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Medieval libels in today’s PA: “Israel openly murders Palestinian children” and “poisons water and air” – in op-ed in official PA daily

Itamar Marcus  |
  • The Israeli government is “unchaining the herds of settlers and the unofficial Zionist gangs… so they will set houses, places of worship, and cars on fire… openly murdering Palestinian children, young people, young women, [adult] women, and elderly… poisoning the air and water”

  • “The Zionist colonialist mother project… says that ‘The borders of the State of Greater Israel are from the Nile [River] to the Euphrates [River]’”

  • Israel seeks to “destroy” the Al-Aqsa Mosque and “establish the Third Temple in its place”

Numerous hate promoting libels demonizing Israel and the Zionist movement were blended into an article that also criticized Israel's political positions such as rejecting “return” of refugees to Israel, in a recent op-ed in the official Palestinian Authority daily.

In a long list of accusations against Israel - many said to have been supported by “Israeli governments” throughout history – one of the regular columnists for the paper, Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, included allegations that echo antisemitic libels of the Middle Ages, for example “murdering Palestinian children… poisoning the air and water” and others:

“At the end of the 19th century, the first groups of murderers of the Zionist colonialism that uproots [natives] and settles [foreigners] set foot on the land of Palestine. Since then… and until this very day, this barbaric and inhuman colonialism… has been using the most despicable methods of expelling and murdering the members of the Palestinian Arab people – the owners of the land, the history, the identity, and the cultural heritage in the land of Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea – in order to achieve its goal: [Population] transfer and taking complete control of the Palestinian land…
Their system does not cease to gradually and daily gnaw away at the interests and rights of the members of the Palestinian Arab people: Arrests; revoking of the identity cards of residents of Jerusalem; checkpoints; home demolitions; unchaining the herds of settlers and the unofficial Zionist gangs that are being supported by the Israeli governments throughout history so they will set houses, places of worship, and cars on fire, and will cut down trees; openly murdering Palestinian children, young people, young women, [adult] women, and elderly; imposing the lethal blockade; poisoning the air and water; imposing limitations on the freedom of import and export; stealing the people’s money and resources; preventing the independence of the Palestinian economy; controlling the air, crossings, wells, and natural resources; violating the signed agreements; the gradual elimination of peace and the two-state solution in the June 4, 1967 borders; attempting to annex [territories]; rejecting the Palestinian refugees’ right of return; continuing the colonialist settlement enterprise on the Palestinian land that was occupied in June 1967; annexing Jerusalem; insisting on annexing the Jordan Valley; the daily excavations underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to destroy it and establish the Third Temple in its place; assaulting the Palestinian heritage and folklore and the popular foods, and other war crimes.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 13, 2020]

The writer also repeated the PA projectionist libel that Israel – “the Zionist colonialists” – strive to create a “Greater Israel” reaching “from the Nile to the Euphrates.” This libel is often spread with “Greater Israel” reaching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea:

“The Zionist colonialists – all of them except for a few – are working to implement the colonialist and racist slogans and laws with various and parallel methods and ways, as these all contribute to the Zionist colonialist mother project that says that ‘The borders of the State of Greater Israel are from the Nile [River] to the Euphrates [River].’”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 13, 2020]

Another libel which stands at the core of PA demonization of Israel was also included in the op-ed: That Israel is actively working to “destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque to establish the Third Temple.”

The following is a longer excerpt of the op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for the official PA daily:

“At the end of the 19th century, the first groups of murderers of the Zionist colonialism that uproots [natives] and settles [foreigners] set foot on the land of Palestine. Since then… and until this very day, this barbaric and inhuman colonialism… has been using the most despicable methods of expelling and murdering the members of the Palestinian Arab people – the owners of the land, the history, the identity, and the cultural heritage in the land of Palestine from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea – in order to achieve its goal: [Population] transfer and taking complete control of the Palestinian land…
Whoever follows the developments in the Palestinian land notices that the Zionist colonialists – all of them except for a few – are working to implement the colonialist and racist slogans and laws with various and parallel methods and ways, as these all contribute to the Zionist colonialist mother project that says that ‘The borders of the State of Greater Israel are from the Nile [River] to the Euphrates [River].’
Therefore, their system… does not cease to gradually and daily gnaw away at the interests and rights of the members of the Palestinian Arab people: Arrests; revoking of the identity cards of residents of Jerusalem; checkpoints; home demolitions; unchaining the herds of settlers and the unofficial Zionist gangs that are being supported by the Israeli governments throughout history so they will set houses, places of worship, and cars on fire, and will cut down trees; openly murdering Palestinian children, young people, young women, [adult] women, and elderly; imposing the lethal blockade; poisoning the air and water; imposing limitations on the freedom of import and export; stealing the people’s money and resources; preventing the independence of the Palestinian economy; controlling the air, crossings, wells, and natural resources; violating the signed agreements; the gradual elimination of peace and the two-state solution in the June 4, 1967 borders; attempting to annex [territories]; rejecting the Palestinian refugees’ right of return; continuing the colonialist settlement enterprise on the Palestinian land that was occupied in June 1967; annexing Jerusalem; insisting on annexing the Jordan Valley; the daily excavations underneath the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to destroy it and establish the Third Temple in its place; assaulting the Palestinian heritage and folklore and the popular foods, and other war crimes.”

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 13, 2020]

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