The Palestinian problem to recognize the Jews
In a 1999 interview Dr. Issam Sasalem, a respected Palestinian historian told of how the "Hebrews" (Jews) of the Bible were actually an ancient Arab tribe.
"We have the right to Abraham, Solomon and David and all those Muslims. This is the land of the Islamic prophets and we are the inheritors of this land. This is our land. No one besides us has any historical connection to the land. As an historian, I challenge any of their historians who claim that they have a remnant here. We are the owners of this land," Sasalem said.
According to Itamar Marcus, director of the Palestinian Media Watch, textbooks and media repeatedly teach that all of Jewish history is a lie and it is the Palestinians, not the Jews, who have a 3,000-year history in the Holy Land.
After the U.S.-sponsored peace talks at Camp David failed to produce an Israeli-PA agreement for a final settlement, there was a shift in the media message, so much so that PMW predicted the outbreak of violence in a report two weeks before it occurred.
"Palestinian Authority television broadcasting of violence and hate has reached unprecedented levels this summer and has created an atmosphere [like that] of the eve of outbreak of war," PMW wrote in its report "Rape, Murder, Violence and War for Allah Against the Jews: Summer 2000."
Once the violence began, there was another shift calling on Palestinians to kill Jews and Americans, Marcus said.
Two weeks after the violence began, an Islamic cleric called for the killing of Jews and Americans in a sermon on PA television.
"The Jews are the Jews. They are terrorists, therefore, it is necessary to slaughter them and murder them according to Allah's word... Kill the Jews and those Americans that are like them. The Jews only understand might. Have no mercy on them, kill them everywhere," the cleric said.
Within Palestinian society, the PA glorified suicide bombers and has reinforced the message that dying while fighting for "Palestine" is a glorious thing, Marcus added.
Excerpts from ICEJ NEWS SERVICE 1 OCTOBER 2001Back to Israelsite.