Skip to main content

Images on the Facebook page of PLO children’s magazine show school children wearing shirts with map earing all of Israel


The images show fourth grade students at the Spanish School (Al-Isbaniya), which is part of the Ramallah and El-Bireh Education Directorate, under the PA Ministry of Education. The students are wearing shirts featuring the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel as “Palestine” together with the PA areas, with the Palestinian flag overlaid on the map.

PMW was unable to establish whether Spain or Spanish institutions have been involved in the funding of this PA school.

Zayzafuna is a PLO magazine for children partially funded by the PA. The magazine, which includes material written by both the magazine's staff and child readers, shows the kind of messages the publishers deem suitable for youth and also serves as a window into the minds of the Palestinian children submitting material to the magazine. Zayzafuna's website no longer exists but stated (in May 2016) that the magazine's advisory board is comprised of PA officials and educators, including Jihad Zakarneh, PA Deputy Minister of Education, and Abd Al-Hakim Abu Jamous, Head of the Media Department at the PA Ministry of Education. Zayzafuna (October 2017) included a note on its third page acknowledging the PA Ministry of Culture for its financial support of the printing of the magazine. It also included a disclaimer, stating that: “The opinions and texts in the magazine do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Zayzafuna Association.” In May 2011, the Deputy Chairman of the Zayzafuna organization Abd Al-Karim Ziyada explained on PA TV that the PA gives "a monthly payment of 10,000 shekels ($2,700) to cover the magazine's [costs]." [Official PA TV, May 9 and 13, 2011]

RelatedView all ❯