PA TV guest: “There is no enmity in Islamic and Christian thought [just] because you are a Jew”
PA TV program Together for Palestine interviews from Amman Ahmad Nijm, former president of the Return Club in Zarqa (Jordan).
Nijm: "We aren't against the Jews in principle. Judaism is a religion like Christianity and like Islam. On the contrary – our forefathers were partners with the Jews in the land, up to the time of the Ottoman Empire. Likewise, there is no enmity in Islamic thought and in Christian thought [just] because you are a Jew. We also have Jews in Tunisia and in Morocco and in Iraq."
PA TV host: "They're part of the nation [amongst whom they're living]."
Nijm: "Part of their nation. And at this opportunity, when the Arab Initiative was presented, I was one of the people who wrote on this topic, and I said: Just as there is a right of return for the Palestinian people, to return with [full] citizenship to their land, in complete freedom, in equality, and in liberation, so there is a right of return for the Jews of Iraq and Libya and Tunisia, so they can live in a democratic society and live in their country. These [Jews] – the Zionist movement tricked them and told them 'the promised land' – this lie."
Nijm: "We aren't against the Jews in principle. Judaism is a religion like Christianity and like Islam. On the contrary – our forefathers were partners with the Jews in the land, up to the time of the Ottoman Empire. Likewise, there is no enmity in Islamic thought and in Christian thought [just] because you are a Jew. We also have Jews in Tunisia and in Morocco and in Iraq."
PA TV host: "They're part of the nation [amongst whom they're living]."
Nijm: "Part of their nation. And at this opportunity, when the Arab Initiative was presented, I was one of the people who wrote on this topic, and I said: Just as there is a right of return for the Palestinian people, to return with [full] citizenship to their land, in complete freedom, in equality, and in liberation, so there is a right of return for the Jews of Iraq and Libya and Tunisia, so they can live in a democratic society and live in their country. These [Jews] – the Zionist movement tricked them and told them 'the promised land' – this lie."