Special Report, June 9, 2009

Sweden and the Palestinian Authority after Annapolis

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik


Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation, Gunilla Carlsson:

“Both Israelis and Palestinians must engage in a credible peace process. New governments on both sides of the conflict must work for a two-state solution."
 (Feb. 27, 2009, Ministry for Foreign Affairs)
 
"The Palestinian Authority is expected to fulfill its commitments to fight terrorism."
 (May 5, 2008, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.)


Contrasting Sweden’s clear intention to have its funding promote peace and fight terror, the Palestinian Authority since the Annapolis Conference and continuing in 2009, uses its budget to:
1- advocate denial of Israel’s right to exist;
2- incite hatred and demonize Israel;
3- promote terror against Israel;

In addition to the PA’s undermining Sweden’s positive goals, the PA violates the Roadmap and the Annapolis Conference commitments.

The Roadmap:
“At the outset of Phase I:
“Palestinian leadership issues unequivocal statement reiterating Israel’s
right to exist in peace and security…
All official Palestinian institutions end incitement against Israel.”
”Palestinians declare an unequivocal end to violence and terrorism…”


Executive Summary

The Annapolis Conference in November 2007 created hope for the renewal of a peace process after years of Palestinian Authority (PA)-supported terror. PA Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas assured Israel and the world in English that there had been a sincere change.

However, in Arabic the Palestinian Authority, the Fatah leaders and the Abbas-controlled official PA media continue to be hatred and terror supporting, as they were during the Arafat era. In fact, during the 12 years of PMW’s existence, there has never been a period of such intense demonization of Israel, continuous hate promotion, celebration of terror, and open denial of Israel’s existence by the PA (Fatah) and the Abbas-controlled media than what we have witnessed in 2008 - 2009. For example, just this week, on June 7, 2009, a PA TV educational geography program described Israeli cities from north to south, Haifa, Acre, Jaffa, Tiberias, Ashkelon, and the Sea of Galilee, as Palestinian cities. Haifa was said to be a “well-known Palestinian port” and ”Jaffa Palestine’s gateway to the world.” Palestinians are taught there is no Israel.
Unfortunately, all the evidence indicates that the decision has not yet been made by the Palestinian Authority to participate with sincerity in a peace process. The conditions for the creation of a Palestinian state set forth by the Roadmap and the internationally community are systematically violated by the PA.

Swedish objectives and funding of the Palestinian Authority

Objectives:
Sweden hopes its funding will build stronger Palestinian Authority structures, that will further Israel – Palestinian peace. According to Sida's [Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency] website:

“The overall aim of Sida's [Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency] activities in the West Bank/Gaza is to help to create opportunities for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and contribute to a democratic Palestinian state governed by law.” (Sida, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, June 2009)

And in the words of Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation, Gunilla Carlsson:

“Both Israelis and Palestinians must engage in a credible peace process. New governments on both sides of the conflict must work for a two-state solution."
(Feb. 27, 2009, Ministry for Foreign Affairs)

"The Palestinian National Authority is expected to fulfill its commitments to fight terrorism." (May 5, 2008, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.)

Swedish Funding:
“Sweden is one of the largest donors of support to the Palestinians.”
(Press release Sept. 22, 2008, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs)

”Sweden's total aid will amount to some SEK 670 million in 2007 and close to SEK 700 million in 2008.” (Press release, Dec. 17, 2007, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs)
In 2008 “the [Swedish] Government decided to earmark SEK 50 million for direct support to the Palestinian Authority.” (Press release July, 24. 2008, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs)

“This year [2009] Sweden has allocated some SEK 700 million to Palestinian assistance.”
http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/11722/a/121580

Portions of the Swedish aid is earmarked for specific humanitarian projects and is given through the UN, while part, according to the Foreign Ministry, goes unconditioned to the Palestinian Authority under PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
 
The PA however uses its budget for the continuous glorification of terror, demonization of Israel and denial of Israel’s right to exist, which is incompatible with Swedish goals.
Unfortunately, Swedish leaders continue to be misled by the moderate messages that Abbas and the PA espouse in English, and are unaware of the systematic hate promotion directed at Palestinians in Arabic.

The sums of money that Sweden contributes to Abbas’s government directly support the regime and its infrastructures which indoctrinate children and adults with hatred and celebrate terror and terrorists. While Sweden earmarks some of its funding to specific humanitarian projects the direct aid to the PA funds, in part, the incessant hate campaign. In addition, even the earmarked funding frees up money in the PA budget which is being used on these peace inhibiting activities.


1.     Denial of Israel's existence, calls for Israel's destruction:
Examples:
b.    A PA TV educational geography program broadcast this week on June 7, 2009, and broadcast regularly since August 2007, teaches there is no Israel and that all of Israel is actually “Palestine:”
“Another section in Palestine is… Ashkelon in the south, until Haifa, in the Carmel Mountains. Haifa is a well-known Palestinian port... To its north, we find Acre. East of Acre, we reach a city with history and importance, the city of Tiberias, near a famous lake, the lake of Tiberias [Kinneret- Sea of Galilee]. Jaffa, an ancient coastal city, is the bride of the sea, and Palestine’s gateway to the world.” [PA TV 2007 – 2009]

Note that all of these are Israeli cities, spread over the entire country.

a.   Muhammad Dahlan, a senior PA official, stated plainly on official PA TV: " I want to say for the thousandth time, in my own name and in the name of all of my fellow members of the Fatah movement: We do not demand that the Hamas movement recognize Israel. On the contrary, we demand of the Hamas movement not to recognize Israel, because the Fatah movement does not recognize Israel, even today.”                                [PA TV March 17, 2009]


c.  Official PA schoolbooks still teach a world without Israel:

"Coastal states differ in terms of their access to water sources, such as...: states located on sea coasts with accesses to two seas, for example: Palestine and Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea."
[Physical Geography and Human Geography, Grade 12, p. 105]
 
 "Palestine has a long coast facing the Mediterranean sea and a short coast on the Gulf of Aqaba."
[Health and Environment Studies, Grade 8 (2003), p. 130]
Note that the Israeli city of Eilat is on the Gulf of Eilat (Aqaba).
 
"... The Tiberias Lake [Sea of Galilee], in Palestine"
[Physical Geography, Grade 5, p. 25]


2. Hate incitement is actively promoted as policy for children and adults. Hate videos, libels and lies remain a backbone of PA TV.

Examples:
a. PA TV has been broadcasting a music video from 2007 to June 2009, with the repeated refrain, “My enemy, my enemy.” Israel is called a “snake, coiled around the land.” The hate video denies Israel's right to exist and anticipates Israel’s destruction: “You have no choice, O enemy, but to leave my country.”

b. The official PA newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, has propogated a long-standing blood libel against Israel, falsely accusing Israel of conducting horrific Nazi-like medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners:
"Many of the male and female inmates received injections from needles they had not seen before, and which caused their hair and facial hair to fall out permanently ... others lost their sanity, or their mental condition is constantly deteriorating... and some are suffering from infertility." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 4, 2008]

c. Another wild accusation concerns the deployment of "supernatural rats" against Arab residents of Jerusalem's Old City:
"... [Israeli] settlers have been bringing chests filled with rats and releasing them in the Old City's [Arab] neighborhoods... the [Arab] residents' efforts to counter this infestation have failed, especially since cats run away from these rats because of their size and ferocity... All of the conventional efforts to kill them have not succeeded… which compels Jerusalem's [Arabs] today to face the dangers of settlement and the infestation of rats..."  [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 18, 2008]


The PA enthusiastically celebrates terror and terrorists, even those who have murdered since Annapolis.

Examples:
a.The suicide terrorist in the Israeli city of Dimona, the killer of the eight Jerusalem yeshiva students, arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh and other terrorists were all glorified as Palestinian heroes in official PA newspapers and television in 2008.

b.In February 2009 the PA glorified the terrorist who murdered three civilians and seven Israeli soldiers in a 2002 ambush. The terrorist and his action were praised as "the hero of the Intifada." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 17, 2009]

c.On March 11, 2009, PA TV broadcast a special program commemorating and celebrating the 30th anniversary of the most deadly terror attack ever carried out in Israel – a bus hijacking that left 37 civilians dead. The program opened with the narrator glorifying this attack as "one of the most important and most prominent special operations, executed by the Palestinian revolution by sea, on the coast between Haifa and Tel Aviv. This operation, carried out by a team of heroes and led by the heroic fighter Dalal Mughrabi."

3. Far from distancing itself from earlier Arafat ideologies, the PA leadership continues to advocate Israel’s destruction.

Example:
PA Fatah MP: “It doesn’t mean that we don’t want the 1948 borders [i.e. destroy Israel], but in our current political program, we [Fatah] say we want a state on the 1967 borders…” [PA TV Aug. 25, 2008]

Contrary to the perception that Hamas alone preaches terror, violence and denial of Israel’s right to exist, this PMW Special Report documents that the PA-Fatah leadership and media promote the same message. In contrast to the moderate message that it conveys to the English-speaking world, the Palestinian Authority’s Arabic-language world continues to be imbued with hate promotion and promises of Israel's expected destruction.

The report

1.Denying Israel’s right to exist, rejecting Israel’s existence and advocating its destruction
2.Hate incitement and demonization for children and adults - PA Hate Media
2.1 Libels and lies
2.2 Hate through videos and demonization
3.Honoring and glorifying terror
3.1 Murderers since Annapolis deemed heroic
3.2 Other past terrorists – likewise deemed heroic
3.3 PA lauds terrorist-mass murderers as heroes
4.PA Political and Religious Leaders – hatred in Arabic
4.1 PM Mahmoud Abbas – in Arabic
4.2 Other PA political and religious officials (MPs, party leaders, etc.)5
5.  Swedish objectives and funding of the Palestinian Authority
6.  Conclusions


1. Denying Israel’s right to exist, rejecting Israel's existence and advocating its destruction
There is no greater danger to peace and no greater hate promotion than for Palestinian children to be taught to deny Israel’s right to exist. PA TV educational programs for children actively demand that children not only deny Israel’s right to exist, but even deny the existence of Israel altogether. Israel’s destruction is likewise promised on official PA TV productions.

Palestinian children are taught that Israeli cities covering the entire country -- including Haifa in the North, Jaffa (part of Tel Aviv), coastal Ashkelon and Ashdod, and Eilat in the south, are all Palestinian cities. “Palestine’s” borders are said to be Lebanon and Syria, when in fact this could be true only if Israel did not exist. When an Israeli Arab girl on a TV phone-in for children identified her city of residence as “Be’er Sheva”, Israel’s largest southern city, the PA TV host corrected her: “Occupied Be’er Sheva.” Video clips sing about a “Palestine” that erases Israel and about a future when the Israeli cities Jaffa and Haifa will be “liberated.”

Hundreds of maps have appeared on PA TV during this renewed “peace” period since Annapolis. On every single one of them, Israel is replaced by “Palestine”. These maps denying Israel’s existence included an official PA government advertisement that ran daily for months, featuring a painted Palestinian flag covering all of Israel from top to bottom. Senior PA leaders have increased the frequency of public declarations making clear that Abbas’ Fatah party haS never recognized and still does not recognize Israel. Abbas himself stressed in April 2009 that he will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

It is inconceivable that children growing up with this systematic denial of Israel's legitimacy and existence will ever accept Israel as a legitimate state and neighbor.

