(b) A U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli committee will meet on a regular basis to monitor cases of possible incitement to violence or terror and to make recommendations and reports on how to prevent such incitement. The Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. sides will each appoint a media specialist, a law enforcement representative, an educational specialist and a current or former elected official to the committee.
________________________________________________________

False accusations against Israel and Israeli soldiers and the presentation of Israelis as murderers have long been regular subject matter of the Palestinian media.  This week on "Panorama", Palestinian television's cultural program, a brutal scene from a Palestinian movie was shown in which Israeli soldiers throw a Palestinian girl on top of their jeep and rape her, and then murder her parents.  (See part 1).

The messages on the religious broadcasts by the official Palestinian Authority religious leadership this summer, show that the religious worldview of the Palestinian Authority is identical to the principles of the Hamas. According to the Palestinian Authority religious leadership, Islam's war with the Jews is eternal, the peace agreements are temporary, and Allah will inevitably liquidate the state of Israel.  (See part 2).

One category of the heightened incitement that can be measured is the increase in quantity and heightening of the severity of violence clips on PA TV.  As an established daily routine, clips showing violence against Israel and the Israeli army are shown daily between regular programming on Palestinian television.  By using pictures of riots from different time periods, which have undergone careful editing, Israeli soldiers are presented as cruel and murderous while the Palestinians, especially the children, are presented as heroic fighters. Broadcasting these clips creates a perpetual warlike atmosphere. The hypothetical Israeli equivalent would be were Israeli television to broadcast daily old footage of suicide bombings. In recent weeks PA TV is showing many times the usual number of these clips.

In addition, Palestinian television began broadcasting this week a clip called "Where are the Millions [Masses]" which in the past has been identified as a call to go to the streets and riot.  Over the last week this clip has been shown every single day, following a number of years during which our research staff has not seen it at all.  (See part 3).

This week the new PA schoolbooks were presented to the press and Israel still does not appear on a single map in any schoolbook while its place is marked as "Palestine".  This education of children to deny Israel's existence is reinforced regularly on children's television programs in which the entire land of Israel is presented as stolen Palestine.  (See part 4).

False accusations such as those of Suha Arafat, who said that Israel attacks Palestinians with gas, are heard incessantly by officials in the Palestinian Authority.  Recently, the PA has been reporting that Israel is distributing drugs in order to hurt Palestinian youth, together with other false accusations.  (See part 5).

This paper will present a number of representative examples of the above themes that have been appearing this summer in the Palestinian Authority's official TV broadcasts from Ramallah.

2.  Palestinian television broadcasts archive scenes from the Intifada, which have been edited to present a distorted picture.  During a day of special broadcasting upon Yasser Arafat's return from Camp David, a clip was broadcast that included an Israeli soldier shooting followed by a girl falling to the ground.  The viewer concludes that the girl was shot in the back by the soldier.  However, a slow viewing clearly shows that there is no connection between the two scenes. The message of the clip: Israeli soldiers shoot children in the back. 2

3.  Throughout the summer vacation, summer camps were held to give the children semi-military training and inculcate them with anti-Israeli ideology.  Messages to the children included the presentation of Israel in general and Israeli residents of Judea and Samaria specifically as murderers.  In one summer camp, girls performed a skit that was shown on Palestinian TV.  The skit begins with a father talking with his boy Salah out in the field:

Salah: "Father, why do the settlers take people's lands?"

Father (to Muhammad): "…What is the goal of the settlers on your land?"

Muhammad:"They want my land that I have plowed and reaped."

Father: "These dogs, the settlers take but they don't give."

The settlers wave a piece of paper in the air and say, "Listen!  It says on this paper that this land is ours!"  The father shouts, "This is my property!" and rips up the piece of paper.  "I plowed it and reaped it".  Pushing and hitting ensue.  The father tells them, "Get off my land!  I plowed and reaped it."  The "settlers" push him to the ground, shoot him and run away.  The son Salah returns and says to his father, "Father, Father, what have they done to you?  Why are you laying on the ground?"  The dying father says to his son, "My son Salah, guard this land because the settlers want to take the land that I have plowed."  The show ends. 3

Presentation of Israelis in general and of settlers specifically as enemies and murderers of Palestinians and as an existential threat to the Palestinians, is one of the fundamentals of the Palestinian Authority's education.  This gained impetus in informal educational frameworks throughout the summer.

