The PA responds to US announcing May date
for Jerusalem embassy move:
Trump is a racist Zionist,
Trump is killing the chances for peace
- Official PA daily op-ed portrayed Trump as a "racist" and "Zionist":
"His political decisions... stem from a complex, impulsive, unbalanced, and mentally unstable personality, and in our opinion these are the main characteristics of the racist personality."
"He is not only aggressive, rude, and controlling, but a combination of a mentality of theft with the negation and denial of the rights of others, and these are exactly the characteristics of the Zionist personality."
- The Palestinian National Council "demanded that the Arab and Islamic nation defend Jerusalem and its holy sites, and harness their full abilities and connections in order to prevent the execution of this decision."
By Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Following the US State Department's announcement last week that the US embassy will be opened in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, the official PA daily reprinted the cartoon above accusing US President Donald Trump of "killing peace." The cartoon shows Trump standing in an open grave, aiming a handgun at the head of a dove. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 24, and Feb. 6, 2018]
A Fatah official described Trump as a "racist" and a "Zionist" in an op-ed in the official PA daily. Muwaffaq Matar, who is a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council and a regular columnist for the paper, wrote that Trump's political decisions - and especially those dealing with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict - are the result of "a complex, impulsive, unbalanced, and mentally unstable personality." Matar interpreted these as "the main characteristics of the racist personality." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 25, 2018]
Matar's personal attack on Trump joins numerous anti-US and anti-Trump statements by PA and Fatah leaders that Palestinian Media Watch has documented.
Matar also described Trump as a "Zionist":
"He is not only aggressive, rude, and controlling, but he is a combination of a mentality of theft and of a denial of the rights of others, and these are exactly the characteristics of the Zionist personality."
The Fatah official further accused Trump of "treating the Palestinians as enemies," and of "honoring" the "crime of the colonialist states" that according to the Palestinian narrative established Israel to have a base in the Middle East:
"He [Trump] decided to go too far with a shamelessness that has not characterized the US policy since the birth of the settlement colonialist Zionist entity 'Israel,' and the announcement on the adoption of this infant, which came to the world through illegal relations that can be called relations of political adultery between colonialist powers - led by Great Britain - and Zionism...
Trump's decision to transfer the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - in honor of the opening of the strongest colonialist base in the Middle East, which is called 'the State of Israel,' 70 years ago - for the 70th anniversary of the crime that the then colonialist states committed against the Palestinian people... firmly proves that the lord of the White House has decided to bring the weapons, abilities, and resources of the US into the war front against us, and to treat us - the Palestinian people - as enemies, even though we consider peace as a strategic decision."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 25, 2018]
Official PA TV News reported on the Palestinian National Council's (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) response to the US State Department's announcement, declaring that the council views it as "blatant defiance towards the international, Arab, and Islamic will," and "an intensification of the aggression" toward the Palestinians. PA TV News further reported that the council called on "the Arab and Islamic nation to defend Jerusalem":
"The council emphasized that the American administration's insistence on carrying out the aggressive decision proves again that it has chosen isolation and to distance itself from peace in favor of the occupation, and has made it responsible for the consequences of this. The Council demanded that the Arab and Islamic nation defend Jerusalem and its holy sites, and harness their full abilities and connections in order to prevent the execution of this decision."
[Official PA TV News, Feb. 24, 2018]
PLO Executive Committee Secretary and Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat stated that through this decision the US is continuing to "destroy the two-state solution," and that it "confirms that the American administration has removed itself from any role as a patron of the peace process, because through these decisions it has truly become a part of the problem, and it is impossible that it will be part of the solution." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 24, 2018]
Click to read more PMW reports on Palestinian statements about the US and US President Trump since his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital on Dec. 6, 2017.
The following are longer excerpts of the reports mentioned above:
Headline: "A new aggression: America chooses Nakba Day to transfer its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem"
"Official [PA] Presidential Spokesman [and Fatah Central Committee member] Nabil Abu Rudeina said in response to the US decision to transfer its embassy to Jerusalem in May [2018] that any unilateral step will not contribute to establishing peace and will not legitimize anyone...