Understanding the importance of recognition as the key to long term peace the United States and Western countries have made this a central demand and condition on Hamas before they could join the peace process and receive funding. However, the duplicity of the Palestinian Authority has misled the donor countries into believing that Abbas is directing his people to recognition.

The following are representative examples from among many:

A. PA Leadership – rejecting recognition of Israel

1. Muhammad Dahlan, a senior PA official, on official PA TV: " I want to say for the thousandth time, in my own name and in the name of all of my fellow members of the Fatah movement: We do not demand that the Hamas movement recognize Israel. On the contrary, we demand of the Hamas movement not to recognize Israel, because the Fatah movement does not recognize Israel, even today.”                    [PA TV March 17, 2009]


2. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "The 'Jewish state.' What is a 'Jewish state?' We call it, the 'State of Israel'. You can call yourselves whatever you want. But I will not accept it. And I say this on a live broadcast... It's not my job to define it, to provide a definition for the state and what it contains. You can call yourselves the Zionist Republic, the Hebrew, the National, the Socialist [Republic] call it whatever you like. I don't care."    At the end of his speech Abbas held aloft a map of “Palestine” that replaces Israel. The map being held aloft by a smiling Abbas was featured in a prominent front-page position in both PA daily newspapers. Note that the word "Palestine" appears on the map in English.  [PA TV, Apr. 27, 2009, Al Hayat Al Jadida, Apr 28, 2009]

3. Chairman of Fatah Party in the Legislative Council, Azzam Al-Ahmed:    
"We have already said in public and in official statements that it is not correct that we demand that Hamas recognize Israel. Fatah does not recognize Israel. The Democratic [Front] does not recognize Israel... The one that recognizes Israel is the Palestinian government [PLO]. The Palestinian government which represents the Palestinian people, and not the Palestinian Authority government [of Abbas]. Only the PLO, [since] recognition of countries is an act of government. Therefore, the PLO, in the name of the Palestinian people, exchanged letters of recognition with the Israeli government.”    [PA TV March 23, 2009]

B. Teaching Children there is no country Israel
Note: The following section documents that all Israeli cities even inside the 1949 borders are defined by the Palestinian Authority as “Palestinian cities”.

1.  PA TV children’s programs teach children to see a world without Israel:

Child Host: “List three Palestinian ports… we have the Haifa port, Jaffa, Ashkelon, Eilat, Ashdod & Gaza.” [Note: All are Israeli cities except Gaza.]

Child Host: “What is the size of the state of Palestine?”
(On phone) Haidar:  “27,000 sq. km.”  
[Note: The size of the West Bank and Gaza is 6,220 sq. km. The figure of 27,000 sq. km. Includes all of Israel.]

Child Host: “Name three countries bordering Palestine.”
(On phone) Muhammad:  “Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt.”
[Note: Only Israel borders Lebanon.]

Child Host: “The Palestinian borders overlook two important seas. What are their names?”
(On phone) Lama: “The Mediterranean and the Red Sea.”
[Note: The Red Sea borders Israel's southern tip.]

Child Host: “What's the name of the only sweet-water lake in Palestine?”
On phone, Ayyam: “The Tiberias Sea [the Sea of Galilee or the Kinneret].”
[Note: The Sea of Galilee is in Israel.]     [PATV (Fatah), Sept. 1, 2008]


2. Children recite on Abbas’s PA TV:
Child: “My name is Asraa and I’m from the occupied Safed [Israeli city].”
Child: “My name is Rama and I’m from the occupied Safed [Israeli city].”
Child: “My name is Hiyam and I’m from the occupied Safed [Israeli city].”
Child: “My name is Raad Salim and I’m from the occupied Acre [Israeli city].”
Child: “My name is Arhaf from occupied Haifa, [Israeli city]. I hope that Palestine will return and that we will defend it.”                                    [PA TV (Fatah), July 21, 2008]


3. Child: “I’m from Beer Sheba [Israeli city.]”
Host : “From the occupied Beer Sheba … of course, from the occupied Negev [Israeli desert]. We bless all our children of the Negev and I’m very happy that our children from the occupied areas in Palestine are calling, those [areas] which Israel occupies.”
                                   [PA TV (Fatah), July 21, 2008]

4. Quiz on PA TV (Fatah):
Host: “Sally, where are you from?"
Sally: “From Acre [Israeli city].”
Host: “Wherever you’re from, they are all Palestinian cities. The Jezreel Valley [Israeli region] is thought to be “the breadbasket of Palestine.”  [PA TV (Fatah) Sept. 6, 2008]


5. Host: “Yesterday’s riddle: O bride of Palestine, the most beautiful in the garden, O you who sit on the shore waiting for time to return. Don’t cry, my dear, beautiful daughter of Canaan … And the answer is: Yaffo.” [Israeli city – part of Tel Aviv]

Host: “Which Palestinian city is called ‘the flower of Galilee’? The possibilities are: Tiberias, Nazareth, Acre.” [All are Israeli cities]
Answer: “Nazareth.”                       [PA TV (Fatah) Sept. 15, 2008]

6. All Israel is Palestine on PA TV fashion show:
"[These are] the garments of Beer Sheba [Israeli city] and the Negev desert [in Israel], the southern part of Palestine, the desert of Palestine.…
The garments of Beit Jibrin [Israeli town], this Palestinian archaeological town, which the occupation has transformed into an Israeli tourist village and changed its name from Beit Jibrin into Guvrin, those are the garments with its decorations that testify to its [the town’s] past.
The garment of Galilee [in Israel], northern Palestine, Safed, Tiberias, Acre, Nazareth [all are Israeli cities] - this dress is one of the most beautiful dresses in Palestine.”
[PA TV (Fatah) April 10, 2008]


7. In a documentary film, a Palestinian youth pledges to liberate Dir Yassin (West Jerusalem) by blood:
 
The time of the Annapolis summit marked the return of an educational documentary depicting all of present-day Israel as stolen “occupied Palestine.” All Israeli cities, including Jaffa, Acre and Haifa, are referred to as Palestinian cities. A Palestinian youth interviewed on the program pledges to return to West Jerusalem and redeem it with his own blood.
    
"Ask whomever you wish. Go ask any child, 'Which city are you from?'… He will tell you from Jaffa, Haifa, this village or that city… i.e. He belongs [only] temporarily to the place where he resides, his place of refuge."

Towards the end of the program, a youth pledges to liberate Jerusalem even by violent means:
“My answer to [Israelis] is that I am of the fourth generation and I have not forgotten. I have a dream, to arrive at Dir Yassin [in West Jerusalem]. This is a dream of mine. I hope to redeem it by blood."  [PATV (Fatah) April 28, 2008]

8. Israel is presented as "Palestine", and in a music video broadcast for several months after Annapolis, a pledge is made to liberate it:

"We will liberate the Land of religions…
The land is Arab in history and identity
Palestine is Arab in history and identity…

"From Jerusalem and Acre, from Haifa and Jericho and Gaza and Ramallah, from Bethlehem and Jaffa, from Beer Sheba and Ramle,
from Nablus to the Galilee, from Tiberias to Hebron…"
[Note inclusion of Israeli cities from the entire country]
[PA TV (Fatah), October 2007–Jan. 2009]

9. Israel is erased and "Palestine" is in its place all across Israel, from Ashkelon to the Sea of Galilee and back to Jaffa. This educational documentary has been broadcast dozens of times since August 2007, most recently on June 7, 2009:

“The West Bank and Gaza have another section in Palestine which is the Palestinian coast that spreads along the [Mediterranean] sea, from …Ashkelon in the south, until Haifa, in the Carmel Mountains. Haifa is a well-known Palestinian port. [Haifa] enjoyed a high status among Arabs and Palestinians especially before it fell to the ‘occupation’ [Israel] in 1948. To its north, we find Acre. East of Acre, we reach a city with history and importance, the city of Tiberias, near a famous lake, the lake of Tiberias [Kinneret- Sea of Galilee]. Jaffa, an ancient coastal city, is the bride of the sea, and Palestine’s gateway to the world
                                                                          [PATV (Fatah), August 2007–June 7, 2009]

10.  Child TV Host: "What is the name of the desert in Palestine?"
Nahad: "The Negev desert" [southern Israel]
Host: "Correct answer."                                     [PATV (Fatah), Sept. 18, 2008]
 
11. Child TV Host: "Which of the Palestinian cities is named after the Roman ruler, the Emperor Tiberias?"
Child: "Tiberias." [Israeli city]
Host: "Your answer is correct."                          [PATV (Fatah), Sept. 20, 2008]

12. Abbas’s PA TV children’s programs teach children to see a world without Israel:
Child host quizzes children:
- “Where is Ein Harod [Israeli town]?   - In Palestine.
- Good.  Which mountain is the tallest in Palestine? And where is it located?
- Mount Meron [in Israel].
- That’s half an answer, where is it located?   In Nablus, Hebron or Galilee?
- In the Galilee [in Israel].
Correct answer. The tallest mountain in Palestine is Mount Meron, in the Upper Galilee, east of the mountain is the city of Safad [Israeli city], the capital of northern Palestine.”
[PA TV (Fatah), Sept. 9, 2008]

13. Israel replaced by “Palestine” (covered by the PLO flag) in PA official government Census Bureau announcements
A public service announcement of the National Census, broadcast for several months on PA TV, showed “Palestine” as the map of Israel painted over with the colors of the flag of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The announcements were aired right through the Annapolis conference.
[PA TV, November-December 2007, PA official web site, 2007- 2009]

(The image on right of the Palestinian flag flying over the map of Israel still appears today on the PA website, along with logos of Western donors.)


14. A music video for children summarizes the essence of PA ideology, and the motivation for the continuing hatred and war against Israel, in the words: "Israel took everything in 1948.”

"My homeland, my land is very pretty. It has forests, stone houses and a sea
My homeland, my land is very pretty. It has hills, lemon and olive trees
I live in my village. My village in my homeland. My homeland is so pretty…
The smell of a fig tree. The aroma of jasmine…
Do you know what happened in '48? [Year of Israel’s creation]
They took everything. They burned the room. The houses they broke.
The forests they destroyed. The village they erased. The names they changed
They changed the names. My homeland, her name is Palestine."
[PA TV, 1998-2009, repeatedly]


2. Hate promotion among children and adults and demonization of Israel - PA hate media

PA–Fatah media continue to actively promote hatred, as Jews and Israelis are demonized through malicious libels - including such lies as the assertion that Israel intentionally spreads AIDS and drugs among Palestinians, conducts Nazi-like medical experiments on Palestinian prisoners, and is planning to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque.

