Poem in PA daily to Israelis: “You will become dust”
PA poetry promises end of Israel:
- “The revolution will set out against the lowly and the impure… The day of victory is already near”
- “The day will come – you evil ones… you will leave the land… you will become dust”
The PA also publishes poetry in its official daily. Recently, several poems by a writer named Muhammad Al-Haifawi demonize Jews/Israelis and call to destroy Israel.
One poem predicts that “a revolution will set out against the lowly and the impure”:
“Congratulations, most holy [Jerusalem]…
From within you the revolution will set out against the lowly and the impure.
Every oppressor will be trampled, regardless of how tyrannically and recklessly he behaves
Your brave-hearted young people lived and died with heads held high
The day of victory is already near,
herald this to everyone.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 19, 2022]
Another poem referred to Israelis as “you evil ones” and foresees Israel's end:
“The day will come – you evil ones –
When you will leave the land of the rebels
And you will become dust”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 29, 2022]
A third poem, written after Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in what the PA has termed a deliberate “assassination,” called to kill Israelis, vowing revenge for her death – “tooth for a tooth, eye for an eye”:
“Long live, long live Palestine!
O army of murderers and Nazis
We have waved the flag and sworn
Tooth for a tooth, eye for an eye
Shireen’s blood will be avenged
Because blood is a duty that must be paid”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 22, 2022]
Palestinian Media Watch has exposed other poems that call for violence against Israel. Conveying “the words of his honor the President Mahmoud Abbas,” Nablus District Governor Ibrahim Ramadan read a poem in 2020 calling on Palestinians to take up arms and die as Martyrs:
Speaker on stage: “And now to the words of His Honor the President Mahmoud Abbas, presented by brother Ibrahim Ramadan, District Governor of Nablus.”
Nablus District Governor Ibrahim Ramadan:
"O Martyr, Allah's mercy upon you.
If I fell on the land while covered in my wounds
And my blood flowed from me and my weapon lay by my side
This is the path of my struggle, therefore my brother, complete my struggle.
This is what the Martyr tells [us]."[Official PA TV, Reporters in the Field, Jan. 6, 2020]
The following are longer excerpts of the poems by Muhammad Al-Haifawi published in the official PA daily:
Headline: “Jerusalem”
“Congratulations, most holy [Jerusalem]…
From within you the revolution will set out against the lowly and the impure.
Every oppressor will be trampled, regardless of how tyrannically and recklessly he behaves
Your brave-hearted young people lived and died with heads held high
The day of victory is already near,
herald this to everyone.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 19, 2022]
Headline: “We do not forget”
“We do not forget what happened
Not the key and not the home
Regarding the Nakba (i.e., “the catastrophe,” the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) and the destruction,
The account [to settle] is very great
We were free in our land
And on a dark night, you Tatars (sic., genetic research has conclusively proven modern Jews share a common origin in Israel and are not the descendants of Tatars)
Burned the homes and trees
But time – you oppressors – is like a wheel
You lied and believed the lie
The day will come – you evil ones –
When you will leave the land of the rebels
And you will become dust”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 29, 2022]
Headline: “Shireen”
“A fascist sniper invaded Jenin
An oppressive occupier lacking religion
He set an ambush at the road’s incline
And with a treacherous bullet he murdered Shireen [Abu Akleh] (sic., there is no evidence Israeli forces killed Abu Akleh, and ample reason to believe indiscriminate fire by Palestinian terrorists killed her)
And injected his venom into the jasmine flower
Her comrades screamed in panic
Shireen! Shireen! Shireen! Shireen!
And the public called in the squares:
Long live, long live Palestine!
O army of murderers and Nazis
We have waved the flag and sworn
Tooth for a tooth, eye for an eye
Shireen’s blood will be avenged
Because blood is a duty that must be paid”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 22, 2022]