The Culture of Peace and Incitement in the PA Index Dec. 2, 2012

1. The Culture of Peace and Incitement in the PA Index Dec. 2, 2012

2. The core of the Palestinian narrative as reflected in the messages of the PA • The central message of PA institutions, media and officials reflects the Palestinian narrative is composed of three core components: • Cultivation of the belief that all of ‘Historic Palestine’ (from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River) will return to Palestinian control, and denial of Israel’s right to exist as a state, let alone as the nation-state of the Jewish people. • Demonization and dehumanization of ‘the Zionists’- Jews in general and Israelis in particular.

3. 3. The belief that all forms of struggle- including terrorist attacks-are legitimate in principle. The decision as to which form to employ at a given time is made according to the circumstances. Agreements with Israel do not negate the legitimacy of the struggle.

4. Examples of the First Component Cultivating the belief that all of ‘Historic Palestine’ (from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River) will return to Palestinian control, and denial of Israel’s right to exist as a state, let alone as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

5. The official facebook page of the Presidency“A morning of return, Jaffa and Haifa will certainly be our meeting place at the end of the day” On Nov. 21 a link to a music video entitled “Good morning, O’my land” was uploaded to the official facebook page of the Presidency. The closing lines of the songs, declare: “A morning of return, Jaffa, Haifa, Gaza, Ramallah will certainly be our meeting place at the end of the day” The phrase “Haifa will certainly be our meeting place” is given special emphasis and appears numerous times on the screen. [To view the clip directly without signing into facebook- click here]

6. Most maps in PA schoolbooks neither mention Israel nor include the Green Line. Even in those maps in which the Green Line is included, the name Israel is omitted. National Education Textbook, 4th Grade (includes Green Line but header reads ‘The Arab countries that border Palestine’) National Education Textbook, 3rd Grade

7. Maps from Fatah’s Facebook pages Inscription on left: “100% Arabic” On the map: “Palestine” Administered by the Office for Internal Relations (headed by Azzam Al-Ahmad, Ramallah), right- uploaded Sept. 1, 2012, left- uploaded July 12, 2012

8. Maps from Fatah’s Facebook pages On map: We are returning Uploaded to facebook page administered by the Office for Internal Relations (headed by Azzam Al-Ahmad, Ramallah), July 14, 2012; to facebook page administered by the Department of Communications in the Office of Recruitment and Organization (Ramallah), Aug. 11, 2012.

9. Check against delivery: Contrast between circulated text of Abbas’ remarks and remarks as actually delivered ABBAS’ ACTUAL REMARKS AT THE UNGA (SEPT. 27): TEXT OF ABBAS’ REMARKS DISTRIBUTED AT THE UN “…[T]he birthplace of Jesus(peace be upon him), and ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and the final resting place of Abraham (peace be upon him), the land of the monotheistic religions.” “…[T]he birthplace of Jesus(peace be upon him), and ascension of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and the final resting place of Abraham (peace be upon him), the land of the three monotheistic religions.” [Note: The UN translator relies on the written text in her simultaneous translation (from 21:28)] [Note: Abbas looks down briefly at the written text and skips the word ‘three’]

10. Palestine National Charter Article 2: Palestine, with the boundaries it had during the British Mandate, is an indivisible territorial unit Article 9: Armed struggle is the only way to liberate Palestine. This is the overall strategy, not merely a tactical phase… Article 15: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism… Article 20: …Claims of historical or religious ties of Jews with Palestine are incompatible with the facts of history…Judaism, being a religion, is not an independent nationality. Nor do Jews constitute a single nation with an identity of their own…

11. In spite of the Palestinian claim that the articles contradicting the Oslo agreements were removed from the Palestinian National Charter in 1998, the original 1968 charter still appears in full on many PLO websites with no mention of any subsequent modifications. PLO – Refugee Affairs Department

12. PLO Executive Committee–The National Office for Defense of the Land and for Resistance to the Settlements

13. Website of the Palestinian Mission to Germany

14. PA security forces magazine: “The honorable President (Abbas) declares: ‘I never forfeited, and I will never forfeit, the Right of Return’” “Al-Mauqef” (“The Stance”)- magazine of the PA Security Forces, published by the PLO/PA “National and Diplomatic Directorate” The headline came to reassure readers that Abbas had not budged from the PLO/PA position demanding a ‘Right of Return’, in light of an interview on Israeli TV in which he appeared to take a more moderate stance. Text (“I never forfeited…”) appears twice, on front cover (left) and pg. 3 (right)

15. The rifle as symbol of the liberation and return to Historic Palestine Only one way to Palestine- through the barrel of a gun Bridge of Return Fatah Facebook, administered by the Department of Communications in the Office of Recruitment and Organization (Ramallah), Left- Nov. 5, 2012; Right- Oct. 21, 2012.