The following are representative examples from among many:



2.1 Libels and Lies

a: PA libel: Israel spreads AIDS and drugs
Palestinian Chief Religious Justice, Tayseer Al-Tamimi:
“The AIDS issue needs to receive due attention in order to raise Palestinians' awareness of the danger - in particular, since we neighbor a society [Israel] where the disease is widespread and which acts to transmit [AIDS] to Palestinian society. The occupying authorities, especially in Jerusalem, are working to spread drugs and drug addiction, without a doubt."   [PATV (Fatah), Dec. 2, 2007]

“Israel exports AIDS and other sexual diseases… Alongside us there's a country [Israel] that exports this disease to us.” [PA radio (Fatah), Feb. 17, 2008]

b:  PA libel: Israel's supernatural rats chase away Jerusalem's Arabs
"...one of the most amazing things that we've read during this month is that [Israeli] settlers have been bringing chests filled with rats and releasing them in the Old City's [Arab] neighborhoods; they breed and have become a major curse... the [Arab] residents' efforts to counter this infestation have failed, especially since cats run away from these rats because of their size and ferocity... All of the conventional efforts to kill them have not succeeded, because they seem to be immune to poison and they breed in the sewers. It is known that this female rat gives birth seven times a year, each time giving birth to 20 babies; which compels Jerusalem's [Arabs] today to face the dangers of settlement and the infestation of rats..."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 18, 2008]

"Large numbers of [Israeli] settlers have been bringing huge cages full of rats and releasing them onto the streets and alleys of the Old City [Jerusalem]...in order to turn the [Arab] residents' life into a living hell, forcing then to leave..."
[Al-Ayyam, July 17, 2008]


c: PA libel: Israeli tanks and soldiers deliberately target Palestinian children
A PA TV video clip shows an Israeli tank deliberately targeting and shooting a Palestinian boy. The video is a fraud.
[PATV (Fatah), May 15, 2008]

d: PA libel: Zionists target pregnant women
"We saw how they [Zionists] stab bellies of pregnant women, slaughter infants and eat life in cold blood. They targeted children and the wombs of women so this people won't reproduce."
- Dr. Mutawakil Tahalk, Head of Palestinian Writers Union and Former PA Deputy Minister,                            [PATV (Fatah), March 4, 2008]


e: PA libel: Israel conducts Nazi-like experiments on prisoners
"Abu Al-Hajj [Director of the Abu-Jihad Center for Prisoner Affairs in Al-Quds University] referred back to the period of the British Mandate and its usual method of execution - using the hanging noose that is on display in the museum ... Fahd Abu Al-Hajj went on to mention the subsequent method employed by the Israeli Occupation, in which they finish off by instigating slow death, which the prisoners suffer at the hands of the prison authorities. He added that as a result of this method, 226 prisoners have died as Shahids (martyrs) in the prisons... Abu Al-Hajj pointed to the fact that... clinic doctors in Israeli prisons are using the prisoners as guinea pigs under the pretense of ‘treatment.’"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 6, 2008]

f: PA libel: Israel commits Holocaust against Palestinians
Palestinian exhibit depicts children in "Israeli” crematorium


"The National Committee for Defense of Children from the Holocaust opened its activities with a Holocaust exhibit. The exhibit includes a large oven and inside it small children are being burned. The picture speaks for itself."
[Al Ayyam, March 20, 2008]

Children’s performance:  Stop the Israel’s Holocaust.
[Al Hayat Al Jadida, March 20, 2008]


 Another part of the exhibit was a black platform with the words in Arabic and English, “Stop the Israel’s Holocausts.”

g: PA libel: Israel committed a Holocaust against the Palestinians in 1948
In 2008, a new Palestinian libel has surfaced in which the State of Israel is portrayed as having being founded through Nazi-type atrocities. In the new PA version, the Zionists are accused of burning people alive, subjecting Palestinians to a Selektion for deportation or execution, running forced labor camps to serve the Israeli military, and committing mass murder with death pits.

This new allegation is made in the PA media based on a study written by Fatah MP Issa Karaka. He claims that these new findings, discovered 60 years after the founding of the State of Israel, were never published before because "… researchers have only been documenting the period starting with the 1967 occupation. Meanwhile, a more important and more brutal period is being ignored when Zionist militias were committing crimes against humanity."                         [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 4, 2008]

All of these libels are based on atrocities the Nazis performed on Jews in the Second World War. However, there is no historical record of any such conduct on the part of the State of Israel, nor have any such accusations ever been leveled against Israel, until this latest “research.”

Burning people alive
"The Zionist militias employed every means of extermination – murder, demolition, rape and burning people alive."                  [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 10, 2008]

Zionist Nazi-like Selection for Death or Deportation.
Fatah MP Issa Karaka: "During the 1948 war the Zionist militias set up internment camps for the civilian population that was detained after being exiled from their villages. These camps were like the camps set up by Nazi Germany during WWII. . . It has been proven that their modus operandi was … to separate them into three groups according to whether they were intended for deportation, execution or detention.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 4, 2008]

Palestinians in forced labor camps
Fatah MP Issa Karaka: "The Palestinian prisoners were used for forced labor work by the Israeli military leadership … They were forced to labor in every capacity that was thought to strengthen Israel's economy and military capabilities."
[Al-Quds Daily, May 5, 2008]

Israeli death pits
"They lined the men up in rows of seven or eight. They told them to dig a deep ditch in the cemetery. … The first row of men stood in front of the hole and were shot to death. Then they asked the second row to bury them and in this manner [killed them] all row after row.”
[PA TV, April 10, 2008]

As stated, there is no historical basis or record of such events, nor have any such accusations ever been leveled against Israel until this latest PA “research” by a Fatah MP.


2.2 Hate through videos and demonization

a: PATV hate video: My Enemy (2007–2009)
PA TV has been broadcasting a music video for over a year with a repeating refrain: “My enemy, my enemy.” Israel is called a “snake, coiled around the land.” The hate video denies Israel's right to exist and anticipates Israel’s destruction: “You have no choice, O enemy, but to leave my country.” PA TV first aired this music video in 2004, and resumed its broadcast in October 2007. It was broadcast daily for months – right through the Annapolis Conference - and continues to be aired in June 2009.

The following is the text of the PA TV hate video (October 2007- June 2009):

"My enemy. O my enemy. Stop your crimes. Treaty breaker! Treacherous!...
If you pull out my eyes, my heart will see. If you cut off my hands, my chest is knives and swords.
My enemy! O imperialism! This homeland is ours. (x2)
This land will be tilled only by our hoes. (x2)
Whenever the tension rises, whenever this land weeps, (x2) the flower will return to grow in our house.
My enemy. O, my enemy, stop your crimes. Treaty breaker! Treacherous!...
My enemy! Oh snake, around the land you are coiled.
We, noble, courageous, on the day of ruin [battle], shall stand.
You have no choice, O enemy, but to leave my country, and my children will return."


b: PA TV hate video: Fight Jews for mother's honor, 2002-2009
“Not so fast, not so fast, O Zion! My mother's tears – how they are degraded! Not so fast, not so fast, O Zion! My mother's tears – how they are degraded! Even if they [Jews] gathered from the world, your debt remains open with me! Even if you decreed my death, the pure stone is my answer!”


c: Demonization: History professor, Adnan Ayash: Jews are worse than smallpox
"There are diseases like smallpox, that can be eradicated, but the disease that was inflicted on the Palestinian people and the Arab nation in general, that's the Jewish disease, the Zionist disease, which is a cancerous disease, that started with occupying and taking over lands in 1904…Those (Jews), from 1904 to 1947, reached 605,000. That’s the cancer that spreads over the lands."
[PA TV (Fatah), June 5, 2008]

d: Demonization: Israelis “stab bellies of pregnant women”
Dr. Mutawakil Taha, Head of Palestinian Writer’s Union, Former PA Deputy Minister:
“We saw how they [Zionists] stab bellies of pregnant women, slaughter infants and eat life in cold blood. They targeted children and the wombs of women so this people won’t reproduce.”
[PA TV (Fatah), March 4, 2008]


3. Honoring and glorifying terror
The PA openly glorifies past and present terrorists. The rejection of violence, the flagship of the Annapolis event, has been only an English-language message by the Palestinian Authority. Through its controlled media, the PA has continued to glorify terrorist murderers – even those who have murdered since Annapolis. Suicide bombers and mass murderers are actively honored and cast as role models for young children. The act of describing such bombers as Shahids – Martyrs who have died for the sake of Allah - elevates them to the highest status in Islam. The image of the Shahid is celebrated as the epitome of heroism in Palestinian society, and is presented as a model worthy of emulation for society as a whole, particularly the youth. This policy is reflected throughout the Fatah-controlled media. In February 2009 the official PA daily newspaper praised and glorified the terrorist who murdered three civilians and seven Israeli soldiers in a 2002 ambush as “having carried out the most successful military action, alone... he is the hero of the Intifada... [doing] what tens of brigades and platoons, and hundreds of missiles and heroic stories, failed to do."  [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 17, 2009]
All post-Annapolis terrorists have all been glorified as Palestinian heroes in official Palestinian Authority newspapers and television, including the suicide terrorist in the Israeli city of Dimona, the killers of the eight Yeshiva students in Jerusalem, arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh.
In December 2007, right after the Annapolis Conference, PA TV broadcast a special program honoring 17-year-old Ayyat Al-Akhras, the youngest girl suicide terrorist. In the program Akhras was repeatedly called a hero, and her act described as heroic and a source of pride for Palestinians.


3.1. Murderers since Annapolis deemed heroic

The PA’s three newspapers, including the official Al-Hayat Al-Jadida under President Mahmoud Abbas's control, use the term Shahids to describe the suicide bombers responsible for the attack in Dimona on Feb. 4, 2008, that killed an Israeli woman.

a: "The executors of the operation died as shahids… one Israeli was killed and 11 were wounded in an attack on a shopping center in Dimona"
 [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 5, 2008]

"Dimona: An Israeli woman was killed in a suicide attack in a shopping center. The two bombers died as shahids."        [Al-Ayyam, Feb. 5, 2008 ]

"Two shahids and an Israeli woman killed in a bombing attack in Dimona."
[Al-Quds, Feb. 5, 2008]


b: The attack in Beit Kachal (Dec. 28, 2007) in which two young Israeli men were murdered:
 “Referring to the terrorist murderer who was killed in the attack: "A youth became a shahid and a second was seriously wounded…”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 29, 2007]


c: An attack in a high-school for religious studies in Kfar Etzion (Jan. 25, 2008):
"Israeli sources revealed the identities of the two Shahids who executed the attack on Etzion near Bethlehem…"         [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 29, 2008]

"The authorities of the occupation continue to hold on to the bodies of the shahids who executed the attack on the settlement 'Kfar Etzion' south of Bethlehem…"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Jan. 29, 2008]

d:  Murderer of eight high school students
The PA official daily glorifies the murderer of the eight high school Yeshiva) students in Jerusalem as a “groom” on the way to his “wedding,” and laments that Israel did not allow more people to participate in his funeral - wedding.
Headline: "Jerusalem groom, Abu-Dahim, leaves without his wedding procession”
 
"The residents of the town of Jabal Mukbar were surprised by the sounds of loudspeakers blasting from the [mosque] minarets announcing that the Jerusalem groom, the Shahid, [Islamic Martyr] Ala'a Abu-Dahim [murderer of the eight Yeshiva students] has gone without their participation in his wedding procession… Every day, these past seven days, everyone was in a state of anticipation... preparing themselves for the wedding procession. At five o'clock in the morning the loudspeakers of the mosque minarets announced the shocking news to the thousands who were waiting, that the groom was buried in the morning without a celebration and without a wedding procession... frowning faces...expressing their sorrow for having been denied [the right] to participate in the groom's procession and to accompany him to the town's cemetery... The occupation soldiers sneaked in hours before dawn and led several adults to the cemetery... They wanted a quiet wedding without music, thinking that this way Jerusalem would forget its groom... But the wedding will not end this way... it will last three consecutive days in which [the town of] al-Sawahra will welcome all of those who come to congratulate the groom and will hang his portrait embracing the nation's [Palestinian] flags."
   [Al Hayat-Al Jadida, March 14, 2008]

3.2 Past terrorists also deemed heroic

a: Palestinian TV, Dec. 23, 2007, on 17-year-old female suicide bomber Ayyat al-Akhras:

PA TV Host to terrorist’s father: "Father of the Shahida [Martyr] Ayyat al-Akhras. You and your cause deserve the greatest respect. Ayyat was very young (age 17) when she was martyred. In our opinion, Ayyat is a hero, and we want to hear more and remember this martyr, since we hold her memory dear in our hearts".
Father: "[Ayyat's] goal was to study journalism, to promote her Palestinian cause around the world."
PA TV Host: "Through Ayyat's heroic act [suicide terror] she succeeded in reaching the entire world.”

b: Palestinian daily honors Sbarro terrorist- who killed 15 (seven children) as "heroic"
On Aug. 9, 2001, a suicide terrorist entered the Sbarro pizza shop in the center of Jerusalem and detonated his bomb, killing 15 people, including seven children. Five members of the same family were wiped out. The woman who helped plan the attack and drove the terrorist to the site, a university student named Ahlam Tamimi, was sentenced to 16 terms of life imprisonment in Israel. In prison, she married a male terrorist murderer, her cousin Nizar Tamimi. Continuing the current trend in the Palestinian Authority media to honor past and present terrorists, the Palestinian daily Al Quds published an interview with the Palestinian poet, Mutawakil Taha, who wrote a book honoring the terrorist couple. He described them as "the two great heroic prisoners Nizar Tamimi and Ahlam Tamimi." 

