For years, Palestinian Authority leaders have actively denied Jewish history both in ancient Judea/Israel and in Jerusalem in particular. Palestinian Media Watch hasdocumented this ongoing PA policy of historical revisionism, which centers on the denial that a Jewish Temple ever existed in Jerusalem. PA political and religious leaders, officials, and even academics consistently refer to the Temple as "the alleged Temple." [Arabic: Al-Haikal Al-Maz'oom].
The Palestinian claims that the Temple never existed and that Jews have no history in the Land of Israel not only contradict Jewish sources, Christian sources, and the archeological record, but contradict the Quran as well. The Quran in Sura 17:2-7 mentions the "Children of Israel's" two periods of independence in the land and the destruction of both the First and the Second Temple: "...to enter the Temple even as they entered it for the first time, and to lay waste..."
The PA accuses Israel of forging a false Jewish history in the land while at the same time stealing Palestinian history, culture, and heritage. The Palestinians refer to these actions as "Judaization." The main target of this "Judaization" is the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which Israel purportedly conspires to destroy in order to build the Jewish Temple.
Advisor to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Ahmad Al-Ruweidi, recently denied the existence of the Temple while commenting on an Israeli excavation of a tunnel:
"I personally visited the entrance to this tunnel, and it is clear that they [the Israelis] have built it modeled on the alleged Temple, as a basis for transferring the Temple in the future into the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
The following are examples from the PMW archives from April to July 2011. The examples are arranged in two categories: PA leaders refer to the Jewish Temple as "the alleged temple" and PA denial of Jewish history in the land and accusations of heritage theft.
PA leaders refer to the Jewish Temple as "the alleged temple"
PA daily news report: "The destruction of the alleged Temple."
"Since Monday morning, groups of extremist Jews have been roaming the courtyards of Al-Aqsa mosque (i.e., the Temple Mount) one after the other, under heavy police protection, on the occasion of the [week of the] so-called "destruction of the Temple"... This Sunday, the occupation's police handed the shop owners in the Market of the Cotton Merchants... which leads to the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, an order forcing them to close their shops on Monday afternoon (i.e., the eve of the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple - Tisha B'av), in order to facilitate the arrival of the settlers to the Market, for the sake of holding special Talmudic rituals on the occasion of the destruction of the alleged Temple."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 9, 2011]
Abbas' advisor: Israel wants to transfer the alleged Temple into the Al-Aqsa Mosque
PA TV News broadcast, main report the Committee to Protect Silwan's report concerning the Israeli excavation of a tunnel.
PA TV newsreader: "[The Committee to Protect Silwan] noted that some of the Israeli sources had said that a gold bell had been found in the tunnel, belonging to what they call the Second Temple Period. This once again highlights the efforts of the Israeli side to forge the history of the holy city."
Interview with Ahmad Al-Ruweidi, advisor to President Abbas, on the Committee's report:Abbas' advisor, Al-Ruweidi: "I personally visited the entrance to this tunnel, and it is clear that they [the Israelis] have built it modeled on the alleged Temple, as a basis for transferring the Temple in the future into the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
[PA TV (Fatah), July 26, 2011]
Chairman of the Palestinian National Council calls Temple "alleged temple"
"Chairman of the [Palestinian] National Council, Salim Al-Za'anoun, yesterday demanded a halt to the works to Judaize the city of Jerusalem, ...in the vicinity of the [Al-Aqsa] Mosque, turning them into ritual baths for the 'alleged temple', and turning the surroundings of the Mosque and the Old City of Jerusalem into biblical parks."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 19, 2011]
Jews visiting the Temple Mount are "invasion," and all Israelis are "settlers"
"Israeli MP Michael Ben-Ari invaded the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday heading a group of settlers, who were on a tour of the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex, listening to Ben-Ari's explanations about the alleged Temple... Chairman of the Supreme Council for Shari'a Law, Sheikh Yusuf Ida'is, said that the invasion of Al-Aqsa had been carried out under the protection of extensive occupation (i.e., Israeli) police forces. He warned of a most dangerous plot of the Israeli establishment, including its various branches, to seize control of [the Mosque], in order to destroy it and establish the alleged Temple in its place."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 9, 2011]
Official PA daily: Israel's "Judaization plans... serve the myth and legend of the alleged Temple"
"It should be noted that the decisions to destroy and remove the Al-Bustan neighborhood were meant to realize the Judaization plans, according to which Talmudic parks would be established in its stead, serving the myth and legend of the alleged temple."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 12, 2011]
PA TV: The "alleged Temple" is "myth and legend"
"In occupied Jerusalem, the so-called 'Israel Supreme Court of Justice' is expected to rule on the fate of 88 homes in the Al-Bustan neighborhood. Member of the Silwan and Al-Bustan Neighborhood Defense Committee, Fakhri Abu Diab... emphasized that occupation forces [Israel] are trying to remove the neighborhood altogether and to expel its residents, numbering more than 2,500, with the aim of building Talmudic parks which serve the myth and legend of the alleged Temple."
