Clarification of PMW bulletin about map in Congress
Clarification of PMW bulletin about map in Congress
and PA maps
On Monday, PMW published a bulletin referring to the map in the office of the new member of US Congress Rashida Tlaib, in order to focus on the serious problem of Palestinian Authority maps. Through maps, the PA constantly presents a world in which Israel does not exist - such as this map in a Palestinian schoolbook which is said to represent the "geographical area" of the "state of Palestine." [PA 7th Grade Social Studies Textbook, Part A, pp. 4, August 2017] We stressed this was the point of the bulletin:"While the map in US Congress is insulting to all those who care about Israel and peace, the map that the PA uses in its education of its children is far more problematic... How can we expect Palestinian children, who are taught that the correct map of the world has no Israel, to consider living in peace with the country they are taught should not even exist?"
Some of our readers however have questioned PMW's report saying that Congresswoman Tlaib's map may be promoting a "state of Palestine" alongside Israel.
Since the danger to peace constituted by the PA maps was the message of the bulletin, PMW did not elaborate why we concluded that for Tlaib the word "Palestine" with an arrow pointing to Israel, based on her own statements and ideology, would likely mean "Palestine" replaces Israel.However, when looking at Tlaib's expressed opinions it is clear what her ideology is. In an interview in August 2018 she explicitly said that she does not want two states side by side:
Question: "What about a two-state solution vs. one-state?"
Tlaib: "One state. It has to be one state. Separate but equal does not work... This whole idea of a two-state solution, it doesn't work."
When the word "Palestine" appears on a map in her office with an arrow pointing to Israel, and if she only wants one state, then a natural conclusion is that she wants "Palestine" to replace Israel.
Moreover, in that same interview Tlaib was asked about Arabs who left Israel having a "right of return" to Israel. According to PA figures there are over 5 million "refugees" - meaning people who left Israel and their descendants - for whom the PA claims a "right of return." Were those millions of Arabs to immigrate to Israel it would turn into a Palestinian state. This is what Tlaib said about the "right of return":
Question: "Where do you stand on Palestinian right of return-support or oppose?"
Tlaib: "I support right of return absolutely. I have family that left in 1967. They left, took their keys with them. They thought they could come back, and they've never been back. My uncle... had to raise his kids in Jordan."
Since Tlaib openly says "it has to be one state," and she "supports right of return" - meaning she wants her uncle from Jordan and Arabs from other countries to "return," it is again clear that the "one state" she wants is a state of Palestine.
In summary, if there's only "one state" and "Palestine" is on the map, then "Palestine" is the one state and it replaced Israel.