4.  The Palestinians even make use of the classic anti-Semitic libel of blaming the Jews for Jesus' murder.  On the weekly interview show "Good Morning Jerusalem" a Palestinian artist presented his new paintings, among them a picture of Jesus with two Israeli soldiers standing at his sides.  The artist explains:

"… Our struggle today against the other (Israel) is an eternal one. It can be said that it started 2,000 years ago and continues until today.  I demonstrate this though the figure of Jesus, who came to the world with a message of justice and the other (Israel) side did what they did to him.  The Palestinian demands that same right and is being treated in the same manner.  In this painting I demonstrate the following idea: the Israeli soldiers are wearing army uniforms while Jesus has nothing except for the truth.  When they searched him at the entrance to Jerusalem, they found a stone, a piece of bread and fish and he was cuffed.  This is the Palestinian from the beginning of the struggle until its end - if it will ever end…" 4

This artist's depiction is consistent with the Palestinian Authority's official position defining Jesus himself as a "Palestinian".  In an article from the Palestinian Authority's official newspaper about the city of Nazareth, Jesus is defined as the first Palestinian  murdered by Jews.

The headline: "The city in which the Jews murdered the first of its Palestinian sons."  The article states: "…the Jews tried to attack it (Nazareth) many times and established settlements there.  But the Palestinian people of Nazareth are still keeping their Palestinian customs and traditions…  The Palestinian language is still spoken to the point that when speaking with them you can feel that time and the Zionist occupation will not be able to change the face of the Palestinian Nazareth, and that it still has not forgotten nor will it forget her first son (Jesus), which the Jews betrayed and handed over to the emperor and insisted on his killing… Inevitably the savior will one day come to Nazareth to return the joy." 5

Every Friday, Palestinian television broadcasts a sermon from a mosque.  The Palestinian Authority's religious leaders' sermons express the same opinions as the Hamas.

1.  Teaching that Israel's existence is forbidden according to Islamic law by Palestinian Authority religious leader, this summer:

2.      Israeli-Palestinian relations are defined as a holy war, and the Jewish people are seen as the enemies of Islam.  The following are the words of a Palestinian Authority religious preacher, Dr. Ahmed Yusuf Abu Halabiya:

"We the Palestinian nation, our fate from Allah is to be the edge of the sword in the war against the Jews until the resurrection of the dead, as the prophet Muhammad said: ‘the resurrection of the dead will not arrive until you will fight the Jews and kill them…' We the Palestinians are the edge of the sword in this issue and in this campaign, whether or not we want this.  All of the agreements being agreed are temporary…" 7

"Jerusalem, Palestine and Al Aksa, the land and its surroundings that Allah had blessed, will remain the focus of the struggle between truth and falsehood, between the Jews and non-Jews over this holy land.  It does not matter how many agreements will be signed or how many contracts will be confirmed.  The truth is in the Koran, which is verified in the words of the prophet Mohammed, that the deciding battle will be in Jerusalem and its surroundings: ‘Resurrection of the dead will not arrive until you fight the Jews…'" 8

"Oh our Arab brothers… oh our Muslim brothers… don't leave the Palestinians alone in war against the Jews…even if it has been decreed upon us to be the sharp edge of the sword… Jerusalem, Palestine and Al Aksa …will remain the center of the battle of truth and falsehood, between the Jews and non-Jews." 9

"My brothers who are believers, let me take this opportunity, while speaking about the Jews, about their cunning ways, their heresy, their jealousy and their attempts to get you to lose your way and to distance you from your rights.  Let us take this opportunity, to appreciate the courageous position of the negotiators…we remind them…that Palestine, Jerusalem and Al Aksa  are a holy debt to the Muslims, Arabs and us especially, the Palestinian nation.  They belong to all of the generations, not only to a specific generation.  The generation that is not able to restore its rights must provide the next generations with this opportunity.  Through adhering to this right and principle and not forgoing this right until the next generations come, in order to carry out what we have failed to do today, against the enemies of Allah." 10