In its introduction, the Palestinian daily cited the importance of his work: 
"The work of the Palestinian poet, Dr. Mutawakil Taha, has a clear presence and influence on the Palestinian and Arabic culture and literature."
Mutawakil Taha:
"Two years ago I wrote the book "Ahlam ibn al-Nabi" about the two great heroic prisoners Nizar Tamimi and Ahlam Tamimi, of whom we are proud."
[Al-Quds, April 7, 2008]


3.3 PA lauds terrorists / mass murderers as heroes
a. Thaer Hamed - killed 10 in an ambush
The terrorist responsible for the murder of three civilians and seven Israeli soldiers in a 2002 ambush was praised in an article by editor-in-chief of the official PA daily, Hafez Barghouti, published in February 2009. The terrorist, Thaer Hamed, hid on a hill and shot and killed the seven Israeli soldiers, one after the other, as they emerged from a building below. He then shot and killed  an Israeli paramedic and two civilians in the area. The article praises Hamed as "the hero of the Intifada", and goes on to compare it to the Hamas kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, which is described as "a military action that was successful by any military yardstick." It says that the sniper Hamed is "made of the same stuff as those who carried out the capture of Shalit."                                             [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 17, 2009]

b. Samir Kuntar - crushed the head of four-year-old Eynat Haran;
Dalal Mughrabi - led a bus hijacking that killed 37
As part of an exchange, Palestinian prisoners and bodies were released by Israel on July 16, 2008. Among them were Samir Kuntar, who in murdered four Israelis and crushed the head of four-year-old Eynat Haran, as well as the body of Dalal Mughrabi, who in 1978 led a bus hijacking in which 37 people were killed.

Commenting on the release of the Palestinian prisoners, the PA’s official newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, controlled directly by Mahmoud Abbas, reported:

"[Official Fatah spokesman Ahmad Abdul Rahman] said that the Fatah movement sends warm blessings to Hezbollah, to all the resistance [terror forces], and to the Lebanese nation and the Palestinians for their historic victory over the Israeli arrogance,, in their victorious July War [2006 Lebanese War].
 
"And on the return of the heroes of freedom, the heroes and the Martyrs, headed by the great Samir Kuntar and the Martyr fighter Dalal Mughrabi, who led the most glorified Sacrifice action in the history of the Palestinian-Israeli struggle. [This  “most glorified” bus hijacking was the worst terror attack in Israel's history. Thirty-seven Israeli vacationers, including 12 children, were murdered.] 
 
"He emphasized that the Fatah party... vows to the Palestinian people that Fatah will continue to struggle in the way of the pure Martyrs, until the state is liberated and the Palestinian state is established with Jerusalem as the capital. The Fatah movement turns on this day, that abounds with sincere blessings to Hezbollah ...
 
"The battle against the theft of Palestine is the battle of all the fighters and all the Arab nations. Blessings to the free heroes and their head, the heroic fighter Samir Kuntar, and blessings to the spirit of the heroic Dalal Mughrabi and to the friends of the heroes."
 
"President Mahmud Abbas congratulated yesterday's exchange of prisoners and bodies of Martyrs.  The president sent blessings to Samir Kuntar's family."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 17, 2008]

During the days following the release, PA media repeatedly and throughout its range of programs made room for praise of the terrorists:

PA TV host addressing brother of Kuntar:
"First of all a thousand blessings, on the release of the heroic leader Samir Kuntar."
[PATV, July 7, 2008]
Hani Al-Masri, writer and political commentator:
"This deal includes heroes, like Samir Kuntar, who committed heroic acts, in which Jews and soldiers were killed."
[PATV, July 5, 2008]
 
The following picture of Kuntar and the Palestinian flag covering the map of Israel was repeatedly shown on PA TV in the days after the release:

[PATV, July 7, 2008]
 
c. Arch-terrorist Imad Mughniyeh lauded by PA daily as "an extraordinary hero ... a beacon of light!"

Senior Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mughniyeh has been placed on a pedestal of glory in various articles in the official Palestinian Authority-Fatah daily. Western countries have expressed virtually unanimous relief that the terrorist, wanted by 42 countries and on the FBI's Most Wanted list, was killed by a car bomb in Damascus on Feb. 12, 2008. The Palestinian Authority, on the other hand, has been using the media under its control to mourn his death.
 
One article by a senior Fatah leader, former Deputy Minister of Culture Ahmad Dahbur, describes Mughniyeh as an "extraordinary hero... unequalled Hezbollah commander ... a beacon of light." His killing is called a "murder in broad daylight... a tragedy that has hurt every Lebanese, every Palestinian, every Arab, and every free man on the face of this earth." The revenge for his death will be more terror and eventually Israel's destruction.

Among his many international terror attacks, Mughniyeh was responsible for the killing of 241 American soldiers of the peacekeeping force in Lebanon in 1983.

Hajj Radwan [Imad Mughniyeh] by Ahmad Dahbur, former undersecretary of the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Culture, senior journalist for Fatah-controlled Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, in his daily column.
“The treacherous Zionist enemy will never permit us to lessen our revenge towards him, or to stray from our confrontation against him, until he is wiped off this land, which is saturated with the blood of the Shahids. And what is the fall of the Knight of Lebanese Resistance, Hajj Imad Mughniyeh, if not one of the signs of the nation's Jihad - persistent and definitely unstoppable until the Zionist Project [Israel] will be defeated… From the time he joined the Fatah as a youth, and until he later became a unequalled Hezbollah commander, when his name became a beacon of light shining from The Lebanese July Victory [Second Lebanon War, 2006]…
 
“It makes no difference whether the Zionist bat camouflages himself by hiding in the dark, or whether the crazy hyenas take pride in the crime, because the enemy announces his criminal presence with such language that it is as if he is caught with a smoking gun. The criminal's hands are still covered in blood, when he gives us more reasons to intensify our hatred towards him, though we do not lack reasons for this [hate] in the first place. This rage and hatred will rage with even further resistance [euphemism for ‘terror’] and with a blow of death... every free man partakes in Hajj Radwan's (Mughniyeh's) glory…

“Indeed the thing that consoles [us] is what we hear of the Mujahideen's [Jihad fighter's] pledge to the combatant Shahid [martyr], that they will avenge his blood... as either victory or Istishhad [Death as a Shahid].     
 
“If there is any reason to give the enemy [Israel] advice, we advise the pack of hyenas not to rejoice, because in war - the scale tips at times to one side and at times to the other. They are treacherous and they will retreat, and the resistance will retaliate and prevail... And from Lebanon to all the Arabs – ‘Hail the victory of the Mujahideen!’"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 14, 2008, emphasis by PMW]     
 
Heading: A delegation of the Lawyers Association arrived at the house of mourning for the Shahid Imad Mughniyeh.
"A delegation of close to 30 lawyers from the Islamic Association of Lawyers paid a visit to the mourning house of the outstanding military commander of the Lebanese resistance, Imad Mughniyeh, which is being overseen by the National and Islamic Forces in Gaza City. In its speech, the delegation emphasized that the murder of Mughniyeh was a crime of organized state terror, which violates all international and human conventions and rules.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 17, 2008]


"The Fatah's military wing - the Ahmoud Abu Al Rish Martyrs Brigades - accepted responsibility yesterday for the attack on the Israeli military post... shooting two missiles... They announced that the action is in dedicated to the memory of the Martyr Imad Mughniyeh.
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 14, 2008]

4. PA Political and Religious Leadership – hatred in Arabic

PA Fatah leaders continue to present all of Israel as Palestine, violence as the way to defeat Israel, and any truce as temporary. Mahmoud Abbas himself, in an interview to the Jordanian daily Al-Dustur, gives no hint that the PA has permanently distanced itself from the classic Arafat hate ideologies:

Abbas: "Now we are against armed conflict because we are unable. In the future stages, things may be different."         [Al-Dustur, Feb. 28, 2008]

In the same interview, Abbas also brags that in spite of US pressure, he had refused to accept Israel’s identity as a Jewish state.

Another PA Fatah leader, MP Najat Abu Bakr, explained in a PA TV interview that the negotiations today with Israel to seek withdrawal to the 1967 borders constituted Fatah’s “current political program” but that the goal remains the 1948 borders -- meaning the destruction of Israel. She added that the PA was in a religious war with Israel “until Resurrection.”

At the PLO Central Committee’s meeting in January 2008, Abbas took his place in front of two maps of “Palestine” that erase all of Israel.


4.1. PM Mahmoud Abbas – in Arabic

The following are statements of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to the Jordanian daily Al-Dustur:
 

"Now we are against armed conflict because we are unable. In the future stages, things may be different... "

(Concerning the demand to accept the Jewishness of the State of Israel:) "We rejected this proposal at the Annapolis conference last November in the USA, and the conference was almost aborted because of it..."
 
(Concerning "resistance" – i.e., terror:) "I was honored to be the one to shoot the first bullet in 1965 [Fatah terror against Israel began in 1965], and having taught resistance to many in this area and around the world, defining it and when it is beneficial and when it is not... we had the honor of leading the resistance. We taught everyone what resistance is, including the Hezbollah, who were trained in our camps [i.e. PLO camps in the 60s and 70s]."     

(On recognition of Israel:) "I don't demand that the Hamas movement recognize Israel. I only demanded that of the [Palestinian] national unity government that would work opposite Israel in recognition of it.  And this I told to Syrian President Bashir Assad, and he supported this idea."
 [Al-Dustur, Feb. 28, 2008]


Similarly, Abbas participated in the PLO Central Committee’s meeting [in November 2008] with the PLO symbol, which places the Palestinian flag over the map of Israel, prominently displayed in the background. This symbolizes that all of Israel is, or will someday be, "Palestine."


