The PA held official events in Ramallah and in Gaza to mark the day the Palestinian Authority mourns the creation of the State of Israel, called "nakba" - "catastrophe" day. Mahmoud Abbas's speech in Gaza was delivered in his name by his advisor and representative. In the speech Abbas denied that Jews have a history in the Land of Israel and claimed a fictitious 9000 year-old Palestinian history dating back to 7000 BCE, which he said made Palestinians "the owners of history."
Abbas's words taunted PM Benjamin Netanyahu, as the representative of Israel:
"Oh, Netanyahu, you are incidental in history; we are the people of history. We are the owners of history."
It should be noted that Abbas's taunting Netanyahu about history is a brazen distortion of known facts. Judean/Israeli history in the Land of Israel dates back thousands of years, and is documented by ancient Jewish and non-Jewish sources, and corroborated by numerous archeological finds, from Hebrew coins to Jewish ritual baths. The Kurkh Monolith, for example, an Assyrian document from the reign of King Shalmaneser III (859-824 BCE), includes the words: "King Ahab of Israelsent 2,000 chariots and 10,000 soldiers."
On the other hand, only recently have Arabs in the region identified as "Palestinians". No historian other than Palestinians have claimed that there was an ancient Palestinian history, and there isn't any reference to a Palestinian-Arab nation in antiquity, as Abbas claims. This is true of Islamic sources as well. The Quran refers to the people of Israel and even the destruction of the Temple [Sura17],but not to Palestinians.
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PA moderator of PA Gaza event:
"The speech of President Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and President of the Palestinian Authority, will be delivered by the comrade, the great fighter, Abdallah Al-Ifranji, representative and advisor of the President."
Mahmoud Abbas, (delivered by his representative, Abdallah Al-Ifranji):
"National reconciliation [between Hamas and Fatah] is required in order to face Israel and Netanyahu. We say to him [Netanyahu], when he claims - that they [Jews] have a historical right dating back to 3000 years BCE - we say that the nation of Palestine upon the land of Canaan had a 7000 year history BCE. This is the truth, which must be understood and we have to note it, in order to say: 'Netanyahu, you are incidental in history. We are the people of history. We are the owners of history.'"
[PA TV (Fatah), May 14, 2011]
