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High school graduates at official Fatah ceremony: Haifa and Jaffa are "Palestine"

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Aug. 4, 2009

Palestinian school books and educational television routinely teach children to envision a world without Israel. One of the results can be seen in this graduation ceremony sponsored by Fatah in which high school graduates in a speech identify the Israeli cities Haifa, Acre, Jaffa and Jerusalem as part of "Palestine."

The following is an excerpt from the speech by the high school graduates:

Sign on stage: "Tribute to high school graduates under the auspices of Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah."

Male graduate: "In the name of the Shahids (Martyrs), in the name of the prisoners, in the name of the stone and the rifle."
Female graduate: "In the name of Fatah, the school that taught us the meaning of nationalism."
Male graduate: "in the name of Palestine: Haifa, Acre, Jaffa, and our Arab Jerusalem."
Female graduate: "In the name of Palestine: Gaza, the West Bank and the flag of national unity."
...
Male graduate: "Fatah is [still] with the rifle. And our rifles are not rusty even if they have fired thousands of bullets."
[Al-Filistiniya TV (Fatah), July 28, 2009]