Having failed to instigate violence to prevent Israeli celebrations, PA reverts to open Antisemitism and rewriting history
As Palestinian Media Watch exposed, in the lead up to the May 29 Israeli celebrations to mark 55 years since the 1967 reunification of Jerusalem and its liberation from Jordanian occupation (1948-1967), the PA tried desperately to incite wide scale violence. Having failed in this goal, the PA then did its utmost to create an alternative narrative.
Part of the alternative narrative rested solidly on openly antisemitic hate speech referring to the 70,000+ Israelis who participated in the march as “inferior… settlers”, “monkeys” and “fools”:
“Thousands of Israelis, and especially the inferior among them – the settlers – participated in the Israeli [Jerusalem Day] flag march. But the general impression received by everyone is that this march was foolish and unsuccessful on all levels…
No one reacted to the lies to which the settlers clinged, and Jerusalem remained wrapped in holy garb that was not harmed despite the wild behavior of the monkeys and their leaping about…
You are not an orphan, Palestine, as the people… that initiated the stone rebellion… is not like those fools who set out on the flag march, and who do not know what fate awaits them.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 1, 2022]
According to the PA narrative, “settler herds went wild to execute the blood dance march” and “polluted the air” of Jerusalem before leaving the city “like panicked mice fleeing from the guardians of the city”:
“Last Sunday [May 29, 2022] was one of the lauded days of Jerusalem, a day of freedom, peace, and implementing national sovereignty. This is despite the fact that the entire Israeli colonialist state and its leadership – with its political, military, and security echelon and its settler herds – went wild to execute the blood dance march (i.e., Jerusalem Day flag march) which is covered with the flag of the false narrative and the illegal presence of the Israeli ethnic cleansing state…”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 31, 2022]
“While thousands of settlers ‘polluted’ the air of the holy city [of Jerusalem] with flags of the occupation (refers to Jerusalem Day flag march -Ed.), a small video drone decorated the city’s skies with a Palestinian flag, until it was brought down by the occupation police…”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 31, 2022]
“The Zionists waved flags of their defeat by force of the gunpowder and army, but they left the occupied city like panicked mice fleeing from the guardians of the city and its Holy Basin…”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 31, 2022]
Shamefully, the PA’s use of antisemitic terminology to describe Jews is nothing new. PMW has documented scores of incidents in which the PA has used antisemitic terminology and tropes, including repeated references to Jews as “pigs and monkeys”.
The second part of the narrative followed the consistent PA messaging that not only Jerusalem, but rather all of Israel, is “occupied”.
Speaking about Jerusalem, PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh dubbed the event as a “settlers march” and added:
“Jerusalem has been the State of Palestine’s capital throughout the years, and it will remain [so] forever. Its face, heart, and tongue are Arab, and the attempts to change its features and impose an imaginary sovereignty on it will not last against the facts of religion, history, and sanctity, as it contains the first direction of Muslim prayer, the site where Prophet [Muhammad] traveled, the site of his Ascent to Heaven, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.’”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 30, 2022]
Clearly, Shtayyeh has forgotten that no independent “State of Palestine” ever existed, and that his imaginary state never held sovereignty over Jerusalem or any other place. He also clearly has erased from his mind that Jews have been the majority in Jerusalem for over 150 years. In fact, the British Census for Palestine, conducted in 1922, found that of Jerusalem’s 62,578 residents, 33,971 were Jews, 14,699 were Christians and only 13,413 were Muslims (“Mohammedans”). In other words, by 1922, Jews were not just a simple majority in Jerusalem, but rather an outright majority, numbering more than all others counted together:
The headline the PA chose for the commentary of Muwaffaq Matar, a Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily, also indicated the PA mindset: “The flag march of ‘the Israeli ISIS members” – a blessing in disguise”.
