"Its name was Palestine and its name still is Palestine" - Fatah cartoon against UAE normalizing ties with Israel delegitimizes Israel’s existence

Cartoon published on Falestinona, the website of Fatah’s Information and Culture Commission in Lebanon

Headline: “Its name was Palestine and its name still is Palestine”

The cartoon shows the El-Al Airlines plane that flew from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi on Aug. 31, 2020, carrying an Israeli and American delegation including Senior US Presidential Advisor Jared Kushner, as part of the Israel-UAE peace agreement – see note below. The word “Peace” is painted on the plane in Arabic, English, and Hebrew, with the Israeli flag next to it, as is the word “Kiryat Gat” in English – the plane was named Kiryat Gat in honor of the Israeli city located east of Ashkelon. A Palestinian child wearing a keffiyeh (Arab headdress) and carrying a Palestinian flag is standing on a large key symbolizing the Palestinian refugees’ “right of return,” and has crossed out “Kiryat Gat” and written “Al-Faluja” below it. Al-Faluja is the name of a Palestinian village that previously existed at the site of Kiryat Gat but was abandoned in the 1948 war, after the Egyptian army withdrew from it according to the 1949 Armistice Agreement.

Israel-UAE peace agreement (Abraham Accords) – an agreement normalizing diplomatic ties between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was announced on Aug. 13, 2020, under the mediation of US President Donald Trump. Pursuant to the agreement, the countries will discuss bilateral cooperation on a number of topics. In exchange for the agreement, Israel agreed to suspend its previously announced plans to apply Israel's civilian law to parts of Judea, Samaria and the Jordan Valley as per the Trump peace plan. The US announced that “Muslims throughout the world who wish to come in peace to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque, will now be able to fly to Tel Aviv through Abu Dhabi to do so and will be welcomed.”