16. Examples of the Second Component Demonization and dehumanization of ‘the Zionists’- Jews in general and Israelis in particular.

17. Statements by PA Chair Mahmoud Abbas Abbas at the UNGA, Nov. 27, 2012: “We have not heard one word from any Israeli official expressing any sincere concern to save the peace process. On the contrary, our people have witnessed…an unprecedented intensification of military assaults, the blockade, settlement activities and ethnic cleansing…by which this Israeli occupation is becoming synonymous with an apartheid system of colonial occupation, which institutionalizes the plague of racism and entrenches hatred and incitement.” Abbas at the UNGA, Sept. 27, 2012: “…Israel, the occupying Power, has persisted with its settlement campaign, focusing on Jerusalem and its environs. It is a campaign clearly and deliberately aimed at altering the City's historic character and the glorious image of the Holy City etched in the minds of humankind. It is a campaign of ethnic cleansing…” Presidential Statement, Aug. 21, 2012: “…[Israel’s] ultimate goal is to rob Muslims and Christians of their holy shrines, destroy the Al Aqsa mosque and build the alleged Jewish temple”

18. Jerusalem (Al-Quds) is the apple being eaten by worms bearing the Star of David [Al-Quds daily, Aug. 29, 2012]

19. Abbas at the UNGA, Nov. 29, 2012 “The Palestinian people, who miraculously recovered from the ashes of Al-Nakba of 1948, which was intended to extinguish their being and to expel them in order to uproot and erase their presence, which was rooted in the depths of their land and depths of history. In those dark days, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were torn from their homes and displaced…in one of the most dreadful campaigns of ethnic cleansing and dispossession in modern history.” “Palestine comes today to the United Nations General Assembly at a time when it is still tending to its wounds and still burying its beloved martyrs of children, women and men who have fallen victim to the latest Israeli aggression…wipingout entire families, their men, women and children murdered along with their dreams, their hopes, their future and their longing to live an ordinary life and to live in freedom and peace.”

20. A Palestinian Authority TV host asks an artist to discuss the following painting "dealing with the Palestinian nation's problems such as the Gaza massacres." (PA TV, 13.7.12)

21. JibrilRajoub on PM Netanyahu: “You dog, you aggressor” Jibril Rajoub, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Fatah Central Committee, called Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu a “dog” during an interview on PA TV. "Netanyahu- all of his projects are in a crisis, he is in distress, he goes and barks in Efrat. You dog, you aggressor. This is Palestinian land, whether you or your father like it or not. We were born here, we are the people of this land, we are the salt of the earth, and you are not.” [PA TV – Aug. 30, 2012] Jibril Rajoub (PA TV - May 17, 2012): No normalization with Israel in sports, no “Zionist sons of bitches”

22. “I hate Israel” in numerous languages From the facebook page of ‘Al-Razi’ boys elementary school in Qalqilya, Sept. 12, 2012

23. ‘Hitler’: “I could have killed all the Jews in the world, but I left a few so that you would know why I killed them” From the facebook page of the ‘Ikataba’ high school for girls in Tulkarem, uploaded May 22, 2012

24. Examples of the Third Component All forms of struggle- including terrorist attacks-are legitimate in principle. The decision as to which form to employ is made according to the circumstances. Agreements with Israel do not negate the legitimacy of the struggle.

25. Senior PA Official Nabil Shaath Praises "Hero" Ahmad Jaabari and Armed Resistance at Hamas Rally in Gaza, Nov. 22, 2012 Nabil Shaath: How delighted I am to see all these flags here – the yellow, the green, the black…has gathered all of us here is the unity that will grant us more victories. Congratulations to the martyrs, and Allah's mercy upon the hero Ahmad Jaabari and upon all the martyrs. The battle that you are waging has been going on for a hundred years. This people has been fighting for a hundred years to liberate its land, and to liberate Jerusalem…It is defending Jerusalem and Palestine in its entirety, by all means of resistance – by armed resistance, by political resistance, by going to the U.N., by solidarity – by all forms of confrontation with the enemy occupying our land.