[PA TV, May 11, 2011]
Official PA daily: "The legend and fable of the alleged Temple"
"The Committee for Protection of Silwan Land and Assets warned of accelerated work in the area... [Member of the committee Fakhri] Abu Diab drew attention to the fact that the occupation authorities (i.e., Israel) are acting to falsify facts and history, by 'planting' alleged graves in the area, claiming that they are Jewish ones, and thereby conclusively seizing the area... He stated that the results of the [construction of] very prominent works being carried out by the occupation's instruments, are changes in the area's landmarks, with the aim of falsifying its history and its heritage, and [bringing about] its complete Judaization, as a service to the legend and fable of the alleged Temple. As to the parks... they will belong to the Temple, which the occupation authorities and groups of extremist Jews are hurrying to build in place of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 7, 2011]
Former Minister of Religious Affairs: The "alleged Temple" never existed on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque
"'Quds.net Center for Research and Communications' recently published the book, 'The Guide to the Al-Aqsa Mosque', by speaker at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and former Minister of Religious Affairs, Sheikh Yusuf Salameh. The book... deals with the Al-Aqsa Mosque, its importance, and the religious importance of the city of Jerusalem, in order to refute what the Israelis disseminate, claiming that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was built on the ruins of their temple. Sheikh Salameh said that the book was published at this sensitive time, with the holy city in general and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in particular being subjected to brutal occupation attack, aimed at forging reality, culture and history... The book refutes the Israeli claims that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is situated upon the ruins of the alleged Temple, and states that the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall) is an authentic part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and is not the 'Wailing Wall', as the occupiers falsely refer to it."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 2, 2011]
Former PA Chief Justice of Religious Court: Israel plans destruction of Al-Aqsa Mosque to build "alleged Temple"
"Former [PA] Chief Religious Justice, Sheikh Tayseer Al-Tamimi...warned against negligence of the nation in fulfilling its obligation to defend Jerusalem, which would allow the Israeli occupation to carry out its plans - its transformation into a Jewish city and the destruction of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, in order to establish the alleged Temple in its place."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 28, 2011]
Official PA daily: "Alleged Temple"
"The Al-Aqsa Institute for Islamic Trusts and Heritage said that the Israeli occupation had replaced several stones from the wall with stones carrying Talmudic Jewish symbols, such as a stone with a model of the alleged Temple."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 13, 2011]
PA denial of Jewish history and accusations of heritage theft
PA TV News: Israel steals Palestinian identity and cultural heritage
PA TV News on a Debka folkdance festival held in Safa, in the Ramallah district:
PA TV reporter: "[The groups] are directing a message to the entire world, that the Palestinian nation still retains its identity and its cultural heritage, while Israel attempts to steal this heritage."
[PA TV (Fatah), July 15, 2011]
PA distortion: Jews changed original Arabic name "Al-Buraq Wall" to "the Wailing Wall"
Official PA daily's columnist on religious affairs, Is'haq Feleifel: "The great and exalted Allah commanded the angel Gabriel to place Muhammad upon the riding beast [named] Al-Buraq, which was a cross between horse and donkey. The night journey was both physical and spiritual... Once he [Muhammad] reached the Al-Aqsa Mosque, (PMW note: the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem was not yet built in the time of Muhammad. The "night journey" mentioned in the Quran is dated to 621 CE. The mosque was built on the Temple Mount by the son of Ummayad Caliph Abd Al-Malik 84 years later in 705 CE.) the angel Gabriel removed Muhammad from upon Al-Buraq's back, and then he tied the beast to the Al-Buraq rock, which was called the 'Al-Buraq Wall'. The Jews changed its name to the 'Wailing Wall', because the Jews are always trying to change Arabic names into Hebrew names, especially when it comes to prayer sites or names of towns and villages. For example, they call Al-Quds 'Jerusalem'; Al-Khalil [they call] 'Hebron'; Atara - 'Atarot, Nablus - 'Shechem', Tel Al-Rabi'a - 'Tel Aviv'(PMW note: 'Rabi'a' is the Arabic translation of the Hebrew word 'aviv', meaning 'spring'); Askelan - Ashkelon. There is not enough room to list all the names which have been replaced with false names. Even the 'Torah' falsified, changed and forged; this is the way of the Jews - they always try to change the real names to other, false names, in order to erase the [historical] facts."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 1, 2011]
It should be noted that all six Hebrew names of cites appear in the Bible long before the Arabic names existed.
