PA’s fake history: The “Zionist narrative” ‎invented “the Jewish people” and ‎colonists linked Jews to Palestine”‎

Excerpt of an op-ed by General Supervisor ‎of the Official PA Media and General ‎Supervisor of Fatah-run Awdah TV Ahmad ‎Assaf

Headline: “Where the danger of the ‎Jewish [Nation-] State Law lies” ‎

‎“The wording of the [Jewish Nation-State ‎Law (see note below -Ed.)] with all its ‎clauses, words, and letters – is a most ‎dangerous thing, but the main danger ‎lies… in how it relies on the false Zionist ‎narrative and a project that was ‎formulated by the Anglo-American ‎colonialism at the end of the 19th century ‎and the beginning of the 20th century. ‎This project began by inventing ‘the ‎Jewish people,’ as many historians have ‎explained, among them Israeli Jews ‎such as Shlomo Sand (i.e., a Tel Aviv ‎University professor whose claims that ‎Jews are an invented people have been ‎thoroughly debunked). Later on, and for ‎the sake of colonialist goals, this people ‎was connected to Palestine through the ‎‎1917 Balfour Declaration (see note ‎below -Ed.), in which Britain promised ‎the Zionist movement to establish a ‎national home for the world’s Jews in ‎Palestine…‎
Let us examine the first clause of this law, ‎and we will see that it says that ‘T he ‎Land of Israel is the historical homeland of ‎the Jewish people, and there it established ‎its state.’ We discern that this project has ‎not made do with falsifying history, but ‎rather has left itself complete flexibility to ‎expand, as it has not determined the ‎borders of the Land of Israel.”‎

Jewish Nation-State Law – law passed by the Israeli Parliament on July 19, 2018, which codifies in Israel's Basic Law that Israel is the home of the Jewish nation with Jerusalem its capital, and the Hebrew calendar its official calendar. It establishes Hebrew as the sole official language and grants Arabic a special status, and it recognizes Jewish and Israeli holidays, memorial days, and the Jewish Sabbath as national holidays and days of rest - while guaranteeing the right of all Israeli citizens and residents to celebrate their holidays and days of rest. The law, which passed with 62 in favor, 55 against, and 2 abstentions, has sparked controversy within Israeli society.

The Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917 was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Baron Rothschild stating that "His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." In 1922, the League of Nations adopted this and made the British Mandate "responsible for putting into effect the declaration," which led to the UN vote in favor of partitioning Mandatory Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state in 1947. In response, Britain ended its mandate on May 15, 1948, and the Palestinian Jews, who accepted the Partition Plan, declared the independent State of Israel. The Palestinian Arabs rejected the plan and together with 7 Arab states attacked Israel, in what is now known as Israel's War of Independence.