26. PA Education Ministry: Fight theJews and kill them “The fight against the Jews and the victory over them: The Messenger of Allah has already announced the end of the Jews’ oppression of this land and the removal of their corruption and conquest of it. “…[God’s Messenger said] The Hour of Resurrection will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews. The Muslims will kill them, and when a Jew would hide behind a rock or a tree the rock or the tree would say: ‘O Muslim, O worshipper of God! There is a Jew behind me; come and kill him’, except the salt bush (Gharqad), which is the Jews’ tree.”” [PA Education Ministry, Islamic Studies, “Foundations of Belief” textbook, Grade 11, 2011, pg. 94] .

27. The official Mufti of the PA quoted this Islamic tradition at a public ceremony celebrating the founding of Fatah. At the end he declared that this was the reason that many settlements have been surrounded by salt bushes. [PA TV, Sept. 1, 2012]

28. Illustration by Umiya Juha. The tree is saying “O Muslim, O worshipper of God! This is a Jew behind me; come and kill him” Front cover of the schoolbook and text ]From the Facebook page of the ‘Iktaba’ girls high school in Tulkarm, Jan. 22, 2012]

29. “Palestine – we will inscribe your name in bullets and blood” Note: The bullets on the table are meant to spell out the name “Palestine”. [Fatah main Facebook page, posted Aug. 10, 2012]

30. Abbas on Palestinian Prisoners- Sept. 27 UNGA Speech “Nearly five thousand Palestinians also remain captive as prisoners and detainees in Israel’s jails…they are soldiers in their people’s struggle for freedom, independence and peace.” A girl on PA TV dedicates a song celebrating martyrdom and death to an Islamic Jihad commander serving a life sentence “When we die as martyr’s our souls will go to Paradise…You taught us the meaning of heroism” The Facebook page of the ‘Palestine’ elementary school for boys in Qalqilya uploaded a link to the following video clip

31. PA School Textbook Our Beautiful Language, excerpts from the poem “The Martyr” "The sound of the clashing [swords] is pleasant to my ear and the flow of blood makes my soul happy And a corpse thrown to the earth, over which the predators of the desert fight By your life! This is the death of men, and those who would seek the death of the noble- here it is” [Our Beautiful Language, Grade 7, Part 1 (2010), pg. 75]

32. "My mother dressed me in a strange belt I asked her: 'What is this, mother?'She said: 'I will put it on you and you will go to your death!'I said to her: 'Mother, what have I done that you want me to die?'She shed a tear that hurt my heart and said: 'The homeland needs you, son. Go and blow up the sons of Zion.'I said to her: 'Why me and not you?'She said: 'I will stay in order to give birth to more children for the sake of Palestine.'I kissed her hand and said to her: 'Keep it up, mother, for you and for Palestine I will kill the impure and the damned.'“ [Fatah-Lebanon's Facebook page, posted Sept. 3, 2012]

33. School activity in honor of International Woman’s Day (March 8, 2012):The teacher offers chocolates to the first pupils who are able to identify the suicide terrorist in the picture posted to the facebook page of the ‘Tamun’ Girls High School in Qalqilya

34. Summary of July-September 2012 Index and trends from October-December • This trends in this quarter largely followed those of previous quarters, with an increase in the severity of incitement in several of the dimensions. • Mahmoud Abbas’ two speeches at the UNGA in September and November were characterized by high levels of demonization and reflected his commitment to the various messages and themes noted in the index. • Over the last several months we have expanded the index to cover official PA, PLO and Fatah facebook pages as well as the pages of schools in the PA education system. This expanded coverage has revealed the degree to which the messages of incitement and continuation of conflict are embedded and internalized within Palestinian society in general, and among Palestinian schoolchildren in particular.

35. Weighted Final Result for July-Sept. 2012: -40.27 Weighted final results over 11 quarters

36. Summary The PA’s efforts to inculcate their core narrative are carried out in a systematic and thorough manner. This indoctrination is directed at the Palestinian public in general and at Palestinian youth in particular. The Palestinians in no way see themselves as bound by agreements with Israel which require all outstanding issues to be resolved through negotiations only. All forms of ‘resistance’ remain legitimate (even if there are those that are less expedient at a given moment.) The encouragement of an atmosphere of violence, the demonization of Israelis and Jews, and the non-creation of a culture of peace result in an ethos that perpetuates the struggle by glorifying values antithetical to peace. This is the primary obstacle to peace