PLO Executive Committee Secretary, [Fatah Central Committee member, and PLO Chief Negotiator] Saeb Erekat said: 'The American administration's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to choose the date of Nakba Day (i.e., "the catastrophe," Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel) of the Palestinian people (the US embassy in Jerusalem is set to open on May 14, 2018, on the anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence according to the Gregorian calendar; Palestinians mark Nakba Day on May 15 -Ed.) to take this step constitutes an arbitrary violation of international law... and the continuing destruction of the two-state solution. The choice of this date constitutes a provocation of the sensibilities of all the Arabs and Muslims, something which we most adamantly condemn.' In a press statement, Erekat added yesterday evening [Feb. 23, 2018] that the American decision to transfer the US embassy to Jerusalem in mid-May 'confirms that the American administration has removed itself from any role as a patron of the peace process, because through these decisions it has truly become a part of the problem, and it is impossible that it will be part of the solution.'"
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 24, 2018]
Excerpt of an op-ed by Muwaffaq Matar, Fatah Revolutionary Council member and regular columnist for the official PA daily
Headline: "Washington is the first loser"
"We will do no injustice to American President Donald Trump if we say that his political decisions, and particularly those that are connected to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, stem from a complex, impulsive, unbalanced, and mentally unstable personality, and in our opinion these are the main characteristics of the racist personality.
Trump is proving that he is not only aggressive, rude, and controlling, but that he is a combination of a mentality of theft and of a denial of the rights of others, and these are exactly the characteristics of the Zionist personality...
Trump responded - quicker than what the world diplomats expected - to [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas' plan for peace and an end of the conflict when he decided to go too far with a shamelessness that has not characterized the US policy since the birth of the settlement colonialist Zionist entity 'Israel,' and the announcement on the adoption of this infant, which came to the world through illegal relations that can be called relations of political adultery between colonialist powers - led by Great Britain - and Zionism...
Trump's decision to transfer the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - in honor of the opening of the strongest colonialist base in the Middle East, which is called 'the State of Israel,' 70 years ago - for the 70th anniversary of the crime that the then colonialist states committed against the Palestinian people (i.e., the embassy will be opened on the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence according to the Gregorian calendar)... firmly proves that the lord of the White House has decided to bring the weapons, abilities, and resources of the US into the war front against us, and to treat us - the Palestinian people - as enemies, even though we consider peace as a strategic decision."
[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 25, 2018]
Official PA TV News, on the Palestinian National Council's response to the decision of US President Donald Trump's administration to transfer the US embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, 2018, on the 70th anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence according to the Gregorian calendar
Official PA TV newsreader: "The Palestinian National Council (i.e., the legislative body of the PLO) considered the American administration's declaration on the execution of its decision to transfer its embassy to occupied Jerusalem as blatant defiance towards the international, Arab, and Islamic will, and as an intensification of the aggression towards the rights of our people. The Council emphasized that the American administration's insistence on carrying out the aggressive decision proves again that it has chosen isolation and to distance itself from peace in favor of the occupation, and has made it responsible for the consequences of this. The Council demanded that the Arab and Islamic nation defend Jerusalem and its holy sites, and harness their full abilities and connections in order to prevent the execution of this decision...
[The Council] pointed out that the transfer of the embassy at the same time as the anniversary of the Nakba (i.e., "the catastrophe," Palestinian term for the establishment of the State of Israel. The US embassy is set to open on May 14, the anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence; Palestinians mark Nakba Day on May 15 -Ed.) was meant to add to the contempt for the national sensibilities of our people who are confronting the occupation's terror and its settlers."
[Official PA TV News, Feb. 24, 2018]
US recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel - On Dec. 6, 2017, US President Donald Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital and instructed the State Department to begin preparations to transfer the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Trump added that the final borders of Jerusalem will be determined during negotiations.
On Feb. 23, 2018, the US State Department announced that the US embassy will open in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018. The date is the anniversary of Israel's declaration of independence according to the Gregorian calendar.
Palestinians commemorate Nakba Day on May 15, the day after the establishment of Israel. On May 15, 1948, combined forces from Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq joined local Arab forces in an attempt to eradicate the newly established State of Israel. The Nakba (Arabic = catastrophe) refers to the establishment of Israel, and the subsequent loss of the war, including the killing and displacement of Arab civilians that occurred during the war.