Palestinian distortion: "If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem" was Crusader expression usurped by Zionists
Palestinian researcher Dr. Hayel Sanduqa on PA TV claims that the Hebrew Bible's psalm was actually first said by a Crusader:
"[The Israelis] have acted to change Jerusalem's character. Even the expression (Psalm 137:5) 'If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee.'
This statement, said by the Frankish [Crusader] ruler of Acre shortly before he left, was borrowed by the Zionist movement, which falsified it in the name of Zionism."
[PA TV, June 2, 2011]
Jewish presence in land of Israel 2,000 years ago "represents... nothing more than invention and falsification"
"The Zionists must acknowledge publicly, in front of the world, that the Jews have no connection to the Palestinian Arab land, upon whose ruins arose the colonialist settler Zionist plan that settles and expels, represented by the Israeli apartheid state. That which occurred two thousand years ago (i.e., the Jewish/Israeli presence in the land), assuming that it is true, represents in the book of history nothing more than invention and falsification and a coarse and crude form of colonialism."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 27, 2011]
Israel stole Palestinian heritage, including clothing, keffiyeh, falafel and humus
Columnist Muwaffaq Matar, commenting on the cheap products from the Far East flooding the Palestinian market:
"The Israelis have already stolen our clothing, our keffiyeh, our falafel and our humus, so why should we [now] allow produce from China and Taiwan to burn our olive tree (i.e., destroy the local economy)?"
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 26, 2011]
PA mayor: "The Zionist enemy" is trying "to create a history" at the expense of Palestinian history
Ahmad Budheir, Mayor of Kufr Al-Hares: "We are suffering from the Zionist enemy, from the visits of the settlers - or the incessant invasions of the settlers - into the town, from the harassment and repeated assaults on citizens, on homes and on the land. They are trying to create a history that doesn't exist on our land, as usual, to steal the history and to steal the culture. They are trying to build history at the expense of our own history."
[PA TV (Fatah), May 23, 2011]
Abbas denies Jews have history in Israel
Abbas' speech in Gaza, delivered in his name by his advisor and representative Abdallah Al-Ifranji, in honor of "nakba" day - "catastrophe" day, the day the PA mourns the creation of the State of Israel:
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, May 14, 2011]
Official PA daily: Israel not only steals land but also history of Jerusalem
Headline: "Jerusalem is capital of Arab civilization"
"[Jerusalem] is the religious, historical, cultural and scientific capital of the Palestinian people in particular, and of the Arab nation in general. It is the pinnacle of civilizations of the entire world. When the Arab Jebusite king Malkizedeq built the city of Jerusalem, naming it Jebus and designating it the capital of his country six thousand years ago, none of the world's capitals existed yet... The veteran families which lived in ancient Jerusalem... lived a life of culture and civilization in the full sense of the word, to the extent that other cities which arose thousands of years ago attempted to imitate Jerusalem, the unique wonder, but none of them succeeded in building [a city] like Jerusalem. This is Jerusalem, the city which is closer to God's royal throne than any other part of the globe...
Therefore the invaders [Israel/the Jews] desired it, despite its small area... because this is the place which the Creator blessed, along with its environs. The invaders [Israel/the Jews], who steal the city's geography, are trying to also steal its history."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 14, 2011]
Official PA daily: Israel resorts to forgery to create evidence for Jewish history in Jerusalem
Headline: "Personalities living in Jerusalem: The occupation authorities (i.e., Israel) are forging the wall of Jerusalem by inserting stones engraved with a model of the alleged Temple"
"Respected Jerusalem bodies and personalities warned of suspicious forgery activities accompanying the extensive rehabilitation works which the occupation authorities [Israel] are carrying out... Chairman of the Jerusalem Association of NGO's, Hazem Gharabli, told WAFA...: 'What intensifies the concerns of Jerusalem bodies and individuals - even regular people - is the fact that the occupation authorities have completely covered the area where the rehabilitation works are being carried out, not allowing anyone to see which activities are actually going on there.
Their aim may be to remove original stones and to replace them with stones with Talmudic drawings or engravings, alluding to the existence of a Jewish heritage in the city.'... The Al-Aqsa Institute for Islamic Trusts and Heritage said that the Israeli occupation had replaced several stones from the wall with stones carrying Talmudic Jewish symbols, such as a stone with a model of the alleged Temple, and a stone with a Star of David."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 13, 2011]
Deputy Minister of Culture: Israel steals Palestinian culture
"Deputy Minister of Culture, Musa Abu Ghreibeh, spoke about the role of his Ministry in reviving the Palestinian memory, especially in light of Israeli measures aimed at erasing this memory from the minds of Palestiniansand specifically of the youth. He also noted with approval the role of the Eve Center (i.e., center for women's issues) in strengthening culture, resolve, and activity aimed at preventing the occupation from stealing Palestinian culture."
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, April 4, 2011]
