PA daily: "Palestinians [are] Jesus' descendants"
Official PA daily:
“The Palestinians [are] Jesus' descendants"
and "Jesus' story is his [Palestinian] people's story"
and "Jesus' story is his [Palestinian] people's story"
"Jesus... the virtuous patriotic Palestinian forefather...
brought forth his New Testament and spread it among mankind -
which led the Jews to persecute him
until they caught him, crucified him, and murdered him"
"The Zionist movement... wanted to falsify historical facts,
to exile and crucify the Palestinian Arab nation
and then murder it"
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Having no ancient Palestinian history, the Palestinian Authority has tried for many years to convince its people that they have a history going back many thousands of years, that there was an ancient Palestinian nation, and that one of the great figures of history, Jesus, was their “forefather” and they are “Jesus' descendants.”
The fact that in Christian tradition Jesus is a Jew from the nation of Judea and that the historical record has no record of a Palestinian Arab people, is not taught by the PA. The PA also ignores the fact that Rome only changed the name of Judea to "Palestine" after the Judean Bar Kochba Rebellion in the year 136, long after the death of Jesus. Furthermore, according to Christian tradition, Jesus did not marry, had no children, and therefore Palestinians could not be "Jesus' descendants."
The following is another presentation of Jesus as a Palestinian. According to this op-ed in the official PA daily, Jesus the Palestinian was oppressed and persecuted by the Jews, similar to today's Palestinians, who are likewise oppressed and persecuted by the Jews. Nonetheless, just as Jesus was resurrected, so too "the Palestinians, Jesus' descendants, rose from the ashes," the op-ed states.
Palestinian Media Watch has documented the PA's presentation of Jesus as a Palestinian and as an Islamic Martyr (Shahid).
The following is a longer excerpt from the op-ed in the official PA daily:
Headline: "The resurrection of Jesus, the resurrection of the state"
Op-ed by PA daily regular columnist Adel Abd Al-Rahman
"Easter... is not a holiday for Christian Palestinians only but a holiday for Palestinian nationalism, because Jesus, may he rest in peace, is a Canaanite Palestinian. His resurrection, three days after being crucified and killed by the Jews - as reported in the New Testament - reflects the Palestinian narrative, which struggles against the descendants of modern Zionist Judaism, in its new colonialist form, that conspires with the Western capitalists who claim to belong to Christianity.
Jesus, may he rest in peace, the virtuous patriotic Palestinian forefather, who renewed the Old Testament, split away from its followers, brought forth his New Testament and spread it among mankind - which led the Jews to persecute him until they caught him, crucified him and murdered him. Afterwards, he rose from the dead like the phoenix and set out to spread his teachings that still exist and will exist as long as mankind exists.
Jesus' story is his [Palestinian] people's story; the Zionist movement - tool of the capitalist West - wanted to falsify historical facts, to exile and crucify the Palestinian Arab nation and then murder it by means of ethnic cleansing... But the Palestinians, Jesus' descendants, rose from the ashes, like the phoenix, from the ruins of the Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," the Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) and the Naksa (i.e., "the setback," Palestinian term for Israel's victory in the Six Day War.) They dressed their wounds and raised the flag of nationality again by founding parties and factions...
Easter is a distinct [Palestinian] national holiday which doesn't concern only Christians but rather all Palestinians believing in the different religions - Islam, Christianity and Judaism."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 6, 2013]