PA: Jerusalem never had a Jewish Temple
PA: Israel is "Judaizing" Jerusalem,
creating a false Jewish history,
and destroying Arab Muslim Palestinian history
PA Deputy Minister:
Palestinians were present in Jerusalem
"centuries before the Jewish religion"
and Israelis "are stealing history and geography"
Official PA TV:
Israeli excavations are "evil projects" to achieve an "evil goal":
"Full control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque
and building the alleged Temple in its place"
"The Judaization octopus devours the [Palestinian] historic sites"
[Website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, July 13, 2015]
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Today, on Tisha B'Av, Jews mourn the destruction of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem (586 BCE and 70 CE). However, the Palestinian Authority denies that there ever was a Temple, consistently referring to Solomon's Temple as "the alleged Temple." Moreover, the PA also teaches its people that there was never a Jewish history in Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Authority claims persistently that Israel is "Judaizing" Jerusalem, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented. Israel is said to:
- falsify historical artifacts in order to prove a "false" Jewish history in Jerusalem
- destroy Palestinian and Islamic relics and signs of an Arab presence in the city
in its stead
The cartoon above published by Fatah captures this Palestinian narrative. Israeli soldiers are shooting their rifles and rolling a Torah scroll over the word "Jerusalem" which is bloodstained.
[July 13, 2015] Israel is said to be forcing a fake Jewish history on Jerusalem.
Five recent PA TV programs repeated these historical revisions:1. PA Deputy Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Salwa Hadib recently declared that "the Palestinian people has been present in it [Jerusalem] for thousands of years... centuries before the Jewish religion." She also claimed that Israelis "are stealing history and geography":
PA Deputy Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council Salwa Hadib: "Jerusalem is not only a religious city. Jerusalem is civilization. It has been a Canaanite city for thousands of years. The Palestinian people has been present in it for thousands of years, whether it was in Babylon, Assyria or Canaan, they [the Palestinians] gathered in the area before anything else, centuries before the Jewish religion... An Israeli engineer and an archeologist brought Israeli coins - shekels and agoras - and threw them on the ground before the renovation [of the Al-Karmi neighborhood in Jerusalem] in order to prove, after dozens and hundreds of years, that 'we (i.e., the Israelis) were present here.' They are stealing history and geography."
[Official PA TV, May 24, 2015]
2. A PA TV host agreed with a researcher of political Islam who stated on PA TV that "the vision of the Zionists" is to "destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque" and "find the Temple." The researcher claimed Israel has not found "even one remnant" that proves the existence of the Temple:
Political Islam researcher Muhammad Hijazi: "The vision of the Zionists and the extremist settlers for the holy city: They try to take over and divide the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They want to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque while talking about the Temple of Solomon. For 20 years, Israel has been digging under the foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They have conducted tens of thousands of research projects in order to find the Temple of Solomon under the Al-Aqsa Mosque, but they haven't found even one remnant that verifies this. The political goal is to Judaize the entire city of Jerusalem and expel its Palestinian residents..."
PA TV host: "They hope that tomorrow morning the Al-Aqsa Mosque will be destroyed... As you said, they are trying to actually destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque..."
Member of General Secretariat of the Union of Religious Scholars in Syria, Saber Al-Fara: "Not just for 20 years. They have been trying to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque for 60 years!"
[Official PA TV, June 4, 2015]
Click to view3. Official PA TV recently stated that Israeli excavations are "evil projects" to achieve an "evil goal": "full control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque" and "building of the alleged Temple in its place":
PA TV narrator: "The Jews conquered it [Silwan neighborhood] along with Jerusalem [in 1967]. From then on, there have been plans to Judaize and to erase Arab and Muslim antiquities through tunnel excavations and theft of antiquities, and by fabricating a fake Jewish name, such as the 'City of David.' This is Silwan... Through these evil projects, the Israeli occupation seeks to restore the alleged Kingdom of David and to build his palace there, in order to achieve its evil goal: Full control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque and building the alleged Temple in its place."