In the commentary itself, Matar attempted to compare and contrast the Israeli flag waving with Palestinians waving the “Palestinian flag” and argued that the “Palestinian flag” flying over “the historical and natural land of Palestine” contradicts the Israeli claims of sovereignty over “East Jerusalem in particular and Palestine in general”. Critically, Matar added that Palestine covers all of Israel, spreading from the Galilee in the north of Israel to the Negev in the south of Israel and from Jericho in the east to Jaffa in the west:
“The heads of the [Israeli] occupation system well understand that the Palestinian flag flown anywhere on the historical and natural land of Palestine opposes their reality, which was created by force of occupation, organized state terror, and unlimited colonialist support from colonialist states that established [their state] and are interested in having them continue to provide their services as agents. [They understand] that the Palestinian flag contradicts their claims of sovereignty over East Jerusalem in particular and Palestine in general – from the Galilee to the Negev (i.e., regions in Israel), from Jericho to the shores of Jaffa (i.e., an Israeli city).”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 31, 2022]
The following are longer excerpts of the statements cited above:
“Thousands of Israelis, and especially the inferior among them – the settlers – participated in the Israeli [Jerusalem Day] flag march. But the general impression received by everyone is that this march was foolish and unsuccessful on all levels…
No one reacted to the lies to which the settlers clinged, and Jerusalem remained wrapped in holy garb that was not harmed despite the wild behavior of the monkeys and their leaping about…
You are not an orphan, Palestine, as the people… that initiated the stone rebellion… is not like those fools who set out on the flag march, and who do not know what fate awaits them.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 1, 2022]
Headline: “Jerusalem, gunpowder, and the blood dance”
“Last Sunday [May 29, 2022] was one of the lauded days of Jerusalem, a day of freedom, peace, and implementing national sovereignty. This is despite the fact that the entire Israeli colonialist state and its leadership – with its political, military, and security echelon and its settler herds – went wild to execute the blood dance march (i.e., Jerusalem Day flag march) which is covered with the flag of the false narrative and the illegal presence of the Israeli ethnic cleansing state…
Even though the Zionism state reoccupied the eternal Palestinian capital with thousands of its soldiers and members of its army and security forces, as had not happened since its occupation 55 years ago… it was completely exposed in its nakedness, as it is being exposed in all its war crimes. It proved to all the colonialist Zionists and the entire world, and foremost the US, that the land does not belong to it and that it has no control over it or over the [Palestinian] people that owns the eternal history, identity, and presence there since the start of creation and since the first Arab Canaanite person (sic., the Canaanites were not Arabs and the Palestinians have no history prior to the modern period). This is because gunpowder and soldiers of death and organized crime do not give sovereignty to anyone…
The Zionists waved flags of their defeat by force of the gunpowder and army, but they left the occupied city like panicked mice fleeing from the guardians of the city and its Holy Basin…
They ran from the children of Palestine and its lauded women, and from the elderly of the land of Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic) and its young, because they understand that they are incapable of entering it except under the spears and protection of the Zionist soldiers of Sparta.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 31, 2022]
Headline: “Jerusalem stands alongside its sovereignty”
“While thousands of settlers ‘polluted’ the air of the holy city [of Jerusalem] with flags of the occupation (refers to Jerusalem Day flag march -Ed.), a small video drone decorated the city’s skies with a Palestinian flag, until it was brought down by the occupation police…
The popular uprising (i.e., term used by Palestinians, which also refers to the use of violence and terror) in Jerusalem and all of Palestine is meant to defend the right of sovereignty at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the right of sovereignty in the occupied Palestinian capital, which will never belong to anyone other than the original owners of the right.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 31, 2022]
The terms "peaceful uprising/resistance” and “popular uprising/resistance" are used by PA leaders at times to refer to peaceful protest and at times to refer to deadly terror attacks and terror waves. For example, Mahmoud Abbas defined as “peaceful popular” the murderous terror during the 2015-2016 terror wave (“The Knife Intifada”), in which 40 people were killed (36 Israelis, 1 Palestinian, 2 Americans and 1 Eritrean) and hundreds wounded in stabbings, shootings, and car ramming attacks. Abbas said: "We want peaceful popular uprising, and that’s what this is." At the time Abbas said this, 14 Israelis had already been murdered. http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=16437
Headline: “Shtayyeh: Jerusalem is our eternal capital and it is an occupied city, the arrogance of power will not grant sovereignty over it”
“[PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh condemned the settlers’ [Jerusalem Day flag] march and their attacks against the residents in occupied Jerusalem. He warned against the dangerous consequences of this march…
Shtayyeh praised the courage of the male and female [Arab] residents of Jerusalem who are carrying out Ribat (i.e., religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic) in their defense of the site where Prophet [Muhammad] traveled [in his Night Journey]. He said: ‘Jerusalem has been the State of Palestine’s capital throughout the years, and it will remain [so] forever. Its face, heart, and tongue are Arab, and the attempts to change its features and impose an imaginary sovereignty on it will not last against the facts of religion, history, and sanctity, as it contains the first direction of Muslim prayer, the site where Prophet [Muhammad] traveled, the site of his Ascent to Heaven, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.’”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 30, 2022]
Excerpt of a column by Muwaffaq Matar, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: “The flag march of ‘the Israeli ISIS members’ – a blessing in disguise!”
“The heads of the [Israeli] occupation system well understand that the Palestinian flag flown anywhere on the historical and natural land of Palestine opposes their reality, which was created by force of occupation, organized state terror, and unlimited colonialist support from colonialist states that established [their state] and are interested in having them continue to provide their services as agents. [They understand] that the Palestinian flag contradicts their claims of sovereignty over East Jerusalem in particular and Palestine in general – from the Galilee to the Negev (i.e., regions in Israel), from Jericho to the shores of Jaffa (i.e., an Israeli city).
The settlers invaded East Jerusalem and the Jerusalem Noble Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount), and they entered it under the protection of the occupation army. They waved their flag and held Talmudic (i.e., Jewish) rituals, and afterwards they gathered at the Damascus Gate and marched in the alleys of the Old [City of] Jerusalem. All of these things are a tragedy, but they also have a benefit; their foolish leaders such as [Israeli Prime Minister] Naftali Bennett, [Israeli Parliament Member] Itamar Ben Gvir, and [former Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu did not pay attention to a very important matter, and it is that through this mass of settlers, most of whom are openly armed… and through the arrival of armed military divisions as if they were in the battlefield, they are debunking their own talk of imposing sovereignty over Jerusalem, and revealing the failure of their Zionist project.”[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 31, 2022]