map of “Palestine.”
Text on logo: “The Palestinian Liberation Organization
National unity, national mobilization
Liberation”Text to left of PLO logo: “The PLO Department of Refugee Affairs
The Supreme National Committee to Commemorate Nakba Day”Text at bottom of image: “The official logo
Of the national campaign to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba
#Our_resolve_is_the_path_to_our_return”[Official Fatah Facebook page, May 10, 2021]
Promising to liberate “Palestine” from the river to the sea is just one of the many terminologies used by PA/Fatah leaders to promise Israel’s destruction. Here is another example of a senior PA leader using this term:
Fatah Commissioner and Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi: “Our Palestinian land is from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea. I dare any Palestinian, any senior Palestinian official, or any Palestinian leader to reduce the Palestinian map to the West Bank and Gaza! He would not be able to walk one meter in the streets of our Palestinian cities among our people! … Arab brothers… Be with the Palestinian people, the people that lives on land that is all holy and that is all waqf land (i.e., land that is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law.)”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq Tirawi, Feb. 2, 2020]