PLO Central Committee meeting [Front page of Al-Ayyam, Nov. 24, 2008]


4.2 Other PA political and religious officials (MPs, party leaders, etc.)

Najat Abu Bakr, member of Palestinian Legislative Council, is very direct regarding the PA’s long-term plan:

“It doesn’t mean that we don’t want the 1948 borders [all of Israel], but in our current political program, we [Fatah] say we want a state on the 1967 borders…
We [Palestinians] were created on this land in order to liberate it, to live on it, to continue as people of Ribat [Religious war]. We are on the land of Ribat and must remain [on it] until Resurrection.”
[PA TV, Aug. 25 2008]

Along the same lines, Fatah leader Ahmad Dughmush has mentioned Israeli cities among those about to be “liberated”:
"Palestine is our dream. Brothers, O Fatah's loyal masses, the land is thirsty [for martyr blood] …  Jaffa, Haifa and Acre [Israeli cities] are calling. [The Palestinian cities] Ramallah, Jerusalem, Nablus and Gaza: "When will we meet and break the chains?" To Jerusalem march millions of Martyrs."
[PA TV, Jan. 8, 2008]

PA Fatah Deputy Minister for Prisoners, Ziad Abu Ein:
"We want to return to [Israel's cities] Lod, Ramle, Jaffa and Haifa. Let everyone hear, this is our land, this is our country, these are our villages, and we will return to them. The Palestinian won't accept any paradise except his own paradise, in his home in [Israeli cities] Bet She’an, Ashkelon, in Lod, Ramle. We will return, Allah willing, to the land that is seeking its people."
[PA TV, May 13, 2008]

Below, PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayad accepts an award - the certificate is adorned with a map of Palestine covering all of Israel.
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 8, 2008]


Politicians and other officials (the “legitimate leadership”) are strong opinion formers and influencers. The following were statements by Najat Abu-Bakr, Fatah, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council:

"This enemy [Israel] constantly commits new holocausts, everywhere and at all times".

"This enemy [Israel] was born of massacres, a segregation mentality, marginalizing, killing and destroying. Due to this Zionist mentality, we are like a pen of sheep from which a wolf grabs a sheep every day. If we haven't been reached by this wolf-like mentality, it will soon reach us."                         

"This world, which is ruled by the Zionist lobby everywhere and in all the media, this is the lobby that rules us now, the greatest power, or the greatest Satan in the world, America, is the one that supports this policy."            [PA TV March 3, 2008]


Contradictory to Abbas’s vow at Annapolis to fight terrorism, the PA representative in Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, proudly reports on Fatah’s continued armed operations:

"Shame on anyone who says that Fatah put down its weapons! Since June 14 [Hamas takeover] until today, Fatah's Al-Aqsa brigades [executed] 220 operations, which are 30% of the [total] operations."                [PA TV, Jan. 7, 2008]


Similarly, a Palestinian leader of Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party supports the terror war being fought against the US and British forces in Iraq. The following is from an interview with Mahmoud Ismail, member of the PLO Executive Committee, aired on the official PA (Fatah) TV channel:
 
"We, [however,] take pride in this [Arab nationalist] language because we are the authentic Arabs who believe in our Arabism, our faith, our cause, our nation, in our right to struggle and to resistance [euphemism for terror] in all possible ways in all the occupied lands, in Palestine, Lebanon, the Golan and Iraq..."     [PATV (Fatah), Feb. 26, 2008]


Alongside the PA politicians and political leaders, the official religious leaders carry enormous weight in Palestinian society and are equally strong influencers of public opinion. PA religious leaders continue to put forward the “fact” that the relationship with Israel is that of Ribat - a religious war. Thus the Mufti of Palestine, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, declares that Allah has honored the Palestinians with religious war against Israel:

"We are still suffering from this oppressive occupation, and we hope it will disappear, Allah willing. We are in Ribat [religious war] on this blessed land, and we are the owners of this holy land. It is a great honor bestowed by Allah to be part of the chain of the Ribat, which continues until Resurrection."
[PA TV, June 6, 2008]


5. Swedish objectives and funding of the Palestinian Authority

Objectives:
Sweden hopes its funding will build stronger Palestinian Authority structures, that will further Israel – Palestinian peace. According to Sida's [Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency] website:

“The overall aim of Sida's [Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency] activities in the West Bank/Gaza is to help to create opportunities for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and contribute to a democratic Palestinian state governed by law.” (Sida, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, June 2009)

And in the words of Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation, Gunilla Carlsson:

“Both Israelis and Palestinians must engage in a credible peace process. New governments on both sides of the conflict must work for a two-state solution."
(Feb. 27, 2009, Ministry for Foreign Affairs)

"The Palestinian National Authority is expected to fulfill its commitments to fight terrorism." (May 5, 2008, Ministry for Foreign Affairs.)

Swedish Funding:
“Sweden is one of the largest donors of support to the Palestinians.”
(Press release Sept. 22, 2008, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs)

”Sweden's total aid will amount to some SEK 670 million in 2007 and close to SEK 700 million in 2008.” (Press release, Dec. 17, 2007, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs)
In 2008 “the [Swedish] Government decided to earmark SEK 50 million for direct support to the Palestinian Authority.” (Press release July, 24. 2008, Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs)

“This year [2009] Sweden has allocated some SEK 700 million to Palestinian assistance.” http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/11722/a/121580

Portions of the Swedish aid is earmarked for specific humanitarian projects and is given through the UN, while part, according to the Foreign Ministry, goes unconditioned to the Palestinian Authority under PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

6. Conclusions

The messages conveyed in these programs broadcast on PA TV, published in official newspapers and professed by Palestinian leaders, including Abbas himself, stand in stark contrast to the image and the message that the Palestinian Authority presents to the world in the wake of the Annapolis summit. The PA is once again resorting to duplicity, and conveying dual and irreconcilable messages. When addressing Israel and the world in English, Abbas promises a peaceful solution, while in Arabic his media and leadership convey a clear message: Terrorism is glorified, hate is promoted, and present-day Israel is “occupied Palestine,” which will be liberated through blood and violence.

It is tragic that well-intended funding by Sweden and other western donor countries is used for PA TV and media hate promotion. It is incumbent upon all those who fund the Palestinian Authority to immediately cease funding until the hate and terror promotion of the PA ends. Otherwise, these countries will bear responsibility for the wars to come.


KÄLLA Palestinian Media Watch: Special Report, June 9, 2009 Sweden and the Palestinian Authority after Annapolis by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

En omfattande, användarvänlig pedagogisk länklista med källmaterial av och för akademiker, journalister, politiska experter, historiker och folk i allmänhet som vill presentera ett starkt försvar för Israel och västerländska värderingar.

FRANZ T. COHN - redaktör för Handelskammaren – Sverige-Israels kvartalsbulletin - skriver i Likud Bulletinen nr 90, maj 2009:

Många vänster- och Palestinagrupper envisas med enfaldigt negativa aktioner mot Israel. Man försöker bojkotta israelisk frukt och grönsaker, lyckligtvis med växlande framgång. Sveriges hela import av varor från Israel förra året var ca 1,5 miljarder kronor. Endast ca 6 % utgörs av frukt och grönsaker.

Däremot köper Israel från Sverige nästan fyra gånger mer, för 5,7 miljarder kronor. Tänk då om de israeliska odlarna inte längre vill köpa svenska lastbilar från Volvo och Scania. Får man inte sälja kan man inte köpa. Så enkelt är det.

55 % av Israels export till Sverige utgörs av högteknologiska produkter. Vi köper israelisk medicinsk-diagnostisk apparatur och vissa mediciner som svenska sjukhus (och patienter) inte längre kan vara utan.

En stor del av den israeliska tekniken vi alla använder syns inte. Den finns inuti laptop-datorer och i moderna mobiltelefoner av alla kända märken.

Det skulle gagna svensk export och sysselsättning om vi i Sverige köpte mer från Israel: Frukt och grönsaker, vegetarisk mat från Hälsoköket, vin, plastmöbler från Keter, Sodastream bubbelvattenmaskiner, Ahava skönhetsmedel, mm.

LÄS gärna mer i Från den ljusa sidan, Gratisprenumeration.

FOTNOT Likud Bulletinen, Box 151 23, 104 65 Stockholm.


MERA om att handla israeliskt skriver också bloggen Fred i Mellanöstern


Läs även andra intressanta bloggar om: Israel, Sverige, handla israeliskt, svensk export, israelisk import, frukt, grönsaker, teknologi, medicin, Volvo, Scania, Sodastream, Hälsoköket, Keter, Ahava ::

(IsraelNN.com) Deltagare vid 2009 Jerusalem Conference som hölls i slutet av förra månaden var lyckligt lottade som hade möjligheten att lyssna till en givande konversation med professor Bernard Lewis, världsberömd expert på islam, om möjligheterna till fred i Mellanöstern. Historikern, en nittioåring, intervjuades av Dan Diker från Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Nedan finns en utskrift av samtalet där professor Lewis förklarar att den arabiska världen måste ses i kontexten med dess religiösa arv snarare än dess etnicitet.




Dan Diker, Inledning: Regionen är så komplicerad att det egentligen finns fler frågor än svar. Det finns somliga som säger att det inte finns några konflikter som inte kan lösas, och det finns andra som inte har svar. Den första frågan som jag har, eller som vi har, eftersom jag talar för allas räkning här, är vad som pågår i denna nuvarande konflikt? Vi har tre större arabiska storheter som offentligt fördömer Hamas. Och på sätt och vis uttrycker det tyst stöd för Israel. Vad händer med detta, Bernard?


Bernard Lewis:

Jag tror att det vi ser är en upprepning av vad man skulle kalla ”Sadat schackdrag”. Låt mig påminna er om vad som hände med Sadat. Han slöt inte fred med Israel emedan han plötsligt var övertygad om fördelarna med den sionistiska saken. Det var för en helt annan anledning. Vad som drev Sadat mot fred var den växande medvetenheten om sin del och på den del av egyptierna där Egypten höll på att bli en sovjetisk koloni.


Jag var i Egypten under det sena 60-talet och i början av 70-talet, och jag såg att den sovjetiska närvaron hade blivit mer uppenbar och för egyptierna alltmer offensivt än den brittiska närvaron hade varit i den sista fasen av den brittiska ockupationen av Egypten.


Han försökte att ta itu med det på andra sätt genom Washington, men Washington svarade med ett avtal som i praktiken lämnade Egypten tillbaka till ryssarna. De beslutade att Israel var mindre farliga än Sovjet, vilket var sant.


Det är det som ledde honom till att skapa fred och den har varat sedan dess - en fred som i bästa fall är sval och ibland frostig, men den har hållit. Vad jag tror vi ser nu är ett liknande fenomen.


Risken som de ser den här gången är inte Sovjetunionen, som har försvunnit, men mångfalden av faror som Iran presenterar. Den kommer i många former, av vilka en kan kallas den iranska faran.


Iran till skillnad från de flesta av länderna i denna region är en verklig nation med en historia och en egen medvetenhet som går tillbaka inte bara århundraden, utan årtusenden, och den är helt iögonfallande i judisk historia, om ni minns.


Vi har två bilder av Iran i den judiska historien, en kännetecknas av Haman och den andra av Cyrus. Båda är synligt närvarande, men Haman tycks vara dominerande.


Låt mig komma tillbaka till min poäng. Iran sträcker sig än en gång västerut och österut. Österut till Pakistan och i Mellanöstern mot Medelhavet. Detta finns i olika former, en av dem jag nyss nämnde, det är vad man kan kalla Irans imperium.


Den andra är det shi'itiska hotet. Islam har nästan sedan starten delats upp i två stora sekteristiska grupper, sunniterna och shiamuslimerna. Sunnimuslimerna är den överväldigande majoriteten och i länder där det bara finns sunnimuslimer och inga shiamuslimer är skillnaderna oviktiga och de är knappt medvetna om det.


