Palestinians want the partition offer they rejected—while still rejecting Israel

Official PA daily columnist Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul has invoked the 1947 UN partition proposal to demand territory that the Arab leadership rejected nearly 80 years ago.

Appearing on official PA TV, Al-Ghoul described the West Bank and Gaza as only "half" of the Palestinian state proposed under UN General Assembly Resolution 181. His claim therefore extends beyond the 1967 lines to territory inside sovereign Israel that the resolution proposed assigning to an Arab state:

Official PA TV host: "Israel, falsely of course, told the international community that these are disputed territories when they talked about the territories of '67, the borders of June 4…".

Official PA daily columnist Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul: "The leaders of the [Zionist] enterprise and their trends and plans rely on the central slogan and guiding principle of 'a land without a people for a people without a land,' which is the crowning glory of Nazism in the entire world, not just [in Palestine], since the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century… According to the first partition resolution, [UN] Resolution 181, there is Palestinian land and this is part of the Palestinian land. This (i.e., the '67 borders) is part of the Palestinian land, half of the Palestinian state that Resolution 181 granted us on November 29, 1947."

[Official PA TV, Topic of the Day, July 21, 2026]

Al-Ghoul wants the territory proposed for the Arab state under Resolution 181 while continuing to reject the Jewish state proposed by that same resolution.

Resolution 181 recommended the establishment of both an Arab state and a Jewish state. The Jewish leadership accepted the proposal. The Arab leadership rejected it and launched a war to prevent the Jewish state's establishment. The proposed partition borders were therefore never implemented.

Resolution 181 did not "grant" the Palestinians territory that would remain permanently theirs regardless of their rejection of the plan. Nor did the resolution itself create Israel. Israel declared independence, defended itself in war, gained international recognition, and was admitted to the United Nations.

Al-Ghoul's statement must also be understood within the PA's consistently stated position that all of Israel is Palestinian land. By describing the PA-controlled territories and Gaza as only "half" of the Palestinian state proposed in Resolution 181, he is invoking additional territory allocated to the proposed Arab state inside what is now sovereign Israel.

In fact, PA leaders repeatedly date the "occupation" to Israel's establishment in 1948, describe Israel itself as "the 1948 lands," and insist that all of this territory remains occupied Palestinian land.

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas expressed this position in 2016 when he said that the Palestinians had been "under occupation for 67 or 68 years"—explicitly dating the alleged occupation to Israel's establishment in 1948 rather than to 1967:

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "We have been under occupation for 67 or 68 years (i.e., since Israel's establishment in 1948). Others would have sunk into despair and frustration. However, we are determined to reach our goal because our people stands behind us."

[Official PA TV, March 11, 2016]

Likewise, in a speech delivered explicitly on Abbas' behalf in 2013, Fatah Central Committee member Jamal Muhaisen declared that "all Palestinian land is occupied," including "the 1948 lands"—the PA's term for Israel itself:

Palestine Live TV broadcast an event marking the 32nd anniversary of a senior Fatah and PLO leader from the 1970s, Majed Abu Sharar's Martyrdom death. Fatah Central Committee member Dr. Jamal Muhaisen spoke on behalf of PA Chairman Abbas.
Moderator: "Brothers and sisters, now listen to the speech of Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine, which will be delivered by fighter Jamal Muhaisen, member of Fatah's Central Committee."
Muhaisen, on behalf of Abbas: "All our holy places are still under occupation, and so far we have not liberated one inch of Palestinian land. All Palestinian land is occupied – Gaza is occupied, the West Bank is occupied, the 1948 lands (i.e., Israel) are occupied and Jerusalem is occupied."

[Official PA TV, October 9, 2013]

The PA's references to the 1967 borders therefore do not amount to recognition of Israel within those borders. The PA consistently presents the territories captured in 1967 as only one part of the Palestinian land it claims. Its leaders portray Israel's establishment in 1948 as the beginning of the "occupation" and teach that Israel itself must ultimately be "liberated," or in other words, eliminated. And official PA TV continues to broadcast that same eliminationist message.

Report on demonstrations in Tunisia in support of Palestinians.

Demonstration participant: "They [Israelis] are gnawing at Palestinian lands in such a way that we will not be able to establish a Palestinian state. According to what they imagine, this is possible and easy. But we have a clear belief that the entity [Israel] is destined to disappear and Palestine will be liberated."

[Official PA TV News, July 15, 2026]