While the Palestinian Authority’s leadership continues to claim that it recognizes Israel’s right to exist, their television and cultural events continue to suggest the exact opposite.
The Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) research institute, which continuously monitors the Palestinian Authority media, presented a video of a recent Fatah event, attended by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and many of his officials, in which a PA Arab singer defines all of Israel as being “Palestinian."
The event was originally televised on February 27, 2011 and was rebroadcast on PA television on May 12. The Arab singer says the following words in his song:“We commit and promise to stand behind you, o Mahmoud Abbas, until Judgment Day. I am returning to you, the purest land, o land of the free. No matter how long the nights of exile, I am returning to you, o land. From Rafah to Rosh Hanikrah [northern Israel] our coast, and Beit She'an [Israeli city]. Above your soil, o my land, is a picture of Garden of Eden. From Rafah to Rosh Hanikrah our coast, and Beit She'an. From Rafah to Rosh Hanikrah, north and south, are the picture's borders. From Haifa [Israeli city] and Tantura to the [Jordan] valley [i.e., all of Israel]. I am returning to you, the purest land, o land of the free.”
Senior PA officials can clearly be seen in the audience and some of them are shown to be applauding the singer. Among those present are Abbas himself, PLO Secretary-General Yasser Abd Rabo, PLO executive committee member Hanan Ashrawi, and Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki. Israeli-Arab MK Ahmed Tibi is also seen in the audience.
Such “double talk” is nothing out of the ordinary among the PA leadership. Another recent , also exposed by PMW, involved Abbas condemning on Israeli television the naming of a square in Ramallah after a female terrorist who led a terror attack in March of 1978 which ended with 37 Israelis dead, including 13 children.
In an interview he gave to PA-based newspaper, however, Abbas said the exact opposite and commended this action.