Var det är viktigt är där sunniter och shiiter möts, särskilt i länder där du har sunni som dominerar över den shiitiska befolkningen, en situation för vilken jag vill låna ett ord från irländsk historia och kalla det en 'Sunni ascendancy'. Det mest anmärkningsvärda är Irak.


Irak har haft en shiitisk majoritet så långt tillbaka som vi kan spåra i historien. Och det har förblivit under regerandet av den sunnimuslimska minoriteten genom antiken, medeltiden, ottomanska perioder, under den brittiska och varierande styren. Först nu för första gången finns det en shiitisk majoritetsregering i Irak. Och banden med Iran är naturligtvis ett problem.


Utöver Irak finns det stora shiitiska befolkningar i Syrien, Kuwait, Bahrain, i östra provinsen i Saudiarabien och andra länder i regionen.


Nu för första gången på många århundraden ser man shi'itismen som ett allvarligt hot, ett dödligt hot mot den sunnimuslimska dominansen som har rått sedan urminnes tider. Vad som gör detta hot ännu värre är att det hänger samman med vad man ska kalla den iranska revolutionära regimen.


Ordet revolution är mycket använt i Mellanöstern, men de flesta regimer som kallar sig revolutionära kunde bättre beskrivas med den franska termen ‘coup d’etat’ eller det tyska ‘putsch’, den engelska historian har lyckligtvis ingen motsvarighet.


Den iranska revolutionen är en verklig revolution som på sätt och vis påminner om den franska och den ryska revolutionen - kampen mellan modernister och extremister, terrorn, den stora påverkan på den värld som de delar, det gemensamma universella samtalet. Och nu, tror jag, är de efter den franska modellen, den ryska modellen. Man kan säga att den iranska revolutionen går in i sin "Napoléon" eller "stalinistiska" fas.


Dan Diker: Så det betyder – vänta förresten, vill du avsluta den punkten?


Bernard Lewis:

Ja, detta representerar uppenbarligen ett dödligt hot mot de etablerade regimerna i regionen. Ett hot långt mer dödligt, långt farligare, betydligt mer djupgående än vad Israel skulle kunna erbjuda även den värsta uppskattningen om Israels avsikter. Det är därför, i likhet med Sadat på sin tid, innan ännu mer tvingande skäl den här gången kan skönjas som man ser på Israel för att få hjälp med vad de ser är ett stort hot.


Dan Diker: Professor Lewis, om Iran, som ni säger, är på jakt efter regional dominans och vänder upp och ned på stabiliserande arabiska regimer med samma energi som den har för avsikt att förstöra Israel, vad betyder det för platser som Gaza och Västbanken? I vilken utsträckning är de en del av den iranska planen?


Bernard Lewis:

Jag tror att man kan dela in dem i två grupper. Å ena sidan har du gruppen som själva är shiamuslimer. Dessa är en viktig del av befolkningen i Libanon och Hizbollah är en shiitisk organisation. Så deras koppling till Iran och den iranska revolutionen är tydlig och uppenbar. Det finns inga shiitiska palestinier. Men återigen, på platser där det inte finns någon sunni-sh'iitisk konflikt är det lättare för dem att ta upp den iranska saken därför att för dem, i den historiska, religiösa medvetenheten är den sunni/shi'itiska skillnaden inte så viktig.


Dan Diker: Så därför finns det en stor debatt som pågått om den här konflikten, vars betydelse i en snäv bemärkelse den palestinsk-israeliska konflikten är en del av den arabisk-israeliska konflikten. Att vi verkligen befinner oss i en etno-nationell konlikt som vissa säger kallar andra för en politisk konflikt, men från vad du säger är frågan i vilken utsträckning vi är i en religiös konflikt?


Bernard Lewis:

Jag tror att från det muslimska perspektivet är det särskilt en religiös konflikt för att avgöra vem som kommer att dominera Islam, vems version av islam som ska segra i den islamiska världen.


Det råder ingen tvekan om att iranierna har planer som sträcker sig långt bortom Mellanöstern. De utvidgar österut i Syd- och Sydostasien och västerut i muslimska Afrika och det finns tecken på att på olika platser. Effekterna har varit enorma som sagt, den har samma mönster som den franska och den ryska revolutionen i sina dagar.


Det finns en annan punkt, och det är vad jag skulle kalla den apokalyptiska aspekten.


I islam, som i judendomen och kristendomen, finns det ett scenario för den sista tiden, där den sista striden mellan krafterna på gott och ont kommer att inträffa. För kristna och muslimer lika innebär detta mellan "oss" och "dem". "Oss" definieras olika men "dem" är mer eller mindre desamma.


Från synpunkten på en viss del inom det iranska ledarskapet är det inte på något sätt enhälligt, den tiden är nu.


För en grupp ... vars främsta ledare är [den iranske presidenten Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad har den apokalyptiska tiden kommit. "Ma'adi" den muslimske Messias är redan här. Det slutliga slaget har redan börjat.


Detta är viktigt av en annan anledning och det är om Irans kärnvapen. Sovjetunionen hade vapen rakt igenom det kalla kriget, men ingendera sidan använde dem eftersom de var medvetna om att den andra sidan skulle använda dem. Den hette ”ömsesidig säker förstörelse” (Mutual Assured Destruction - MAD) som var det viktigaste avskräckande med användningen av dessa vapen.


För de flesta av det iranska ledarskapet skulle MAD fungera som en avskräckande faktor. Men för Ahmadinejad och hans grupp med sitt apokalyptiska tänkande är MAD inte en avskräckande effekt, men ett lockbete. De anser att den sista tiden har kommit och ju förr desto bättre. Så de goda kan njuta av paradisets läckerheter och de onda, det vill säga vi alla här, kan gå till evig fördömelse.


Dan Diker: Många i väst, dina kollegor, har inte sett det på det sätt som du har sett det. Du har uttryckt oro i dina skrifter från Islams återkomst till Rötterna av muslimsk vrede och till ännu nyare artiklar. Att Väst inte förstår sig på islam, vad beror det på?


Bernard Lewis:

Det är normalt för människor att döma andra utifrån oss själva. Vi befinner oss nu i det 21a århundradet av den kristna eran; de är i början av 15e århundradet av den muslimska eran. Det är en annan religion, som bygger på helt olika historiska erfarenheter, olika budskap, olika läror, och därför är det ett allvarligt misstag att göra det som människor normalt gör, vilket är att döma andra utifrån oss själva. Det fungerar inte och det är farligt missvisande.


Om man ser på islam inifrån - och för det är det nödvändigt att lära sig åtminstone ett muslimskt språk, något som de flesta Mellanösternexperter är tveksamma till att göra - om man lär sig språket och förstår vad de säger sinsemellan och förstår det inom ramen för deras egen historia och bakgrund, då är det inte alltför svårt att förstå vad som händer.


Dan Diker: Varför är det så att om Egypten, Saudiarabien, Gulfstaterna och den Palestinska myndigheten på Västbanken offentligt fördömer Iran och deras anställda, varför är det arabiska etablissemanget ovilligt att slåss när de är så rädda för vad de uppfattar som ett existentiellt hot mot dem?


Bernard Lewis:

Därför att det arabiska etablissemanget är ett ganska impopulärt envälde. Om man tittar på det från en västerländsk synvinkel, om man tittar runt i Mellanöstern, kan du dela upp länderna i två grupper; länder med pro-amerikanska regeringar och därför anti-amerikansk befolkning och länder med anti-amerikanska regeringar och därför proamerikansk populationer. Den andra består mestadels av Iran. Vi i väst betraktas som sponsorerna av tyrannier som styr över dem.


Jag sade för en stund sedan att regimer nu i dessa länder, de styrande i Egypten och andra ser hotet och nu vänder sig till Israel. Det betyder inte att befolkningen i dessa länder ser på det sättet.


Ta det specifika fallet av vad som hänt i Gaza. Mubarak och hans regering känner sig dödligt hotat av den pro-iranska närvaron i Gazaremsan och vill se det rivas, men så är inte fallet med många av folket i Egypten. De flesta människor i Gaza är en del av det Muslimska Brödraskapet som har en mycket stor motståndsgrupp i Egypten och bland den egyptiska befolkningen. Och där är den sunnimuslimska-shiitiska frågan inte viktig. Det revolutionära attraherar, även den apokalyptiska drömmen av shi'itism har en viss inverkan.


Dan Diker: Professor Lewis, vad vi har sett i tillväxten av budskapet om revolution är många tappra försök, man skulle kunna kalla dem att kritisera regimer i TV, i tidningar och på Internet. Varför händer detta nu och vad är utsikterna för dem? Kan vi säga att det också finns opposition av demokrati?


Bernard Lewis:

Kommunikationen av revolution har fastställt en viss inverkan. I det förflutna har den muslimska världen varit bättre belägen än i västvärlden när det gäller kommunikation. Även i den pre-moderna eran åstadkom muslimers pilgrimsfärd från hela den muslimska världen en känsla av gemensam identitet och ett gemensamt medvetande som inte har någon motsvarighet i västvärlden. Moskén gav dem ett medium för kommunikation utan censur.


Med intåget av modern kommunikation har de nu ännu mer på en mycket större skala. Radio, TV och Internet är numera verksamma i stor skala. Det finns växande bevis för att en stor del av befolkningen i Iran är grundligt trött på hur regimen reglerar dem.


Detta visar sig på flera olika sätt, via hemsidor och telefon etc. Deras åsikter är allmänt uttryckta genom politiska skämt, såsom "Två iranier talar om hur fruktansvärd situationen i deras land - det är dåligt, det är värre, detta är fruktansvärt etc. Slutligen säger en till den andre: "Vad behöver vi för detta land är att ta Usama bin Ladin hit". Och den andra vänder sig till honom i fasa och säger: "Vad! Är du galen?" Och den förste säger: "Nej, då kommer amerikanerna." Nu är detta ett autentiskt iranskt skämt. Meddelat från Iran. Det säger något. Ytterligare ett, vid tidpunkten då president Bush inledde sitt angrepp på Irak (Iraq), ringde många från Iran för att säga: "Du borde ha behandlat dina problem i alfabetisk ordning.”


Dan Diker: I den första omorganisationen av arabvärlden myntade du en fras om vad som hände i Kuwait när Irak erövrade landet. Vad kallade du det?


Bernard Lewis:

Jag sa att operationen borde ges ett nytt namn; i stället för Desert Storm borde den kallas för "Kuwaitus Interuptus"



Dan Diker: Ja, det är positiv notering. Det betyder något för Israel vad du har sagt här. Att om Israel hade varit eftersökt av den arabiska världen, vad skulle det betyda för Israels egen uppfattning om sig själv i termer av att vara en regional aktör i motsats till ett bilateralt spelare mot palestinierna, vilket har varit definitionen tills idag?


Bernard Lewis:

Jag tror att Israel måste omdefiniera sig själv i enlighet med dagens verklighet.


Dan Diker: Vilket betyder ...?


Bernard Lewis:

Det är upp till israelerna att besluta.


Dan Diker: Vad sägs om en längre vy? Du har skrivit över 30 böcker och av någon anledning har du just skrivit en bok med en kär vän Buncielles Churchill och den här boken heter Islam; the Religion and The People. Varför är det fokus på religionen islam nu?