"Palestine… causes the Jews sleeplessness at night, causes sleeplessness to Allah's enemies throughout the world.  They want to cure this abscess called Palestine, Jerusalem and Al Aksa  and that is called the beloved and blessed Palestine…  Jerusalem is a symbol of the Muslim's unity and it is a symbol to their strength and to the Muslim people's Jihad forever." 11

"No one, no Arab, Palestinian or Muslim is allowed to forgo one grain of soil of the land of Palestine, Jerusalem and Al Aksa …whoever forgoes even one grain of soil will be punished for his sin, for the sins of all Palestinians, for the sins of all Arabs and for all of the Muslim's sins forever and ever…" 12

"…The Jews gathered from all ends of the earth in our beloved Palestine, from Rosh Ha-Nikra in the north to Eilat in the south…from sea to river, it was all a land of Muslims…" 13

"…Allah decreed on us in this lifetime to humiliate the Jews sooner or later…" 15

"…The Muslims and Arabs must stand behind the Palestinian nation, which is the sharp edge of the sword in the war against Allah's enemies.  I swear on Allah, the Jews are Islam's enemies in this life time…" 16

The Palestinian Authority's leaders, often repeat their interpretation of Oslo as a temporary agreement, or as a part of the PLO's plan of stages for the liquidation of Israel. This week, Knesset member Abd Al-Malek Dahamshe was interviewed on Palestinian television.  In response to a viewer who called the studio and said, "Our problem with Israel is not a problem of borders but an problem of existence", he responded: "We are exaggerating when we say ‘peace'…we are talking about ‘Hudna'."  "Hudna" is an Islamic term that means a "cease-fire" agreement rather than peace.

The daily Palestinian television broadcasting includes clips that show violence and fighting against Israel and the Israeli army.  Recently there has been an increase, both in number of broadcasts and in their severity.  Likewise, there is a sharp increase in the number of pictures of dead Palestinians and others with open wounds.

There are three components to these clips:

1.  Pictures of Israeli soldiers committing violent acts: kicking or hitting men, women and children; shooting at rioters and throwing tear gas grenades.

3.  Scenes of Palestinians who are rioting and fighting with Israeli soldiers including rock throwing, throwing of fire bombs, etc.  In many pictures emphasis is on the activity of the masses in the riots, especially that of children.

The scenes are accompanied by marching and military songs including praise of Jihad as well as nationalistic songs.  The following is a typical example of a song during the broadcast of a scene of a jail, a dismembered body and the like are being shown:

"It may be that you steal the last bit of my land

It may be that you extinguish the flame at night

It may be that you steal a child from its mother

Oh enemy, eradicator

I will never compromise

And I will fight

Till the last one of my rights

I will fight" 20

"Oh agents of the devil oh enemies of man

I am robbed I am wanted I am fearful

Everyday I die…" 21

"Where are the masses?

Where is the Arab anger?

Where is the Arab honor?" 22

The Palestinian Authority continues to educate its children that the entire land of Israel is "Palestine", that it belongs to the Arabs and was stolen from them in 1948.  The following are three examples from children's programming on Palestinian television.

"Today I chose a really nice drawing for you of the map of Palestine.  Lets all look at it together.  A drawing of Palestine.  It's so beautiful.  There is Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Tiberias, … [all Israeli cities- ed]  Palestine is so beautiful!  Our country is so beautiful!  You can also see the Dead Sea here.  You can see how pretty our land is, how very pretty it is.  And to all of our loved ones who are on the map, whether they are from Acre, Haifa, Jaffa, Nazareth …Jerusalem… [all Israeli cities- ed]  we bid everyone a welcome." 24

2.In another episode of "The Bird Garden", the hostess presented a similar drawing of Israel including the Palestinian Authority areas tied in chains.  The following is the explanation she gave the children and the hope for the future:

Hostess: "We have a very pretty picture here… there is a man, and very beautiful things, a tree and…"

A girl shouts out: "Palestine"

Hostess: "A picture of the map of Palestine with chains around it, and Allah's will, my dear ones, these chains will be freed one day and Palestine will remain ours forever." 25

The clip, called "My Homeland" opens with a group of children that are building "Palestine" with small figures.  They are "building" houses and "planting" trees and the atmosphere is one of joy and happiness.  These are the words to the song:

Suddenly the song stops and the music ends.  There is an earthquake and all of the houses and trees fall down and the girl says in a serious and sad voice:

"Do you know what happened in 1948?  They took everything.  They emptied the room, they broke the house, they burned down the forest, they changed the names, changed the names… This is still my country, it is very pretty.  My country's name is Palestine."

