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Maps of “Palestine” in PA summer camps teach children about a world without Israel

Nan Jacques Zilberdik and Itamar Marcus  |

The Palestinian Authority unremittingly teaches Palestinians - and in particular youth - that all of Israel is “Palestine” and that Israel has no right to exist in any borders. One way the PA instills the message is through activities in summer camps arranged by the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports.

This year too, Palestinian children were taught that there is no Israel but only “occupied Palestine” as they spent time drawing maps in which all of Israel and the PA areas are painted as one country and in the colors of the Palestinian flag.

The following are maps of “Palestine” made by or shown to children in the PA summer camps which are run by the PLO:

A video showed drawings of the PA’s map that shows all of Israel and the PA areas as one “Palestine” made by children in PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports summer camps.

[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Aug. 19, 2021]

Camp participants hold a drawing of the PA map of “Palestine” in the colors of the Palestinian flag. To the west of the map is written “The Mediterranean Sea,” to the north is written “Lebanon,” to the east is written “Jordan,” and to the south is written “The Gulf of Aqaba.”

[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Aug. 4, 2021]

Camp participants have drawn the PA map of “Palestine.”

[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Aug. 7, 2021]

Camp participants stand in a circle with a poster of the PA map of “Palestine” on the wall behind them.

[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Aug. 7, 2021]

Camp participants hold various signs. The yellow sign says “Palestine” in English with the Palestinian flag below it. The small sign says: “The names of the Palestinian cities” in English, while the large sign on the right has a number of PA and Israeli cities written on it in English and Arabic, including the Israeli cities “Jerusalem,” “Haifa,” and “Jaffa.”

[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Aug. 7, 2021]

The picture is from one of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports summer camps in the Hebron and Bethlehem districts. It shows girls participating in a camp making a “V” for victory while standing around the PA map of “Palestine” in the colors of the Palestinian flag on the floor. Next to the map is written: “Female heroes of Palestine.” The sign in the background states that the summer camp is under the auspices of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports.

[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Aug. 3, 2021]

Similarly, this map of “Palestine” in the colors of the Palestinian flag adorned the wall at a PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports summer camp, with text declaring that the map shows “Palestine of the mighty.”

[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Aug. 31, 2021]

The PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports also ran summer camps in the Gaza Strip:

Camp participants are drawing the PA map of “Palestine.” At the top of the drawing is written: “Map of Palestine”

Artwork made by camp participants. On the right is the PA map of “Palestine” in the colors of the Palestinian flag.

[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Aug. 11, 2021]

Palestinian Media Watch has reported on other messages that were taught this year in Palestinian summer camps, which included teaching that terrorists murderers like Dalal Mughrabi are role models and that they should “boycott the enemy.”

Interviews with Palestinian children show that kids have internalized these messages, repeating that “Palestine” should be “liberated”:

Boy: “Jerusalem is the proud capital of Palestine. It is the first direction of [Muslim] prayer and the third holiest site [in Islam]. It has great importance for the Muslims because it contains the Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and it has great importance for the Christians because it contains the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Currently, it is occupied by the Israelis, and we are demanding to liberate it.”

 [Official PA TV, From My Country, Aug. 15, 2021]

Given that the PA continues to teach this ideology to children yet another generation of Palestinians is growing up believing Israel has no right to exist, and peace is being pushed farther away.

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