Bernard Lewis:

Eftersom religion är ett mycket diskuterat ämne nu. Vi har att göra med denna revolutionära rörelse i Iran som definierar sig som en islamisk rörelse. Vi befinner oss i en tid där islam är en utmaning i västvärlden, vilket den inte har varit sedan medeltiden.


Kom ihåg att i synen på muslimer i dag har det varit en kosmisk kamp som pågått mellan de båda världsreligionerna kristendom och islam i århundraden.


Muslimerna kom från Arabien och invaderade och erövrade en stor del av den kristna världen, Europa, Spanien, Italien - men Europa reagerade och drev dem tillbaka. Under det andra försöket avancerade ottomanerna så långt som till Wien och åter igen drevs de tillbaka. Många människor i den muslimska världen ser detta som, låt oss säga, tredje gången gillt. Detta är det tredje försöket för muslimerna att föra deras heliga krig in i landet av de otrogna.


Dan Diker: Vad du skrev 1990 i en artikel med titeln "The Roots of Muslim Rage" var bara 36 månader före första World Trade Center-attacken; och frågan om ilska hur skall vi förstå den idag? Är det modernitet? Är det kristendom? Hur ska västvärlden svara på ilska?


Bernard Lewis:

Jag tycker det är viktigt att påpeka att araberna har en mycket stark känsla för historia, utan motstycke i västvärlden. I Amerika är okunskapen i historia skrämmande även på universiteten.


Muslimerna är mycket medvetna om sin historia – vilket nödvändigtvis inte betyder att det är mycket exakt. De talar om det första försöket, där de gjort framsteg och drevs tillbaka. Det andra försöket, där de gjort framsteg och där drivs tillbaka och nu den tredje. Vad är skillnaden nu? Varje gång de drevs tillbaka av en ny europeisk styrka, bysantinerna, de europeiska kejsarna.


Osama bin Laden uttrycker det mycket tydligt att denna kamp har pågått under 13 sekler; det islamiska styret leddes av successiva dynastier från flera huvudstäder, Medina, Damaskus, Bagdad, Kairo, Istanbul. I den sista fasen säger han att världen av otroende kommer att delas mellan två rivaliserande supermakter, USA och Sovjetunionen. I Afghanistan säger han: "Vi besegrade den dödligare av de två," och menade Sovjetunionen; uppgörelsen med Amerika kommer att vara jämförelsevis enklare.


Detta är motivet för Jihad i dag, en känsla av att detta är den sista fasen. De har tagit över delar av Europa och nästa fas är att ta över resten av världen.


Dan Diker: Låt oss titta på det symmetriska fallet i väst. Västs erfarenhet i Mellanöstern har inte varit positiv. Försök att konfrontera eller att visa på ett radikalt islam har inte lyckats. Varför? Det är det som saknas i analysen av Väst?


Bernard Lewis:

Jag tror det första som saknas i analysen är medvetenheten om vad vi konfronterar. En mer exakt uppfattning om vad som händer och vilka de olika krafterna i den islamiska världen är, tror jag, skulle vara en mer givande början. Den andra saken är att känna igen omfattningen av det hot vi står inför. Det är inte någon sorts kolonialkrig.


Dan Diker: Professor, låt mig gå tillbaka till Iran för ett moment. Jag vill tala om iransk imperialism och bruket av folkmord och hets mot Israel i dess försök att vinna regional överhöghet. Vilken roll har folkmord i Irans imperialistiska design? Kan det jämföras med någon form av nazisternas beteende i det förflutna?


Bernard Lewis:

Folkmord är inte en del av det muslimska scenariot för tidens slut. Jo, det kommer att bli kamp mellan judar och kristna. Men folkmord har inte företräde. Vad vi faktiskt finner är att det inte finns någon brist på anti-judiska känslor som också finns i Koranen och kan nämnas i detta syfte. Men detta är en ny känsla som givetvis kan sättas i samband med bildandet av staten Israel.


Dan Diker: Ni har gett oss viss anledning till oro. Med detta sagt har ni varit en förespråkare för några optimistiska bedömningar med historiska erfarenheter av demokrati och frihet i den moderna världen. Var är vi idag i termer av mixen optimism och pessimism när det gäller möjligheten att få se demokrati och frihet i arabvärlden?


Bernard Lewis:

Ja jag nämnde tidigare vad jag kallar ”Sadat schackdrag”; att det finns vissa ledare i Mellanöstern som vill sluta fred med Israel, eftersom de känner en större fara som ledde till fredsavtal mellan Egypten och Jordanien med Israel. Det är vad som händer nu.


Den andra saken jag ser som är mer hoppfullt är vad jag är frestad att kalla Sharanskyeffekten - att sprida idén om demokrati, vår form av det, till platser som annars skulle ha trott att det är otänkbart. Det är fortfarande i liten skala, det är begränsat. Och av olika skäl är det farligt att uttrycka. Men det finns tecken. Det är det bästa hoppet för framtiden.


Jag har suttit med en del personer som vill ha demokrati och har sett israelisk TV med dem. De har sett de arabiska ledarna fördöma deras handlingar på TV och kunnat åka hem i säkerhet och det är något de inte kan förstå.


Jag minns en gång en arabisk pojke, runt 12 eller 13 år gammal, som fick sin handled bruten av en israelisk soldat eller polis. Han intervjuades nästa dag av israeliska TV och kritiserade Israels brutalitet. Jag tittade på detta i Jordanien och med mig var en irakier, som tittat på detta i förvirring, och sade: "Jag skulle gärna låta Saddam Hussein bryta sönder båda mina armar och ben om han skulle låta mig tala på TV på det sättet."


Ett annat exempel. När Sadat kom till Jerusalem och höll sitt berömda tal i Knesset åtföljdes han av två egyptiska vakter. När Sadat talade var det helt tyst. Man kunde höra en knappnål falla. När han talat klart och Begin talade. Knesset återgick till sitt normala beteende, telefonsamtal, protestvisslingar, konversationer. En vän till mig satt bredvid de två egyptiska vakterna som tittat på detta med stor förvåning. En sa till den andre: "Vad är detta?" Och den andra svarade: "Det här är demokrati." Och den förste sa: "Vilken ljuv musik!"


Dan Diker: Det finns inget kvar att säga efter detta. Mina damer och herrar, förena er med mig och tacka professor Bernard Lewis.


Källa: INN Are There Prospects for Peace with Islam? (Sv. översättning: Dag Selander)

Den rådande Israel-Palestinakonflikten är mer än en kamp mellan två folk, judar och palestinaaraber. Konflikten är ytterst en verklighet skapad islamismens globala ambitioner av världsherravälde, där Israel och judarna är måltavla nr 1, och palestinaaraberna utnyttjas som instrument.

Frågan om Palestina?

Följande text är kanske en av de allra bästa texter kring vad Palestina och palestinier är. Essän Peacemongers and Jihadeers (050106) skrevs av författaren Yashiko Sagamori. Hon fick en brevreaktion från Rosli, Malaysia. I svaret hon sänder ingår texten nedan under rubriken In The Matter of Palestine:


OM DU ÄR SÅ SÄKER på att "Palestina finns omnämnt långt tillbaka genom historien," förväntar jag mig att du ska kunna svara på några grundläggande frågor om det landet Palestina:

1. 1 När grundades landet och av vem?
2. 2 Vilka var dess gränser?
3. 3 Vad var dess huvudstad?
4. 4 Vilka var de största städerna?
5. 5 Vad utgjorde underlaget för dess ekonomi?
6. 6 Vilken var dess form för regering?
7. 7 Kan du namnet på åtminstone en palestinsk ledare före Arafat?
8. 8 Var Palestina någonsin erkänt av något land vars existens - då eller nu - inte lämnar något utrymme för tveksamhet?
9. 9 Vilket var språket i landet Palestina?
10. 10 Vilken var den förhärskande religionen i landet Palestina?
11. 11 Vad var namnet på dess valuta? Välj vilket som helst datum i historien och säg vad som var den ungefärliga växelkursen för den palestinska valutan gentemot den amerikanska dollarn, den tyska Mark, brittiska Pund, japanska Yen, eller kinesiska Yuan den dagen.
12. 12 Och slutligen, eftersom det inte finns något sådant land idag, vad var det som orsakade dess död och när hände detta?

Du är att beklaga för denna ”förlisning" av en "en gång stolt" nation. Berätta för mig när exakt denna "nation" var så stolt och vad som var dess stolthet?

Och här är den minst sarkastiska frågan av alla: Om de personer som du felaktigt kallar "palestinierna" är allt annat än generiska araber som samlats in från hela - eller kastats ut - den arabiska världen, om de verkligen har en äkta etnisk identitet som ger dem rätt till självbestämmande, varför försöker de aldrig bli självständiga förrän araberna led sitt förödande nederlag i sexdagarskriget?

Jag hoppas att du undviker frestelsen att spåra dagens moderna "palestinier" bland de bibliska filistéerna: ersätta etymologi med historia kommer inte att fungera här.

Sanningen borde vara uppenbar för alla som vill veta den. Arabländerna har aldrig övergett drömmen om att förstöra Israel; de omhuldar den fortfarande i dag. Efter att gång på gång ha misslyckats med att uppnå sina onda mål med militära medel beslutade de sig för att bekämpa Israel genom ombud. För detta ändamål har de skapat en terroristorganisation, cyniskt kallad det "det palestinska folket" och satte upp den i Gaza, Judeen och Samarien. Hur kan du annars förklara Jordaniens och Egyptens vägran att villkorslöst acceptera och ta tillbaka "Västbanken" respektive Gaza?

Faktum är att araber som bor i Gaza, Judeen och Samarien har mycket mindre anspråk på nation än den indianstam som framgångsrikt utvecklats i Connecticut i syfte att starta ett skattefritt casino: Denna stam hade åtminstone ett konstruktivt mål som motiverade dem. De så kallade "palestinierna" har bara en motivation: förstörelsen av Israel, och enligt min mening är det inte tillräckligt för att betrakta dem som en nation -- eller något annat, utom vad de egentligen är: en terroristorganisation som en dag kommer att vara nedmonterad.

I själva verket finns det bara ett sätt att uppnå fred i Mellanöstern. De arabiska länderna måste erkänna och acceptera sitt nederlag i kriget mot Israel, och som den förlorande sidan bör de betala Israel reparationer för mer än 50 år av förödelse de har ställt till med. Den lämpligaste formen för en sådan ersättning skulle vara att avlägsna sin terroristorganisation från landet Israel och acceptera Israels antika överhöghet över Gaza, Judeen och Samarien.

Det kommer att markera slutet på det palestinska folket. Och vad säger du om vad som var dess början?


KÄLLA: Peace or Submission, Yashiko Sagamori (Övers. DSr)

Utdrag ur Intercessors Network: SHORT NOTES-mailing # 598

SAUDI ARABIA: AUTHORITIES ARREST CHRISTIAN CONVERT
Blogger incarcerated after writing about conversion, criticizing Islamic judiciary.
 
Five months after the daughter of a member of Saudi Arabia’s religious police was killed for writing online about her faith in Christ, Saudi authorities have reportedly arrested a 28-year-old Christian man for describing his conversion and criticizing the kingdom’s judiciary on his Web site.
Saudi police arrested Hamoud Bin Saleh on Jan. 13 “because of his opinions and his testimony that he had converted from Islam to Christianity,” according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. Bin Saleh, who had been detained for nine months in 2004 and again for a month last November, was reportedly being held in Riyadh’s Eleisha prison.
 
