Two-Faced PA: Different messages for different audiences
Two-Faced PA:
Different messages for different audiences
For Newsweek Jibril Rajoub recognizes Israel;
For Palestinians, Rajoub turns all of Israel into "Palestine"
For Palestinians, Rajoub turns all of Israel into "Palestine"
Rajoub's map of Palestine:
Text on map: "Know Your Homeland - 2017"
[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, March 17, 2017]
Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Jibril Rajoub, top Palestinian official who may be the next leader after Mahmoud Abbas, recently penned an article in Newsweek magazine in which he presented himself as a seeker of peace, claiming to support the two-state solution:
"We in the Palestinian leadership are determined to seize this opportunity to achieve the long overdue two-state vision."
[Rajoub in Newsweek, May 1, 2017]
Later Rajoub wrote: "We will accept no solution but a two-state one."
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Rajoub was an active terror promoter and supporter during last year's Palestinian terror wave. The documentation below shows that Rajoub's claim in Newsweek to be a supporter of the "two-state vision" is a very different message from the one he promotes to Palestinians.
In numerous contexts, Rajoub has handed out plaques of honor decorated with the PA's map of "Palestine," which erases Israel's existence. Instead, all of the State of Israel is included in "Palestine" in addition to the PA areas.
Jibril Rajoub heads the PLO's Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs and when the council held a youth camp named "Know Your Homeland," it chose the PA map that includes all of Israel as the decoration for the camp shirts. To make sure that the participants do not see this as a historical map of the past, the map was painted in the colors of the PA flag, symbolizing future Palestinian political jurisdiction over the entire area. Rajoub's Higher Council posted a picture of the drawing of the PA map on its Facebook page.
Text on shirt: "Know Your Homeland
2017"
[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, March 17, 2017]
This message to Palestinian youth from Rajoub's organization is telling them that their "homeland" includes all of Israel and that they should expect to live in a world where all of Israel has become Palestine.
When Rajoub visited the "olympic village" at the Islamic Solidarity Games in Baku, he presented a Turkish representative with a plaque of honor in the shape of the PA map of "Palestine."
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, May 13, 2017]
President Jingnan Xu of the Chinese sports company Peak also received a map precluding a two-state solution from Rajoub in his capacity as chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee. The Chinese company "is sponsoring the Palestinian national teams and the associations that are members of the Palestine Olympic Committee" [Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, May 20, 2017]
See additional examples below of Rajoub using the PA map.
Rajoub further stated in his op-ed that the 1967 borders are to be the basis of his desired two-state solution:
"This agreement must fulfill Palestinian national aspirations by including the following elements: the contiguous territory of sovereign, independent Palestine comprising the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital; the border based on the 1967 line with equal swaps; and the solution to the long suffering of stateless Palestinian refugees that is just and agreed."
[Rajoub in Newsweek, May 1, 2017]
However, PMW has documented statements by PA leaders and broadcasts on PA TV explaining an ideology similar to Arafat's "stages plan," which sees a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders as only the first step in the process of taking over all of the State of Israel. The PA TV children's program The Best Home often teaches kids that "all of Palestine will return to us" and Palestinian leaders have described "Palestine" as stretching "from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River."
In Newsweek, Rajoub also pretended he is in favor of "mutual recognition":
"The Palestinian leadership believes that a peace agreement, based on mutual recognition between Palestine and Israel, will mark the end of the conflict and finality of claims."
Rajoub talks about "mutual recognition," but PMW has exposed that Rajoub adamantly speaks against "normalization" with Israel. He has even stated that "any activity of normalization in sports with the Zionist enemy is a crime against humanity."
Unfortunately, Rajoub's words in Newsweek far from reflect his own behavior in reality.
Additional recent examples of Rajoub appearing with the PA map, or institutions he heads making use of the PA map:
The International Federation for Equestrian Sports President Ingmar De Vos received an honorary plaque featuring the PA map of "Palestine" from Rajoub at the Palestine Olympic Committee headquarters. [Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Secretary Jibril Rajoub, May 15, 2017]
As head of the Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs Rajoub received a delegation from the American Michigan University and Arab American University in Palestine in his office at the council headquarters and gifted them with a map of "Palestine." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 5, 2017]
As chairman of the Palestinian Football Association Rajoub handed the map of "Palestine" to the President of the Football Association of the Maldives Bassam Adeel Jaleel. [PSN, sports network of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sport Affairs, March 29, 2017]
Chairman of the Lebanese Football Association Hashem Haidar has also been given a plaque of honor featuring the PA map of "Palestine" by Rajoub.
[Facebook page of Jibril Rajoub, March 6, 2017]
When Rajoub briefed the Lebanese Minister of Youth and Sports Muhammad Fneish, they had their photo taken holding a map of "Palestine." [Facebook page of Jibril Rajoub, March 6, 2017]
Jibril Rajoub posing with an unidentified man and the map. [Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, April 15, 2017]
Jibril Rajoub holds the following positions: Secretary of the Fatah Central Committe, Head of the Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs, Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association, Chairman of the Palestine Olympic Committee, and Chairman of the Palestinian Scout Association (PSA).