”Jews not allowed!” - in shops in the Salfit District
“It is completely forbidden to have commercial relations with the settlers”
“It is forbidden to receive any settler in our places of business”
“All signs written in the Hebrew language placed in the various places of business and workshops must be removed”
Remember the signs in Nazi Germany saying “Jews not allowed” at the entrance to some shops?
Now Salfit District Governor Abdallah Kamil has “issued a series of important decisions” of which one brings the term “Jews not allowed” to mind. It specifically “forbids” Palestinian businesses to “receive any settler” – i.e., Israelis/Jews. Whoever violates this rule risks closure of his business by the PA Security Forces:
It is completely forbidden to have commercial relations with the settlers, according to Law No. 4 of 2010. It is forbidden to receive any settler in our places of business. We have conveyed clear instructions to the relevant [PA] Security Forces to close any store that violates this decision and to put its owners on trial.
All signs written in the Hebrew language placed in the various places of business and workshops must be removed within a week at the latest. The required legal procedures will be taken against those who do not fulfill this.
We emphasize once more that one must not carry out any action of selling lands, and specifically in Area C (i.e., land under full Israeli administration according to the Oslo Accords), without first receiving security permission from the district.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 28, 2022]
These decisions in force in the Salfit district in the northwestern West Bank have been made to hinder any kind of peace building between Palestinians and Israelis/Jews as their goal is “to fight the settlement enterprise and the relations with the settlers in the district.” District Governor Kamil added that the Palestinian people “will not agree to any manner of coexistence or normalization with the settlers.” The PA routinely refers to all of Israel as "occupied Palestine" and all Israelis as "settlers."
Palestinian Media Watch has reported extensively on the third rule above. It is forbidden by PA law to sell land to “the enemy” –i.e., Israelis/Jews. The law has been reinforced by a religious ban – a fatwa – issued by the PA Supreme Fatwa Council, led by PA Grand Mufti and Supreme Fatwa Council Chairman Sheikh Muhammad Hussein.
In addition to these rules being in force in the Salfit district, in all PA schools any trace of the existence of Israel has been erased and thus there are “no Israeli products and products from the settlements in the school kiosks.” This was apparently verified by no other than PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh, who together with deputy ministers and directors-general of the Ministry of Education “examined the preparations and preparedness of the [PA] Ministry of Education for the start of the school year.” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 29, 2022]
The following is a longer excerpt of the report on the anti-Jews decisions made by Salfit District Governor Abdallah Kamil:
Headline: “Kamil issues a series of decisions to fight the settlement enterprise in the Salfit district”
“Yesterday [Aug. 27, 2022] Salfit District Governor Abdallah Kamil issued a series of important decisions to fight the settlement enterprise and the relations with the settlers in the district, and also [decisions regarding] illegally selling lands and transferring them to settlers…
District Governor Kamil… added: ‘The occupation’s plan to create a new reality on the ground to prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem has become clear, but our people is more determined to achieve its national goals, and it will not agree to any manner of coexistence or normalization with the settlers.’
The following was emphasized in the decisions:
It is completely forbidden to have commercial relations with the settlers, according to Law No. 4 of 2010. It is forbidden to receive any settler in our places of business. We have conveyed clear instructions to the relevant [PA] Security Forces to close any store that violates this decision and to put its owners on trial.
All signs written in the Hebrew language placed in the various places of business and workshops must be removed within a week at the latest. The required legal procedures will be taken against those who do not fulfill this.
We emphasize once more that one must not carry out any action of selling lands, and specifically in Area C (i.e., land under full Israeli administration according to the Oslo Accords), without first receiving security permission from the district.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 28, 2022]
“[PA] Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh examined the preparations and preparedness of the [PA] Ministry of Education for the start of the school year, which will begin on Monday [Aug. 29, 2022]. This was during a visit that the prime minister held yesterday at the Ministry [of Education] building in Ramallah, where he met with [PA] Minister [of Education] Marwan Awratani…
Shtayyeh emphasized that this year will be ‘the year of sovereignty in education in Jerusalem,’ in order to fight all the occupation’s attempts to Israelize the education in Jerusalem, fight the Palestinian [PA] curriculum, and replace it with the Israeli curriculum…
Awratani emphasized that the ministry is ready for the new school year. He reviewed the great challenges in Jerusalem due to the occupation exerting pressures on the schools and attempting to impose the distorted curriculum…
The deputy ministers and directors-general [of the Ministry of Education] reviewed… the preparations for starting the year in accordance with plans to take in 1,385,000 students. As part of this, 10 million books were printed for the first semester, including for the schools in Jerusalem; the employment of 750 new teachers was approved; 20 new schools were built including two professional [schools]; 150 schools and 140 kindergartens were qualified; 120 schools were equipped with solar receivers; and [it was checked] that there are no Israeli products and products from the settlements in the school kiosks.”
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 29, 2022]