On his web site, which Saudi authorities have blocked, Bin Saleh wrote that his journey to Christ began after witnessing the public beheading of three Pakistanis convicted of drug charges. After reading how Jesus forgave – rather than stoned – a woman condemned for adultery, Bin Saleh eventually received Christ as savior.
“Just look and ask for the light of God,” he wrote in Arabic in his Dec. 22 posting. “There might be no available books to help you make a comparative study between the teachings of Muhammad (which in my opinion are a series of political, social, economical and human disasters) and the teaching of Jesus in Saudi Arabia, but there are many resources on the Web by which you might get to the bosom/arms of the Father of salvation.”
 

SAUDI ARABIA: PASTOR FLEES DEATH THREATS
Religious police, others warn key figure in expatriate church to leave.
 
A prominent foreign pastor in Saudi Arabia has fled Riyadh after a member of the mutawwa’in, or religious police, and others threatened him three times in one week. Two of the incidents included threats to kill house church pastor Yemane Gebriel of Eritrea.
On Wednesday (Jan. 28), Gebriel escaped to an undisclosed city in Saudi Arabia. A father of eight who has lived and worked as a private driver in Saudi Arabia for 25 years, Gebriel told said that on Jan. 10 he found an unsigned note on his vehicle threatening to kill him if he did not leave the country.
 
On Jan. 13, he said, mutawwa’in member Abdul Aziz and others forced him from his van and told him to leave the country. “There was a note on my van saying, ‘If you do not leave the country, we will kill you,” Gebriel told Compass by telephone. “Three days after that, [Aziz] said, ‘You’re still working here, why don’t you go out of the country?” Two days later, Gebriel said, four masked men – apparently Saudis – in a small car cut off the van he was driving. “They said, ‘We will kill you if you don’t go away from this place – you must leave here or we will kill you,’” he said.
 

IRAN: THREE CHRISTIANS ARRESTED FROM HOMES IN TEHRAN
‘Continuously high’ wave of arrests increases; whereabouts, charges unknown.
 
Three Christians from two different families were arrested from their homes Wednesday morning (Jan. 21) and are being held without charges, sources told Compass. Authorities took Jamal Ghalishorani, 49, and his wife Nadereh Jamali from their home in Tehran between 7 and 8 a.m., about a half hour after arresting Hamik Khachikian, an Armenian Christian also living in Tehran.
Ghalishorani and his wife are Christian converts from Islam, considered “apostasy” in Iran and potentially punishable by death. The three arrested Christians belong to house churches, source said, and they hold jobs and are not supported as clergy. The arrests come as part of a tsunami of arrests in the past several months, sources said.
Arrests and pressure on Christians from authorities have ramped up even further in the past few months, the source said, adding that the reasons were unclear. Another source, however, said the arrests are part of a concerted, nationwide government plan against non-Islamic faiths. “We are quite sure that these arrests are part of a bigger operation from the government,” the source said. “Maybe up to 50 people were arrested. In Tehran alone already some 10 people were arrested – all on the same day, January 21.”
 

IRAN: TENSION BETWEEN FAITH AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS
 
The wave of the persecution of Christians may be intensifying in Iran. Arrest reports came in almost every month during 2008. Paul Estabrooks with Open Doors notes that the harassment isn’t following the “normal” pattern.
“The pressure against the church growth has cycled: there’s a period of pressure, then a period of relaxation. Most recently, three different Christians have been arrested from two different families, and we’re very concerned for them.”
 
Estabrooks says the recent change in the penal code is cause for great concern. Leaving Islam, which is considered apostasy, carries a deadly penalty. “It means that these men could actually be executed for having been converts from Islam to Christianity.”
It appears the arrests are part of a concerted, nationwide government plan. Estabrooks urges prayer for the believers in Iran. “As we’ve seen in church history, whenever the church has been under pressure, the church seems to deal with that pressure in unique ways, and in ways that actually helps it to grow.”


Källa: Intercessors Network
SHORT NOTES-mailing # 598

CHANUKKA är den judiska högtid som detta år firas 22-29 december. Chanukka firas till minne av mackabéernas – judarnas - seger över de grekiska härskarna (164 f. Kr). Man firar en liten judisk nations seger över det mäktiga Grekland. Men också den judiska trons seger över hellenismen. Helgen firas med tanke på segern och miraklet med oljelampan; en mängd helig olivolja som skulle brinna i Templets kandelaber en dag, varade i åtta dagar; den tid det tog för templet att återinvigas.

DÄRFÖR möter också uttrycket ”Ett stort under skedde där”.

MERA:  Aish.com, och i Wikipedia, se Hanukkah kalender 2008 -  Högtider/Hanukkah, Den judiska högtiden Chanukka

Technorati tags: Hanukkah Chanukah Chanukkah judendomen Menorah - Läs även andra intressanta bloggar om: Hanukkah, Chanukah, Chanukkah, judendomen, Menorah ::

KARTAN ovan (500px × 707px) innehåller två Fields med flyktingläger i Israel (Västbanken, Gaza) och tre Fields med flyktingläger utanför Israel (i Libanon, Syrien, Jordanien).

STUDIUM AV KARTBILDEN För att närmare studera antalet flyktingläger och platserna för de palestinaarabiska flyktingarna klickar man på kartbilden & klickar sen igen för att se den stora originalkartan (1590px × 2247px).

UNRWA är FN:s särskilda flyktingorganisation för palestinaarabiska flyktingar.
UNHCR är FN:s globala flyktingorganisation.

PROBLEM De problem som förefinns med den först nämnda organisationen beskrivs i följande kritiska sammanställning: UNRWA och Sverige

• FiM: Skoningslös kritik mot UNRWA
• Samfundet Sverige-Israel: artiklar UNRWA, och Artiklar i SIS
• Svensk Israel-Information: Israel-fakta

Läs även andra intressanta bloggar om: Palestina, flyktingläger i Mellanöstern, palestinaaraber, UNRWA, UNHCR, Israel, Palestinska myndigheten, Gaza, Västbanken ::

Ramallah, Västbanken (Reuters) - Israel har släppt 224 fångar i en goodwill-gest till president Mahmoud Abbas under måndagen. Abbas hälsade dem individuellt med puss på kinden på sitt kontor i Ramallah, som är sätet för hans regering.

"Min son fängslades en vecka efter giftermålet. Vi är mycket glada över att se honom, och vi hoppas att alla fångar snart kommer att vara frigivna, så att alla familjer kan bli lyckliga," sa mamman till Abed Rahman Mustafa, som suttit bakom lås och bom i 18 månader.

 

Israel har sagt att frigivandet av fångar syftar till att påskynda fredssamtalen. "Vi hoppas att denna frigivning kommer att ses som en viktig förtroendeskapande åtgärd som syftar till att stärka och öka förtroende i fredsförhandlingarna”, säger Mark Regev, en talesman för Israels premiärminister Ehud Olmert. . . .  MERA

POSTSCRIPT En terrorist är terrorist, en mördare mördare, en brottsling brottsling. Av 11.000 fängslade araber har man under ett enda år nu frigivit 1.000 fångar. Hur detta kan påskynda fredssamtalen begriper nog ingen utom fredsförhandlarna själva.

Om 1.000 Kumlafångar frigavs, skulle det underlätta svenska fredsförhandlingar mellan Hells Angels och Polismyndigheten, mellan Blå Alliansen och Röda Kartellen, eller mellan Tre Kronor och de finska Lejonen? Mellan Israels Olmert och PA:s Abbas är det tänkt att fungera.

Kina använder brottslingar som huliganer för att driva bort demonstranter i och utanför Peking. Är det en idé Olmert och Abbas har tagit till sig? Kommer dessa 1.000 frigivna brottslingar att användas som huliganer för att snabbare driva bort bosättare från Judeen-Samarien, tro?


Technorati tags: Palestina Mahmoud Abbas Ehud Olmert Annapolis Israel - Läs även andra intressanta bloggar om: Palestina, Mahmoud Abbas, Ehud Olmert, Annapolis, Israel ::

AHMED QUREIA säger också att Israels premiärminister Ehud Olmert i fredsförhandlingarna sagt att Israel ska ta emot 5000 palestinska flyktingar under fem år. Qureia säger att inget av dessa erbjudanden är acceptabelt för palestinierna.


Ahmed Qureia säger att Israel aldrig avslöjat sin position i den mest kontroversiella frågan – frågan om Jerusalem. MERA.

DICK HAAS: Och hu så hemskt det kan bli
"Hamas raketer når snart både Tel Aviv och Jerusalem."

POSTSCRIPT: Då kanske Olmert och Gahrton kan fira tillsammans. De kan ju bjuda med Bitte Hammargren som i SvD skriver: ”Terrorister – från Bombay till Casablanca – hämtar näring och hat ur den israelisk-palestinska konflikt som har blött i 60 år.”

Säkert får Israel skulden för islamisternas illgärningar i Kina då dom dödade ett antal poliser straxt före OS. I Bibeln får vi lära oss hur Adam inför Herren lade över skuldbördan på Eva, som i sin tur lade bördan på ormen. Sedan skapade Herren ett folk åt sig och se, då fick hela världen någon att lägga skulden på. Allt det stackars folket tar sig för med, utlöser starka protester i hela världen.

Trots det så köper t.ex företag i Sverige säkerhetsprodukter från Israel, för att kunnandet är så mycket större där. Samtidigt som vi hetsar mot det judiska folket via Gahrton och Diakonia, vill vi ha deras produkter så att vi kan skydda oss. . .  Märkligt.
/PJ

ANNAPOLIS har sin Road Map. Dessförinnan fanns en annan Vägkarta. Vad kommer efter att Barack Obama och Hillary Clinton presenterar sin Road Map. Och. . . Yahoo har sin karta med Israel kvar, medan Google har Västbanken.


















Hemma hos Mahmoud Abbas på hans kontor i Ramallah ser man kartan som gäller för honom och PA; och för många andra.





Olmert, Abbas och Livni håller på att dela upp Jerusalem (Klicka!). Samtidigt är Golan på väg mot nya gränser. Alla s.k. "bosättare" i Judeen / Samarien ska bussas ut från Västbanken - till Negev. 

Det är bra att ha kartor när man ska ut och orientera sig. Därför ser jag till att ha en bra karta nära till hands - Se en riktigt bra karta: Eye on Israel (t.v. Klicka!)

När det blir problem med att verkligheten och kartan inte stämmer överens, då är frågan vad som gäller? I de situationerna tänker vi på Carl Bildts ord:


Läs även andra intressanta bloggar om: Mellanöstern, Israel, Västbanken, Jerusalem, Golan, Negev, Judeen, Samarien, Israelkarta, Road Map, Annapolis, Carl Bildt ::

FÖRSVARSMINISTER EHUD BARAK och Regeringen vräker folk från Peace House i Hebron. Det är stundtals som det här vore inbördeskrig. Vilka är skälen till Baraks brådska i ett ärende som hör hemma i en domstol i första hand och inte ett ärende för myndighetsingripande med våld mot det egna folket. Är det PA och Vänstern som Ehud Barak vill betjäna på bekostnad av det judiska folkets väl och ve? Är det en fint för att skapa politiska komplikationer i Likud som just nu för en intern strid.  

POSTSCRIPT Ställningen på 'krigsskådeplatsen' just nyss: 2 - 1. Två slog den tredje. Stenkastande palestinaaraber samtidigt som regeringsföreträdarna vräkte judar från Peace House.