[Official PA TV, May 9, 2015]
Click to view4. A PA TV program entitled The Citadel of David, strong resolve and pride against the Israeli forgery, claimed that the Israeli Tower of David Museum has become "a Judaizing museum" that tells of "the alleged Temple":
Official PA TV narrator: "In 1980, the occupation changed it [David's Citadel] into a Judaizing museum called the 'David Citadel Museum' (i.e., Tower of David Museum), which tells the story of the alleged temple. It displays the Talmudic narrative, remains of rocks - that are claimed to be from the period of the Temple, paintings, exhibits, models, signs, and advanced audio systems - that tell an imaginary Hebrew history, especially the Talmudic details about the alleged temples, the first and second ones."
[Official PA TV, March 14, 2015]
Click to view5. Yet another PA TV narrator reiterated the libel that Israel is erasing Palestinian landmarks, referring to "the Judaization octopus" which "is spreading [its arms] to devour what is left of the historic sites that left their mark on the city for thousands of years."
PA TV narrator: "The occupation authorities are working incessantly to change the character of occupied Jerusalem. The Judaization octopus is spreading [its arms] to devour what is left of the historic sites that left their mark on the city for thousands of years. One of those sites is the Silwan Spring (i.e., Gihon Spring), which the occupation later turned into Talmudic walking trails..."
PA TV reporter: "We are at the Silwan pool. This is a historic site with definite Arab-Palestinian-Canaanite roots and history."
PA TV reporter: "We are at the Silwan pool. This is a historic site with definite Arab-Palestinian-Canaanite roots and history."
[Official PA TV, March 11, 2015]
The denial of Jewish history in Jerusalem and rejection of the existence of the Temple by the PA and Fatah - both headed by Mahmoud Abbas - has been documented in depth by Palestinian Media Watch, as has the PA claim of Israeli falsification of artifacts and heritage theft.
The following are longer excerpts of some of the statements denying Jewish history in Jerusalem:
PA TV: Tower of David Museum is "a Judaizing museum" that tells of "the alleged Temple"
Official PA TV program From Jerusalem
Name of TV report: The Citadel of David, strong resolve and pride against the Israeli forgery
Official PA TV narrator: "[David's] Citadel fell into the hands of the occupation in 1967 and extensive excavations began, during which a part of it [the Citadel] was destroyed along with a number of ancient Islamic relics. In 1980, the occupation changed it into a Judaizing museum called the 'David Citadel Museum' (i.e., Tower of David Museum), which tells the story of the alleged temple. It displays the Talmudic narrative, remains of rocks - that are claimed to be from the period of the Temple, paintings, exhibits, models, signs, and advanced audio systems - that tell an imaginary Hebrew history, especially the Talmudic details about the alleged temples, the first and second ones."
[Official PA TV, March 14, 2015]
PA TV narrator: "The occupation authorities are working incessantly to change the character of occupied Jerusalem. The Judaization octopus is spreading [its arms] to devour what is left of the historic sites that left their mark on the city for thousands of years. One of those sites is the Silwan Spring (i.e., Gihon Spring), which the occupation later turned into Talmudic walking trails..."
PA TV reporter: "We are at the Silwan pool. This is a historic site with definite Arab-Palestinian-Canaanite roots and history."
Fakhri Abu Diab, member of the Silwan and Al-Bustan Neighborhood Defense Committee: "5,000 years ago, the Jebusite and Canaanite Arabs came and founded Jerusalem... The Jews understood the history and significance of this historic landmark, and wanted to impose a Biblical-Talmudic-Jewish story on this place, in order to falsify facts and prove that they have a past and a history in this area."
[Official PA TV, March 11, 2015]
Notes: The Silwan Spring (Gihon Spring) - A natural water spring, used as a primary water source of ancient Jerusalem. The spring is located in the City of David national park, in the area of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.
The Silwan Pool (Shiloah\Siloam Pool) - A pool for water storage, located in the City of David national park, in the area of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan. The pool seems to have been dug and first been in use during the First Temple Period (circa 1000 - 586 BCE). The pool was expanded during the Second Temple period (530 BCE - 70 CE) as part of Jerusalem's elaborate water system, but went out of use following the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. A Byzantine church and an additional pool were built at the site in the 5th century CE.
The PA term "Arab-Palestinian-Canaanite" is an anachronism. Canaan is a biblical name for the land of Israel dating back to the second millennium BCE. The name "Palestine" was only used much later in the 2nd century CE, after the Romans changed the name of Judea/Israel to "Palaestina" to punish the Jewish nation for their revolt. The Arab conquest of the area only took place in the 7th century CE.