At the end of the clip the children present themselves by their first name and where they come from.  Among them Kafar Kasem, Jerusalem, Haifa, Yaffo and other places within Israel.

1. False accusations like that of Suha Arafat, who said that Israel used gas against the Palestinians, are heard regularly in the Palestinian Authority's official media. Israel has been recently been blamed for intentional drug distribution in order to hurt PA youth:

"The minister Intisar Al-Wazir (widow of Abu Jihad) said that her office (the Ministry for Social Affairs) provides all possible help to those fighting drugs however the Israeli authorities are working hard on bringing drugs into the Palestinian society." 27

2. Lies are common blaming Israel for the burning of Al Aksa Mosque (21/8/1969) and for planning the building the third Temple after destroying the mosques.  The following is one example:

"How can we be happy today and how can we smile while Jerusalem is being trampled, while Jerusalem is in danger and on the brink of the establishment of the third Temple.  That is what they are trying to do today.  They want to establish the Temple on the land of Al-Aksa and Jerusalem with Barak's blessing as well as the blessing of the entire government of Israel and the government of all the Jews. With the establishment of the Temple will be the beginning of the destruction of the Al-Aksa mosque and the building of the Temple on top of its ruins." 28

An Australian non-Jew set the Al-Aksa mosque on fire in 1969. However the PA teaches through its schoolbooks and through its leaders that Israel stood behind the fire as part of its war against Islam. During a special program that commemorated the burning of the mosque, Sheik Ikrima Sabri, the Mufti (Islamic religious leader) of Jerusalem said:

My Lord The Betrayed "O my Radiant Sir, who was betrayed by the contemptible treasonous kiss. Descend upon us from the towers of heaven, and call upon the Glorious Supreme gazing down upon us, that He may wipe from Your face the tears of the masses, and read aloud Your tidings ... would that it only be that the youth among us will enter now, by the Damascus Gate [of Jerusalem's Old City], chanting their psalms to the Via Dolerosa. But they shall not turn the other cheek, rather they shatter the cross off their backs and throw down the their thorny crowns. They cast their eyes to the heavens which praise [their Creator] for the glory of the fluid of the heart that washes the Via Dolorosa of the dust of [Israeli] soldiers who march alone to the Golgotha [The mountaintop crucifixion site].

The Program:

"Pages From Our History" – November 29 Special Broadcast lamenting the UN partition of Mandatory Palestine and recognizing a Jewish State.

The Discussion:

Al-Kidwah (asked regarding the UN partition):

"I want to say that this is our Palestine, from Metulla [Israel's northernmost city] to Rafiah [Southern border] and to Aqaba [Israel's southernmost point], from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea; whether they want it or not."

Sissalem:

The scene has been replayed over and over during the past two months: Palestinian children going up against Israeli soldiers, even in situations involving gunfire and life-threatening situations. Many children are wounded or even killed as a result.  What motivates children to place themselves in such dangerous situations, so that at times it seems that they are seeking death?

The following are a number of stories among many that were prominently reported in the Palestinian media.  In particular, note the positive attitude of parents toward their children's death, and the statements of injured children that they seek a higher goal, death and Martyrdom.

The Sources:

"A PATV broadcast conducted conversations with 2^nd grade school children. An interviewer spoke with a child who had thrown stones [in the riots]:

Interviewer: "You threw stones at the army and injured your leg. Will you throw again?"

Child: "Yes".

Interviewer: "You aren't afraid to die?"

Child: [embarrassed, hesitant]

Interviewer: [indicates "No" to the child by shaking her head in the negative]

Child: "No."  [PATV 19/10/00]

[Headline]: "The Boy Martyr Karam Al-Kard [age 12] announced of his own death on the walls of his home" [article text] "Prior to his being injured... Karam announced his own death on the walls of his home and attributed to himself Martyrdom and its honor, in his handwriting on the walls.  The notice read: ‘The Al-Kard family announces the death of its courageous Martyr Karam Fat'he Al-Kard..." [Al Hayat Al Jadida, 30 November 2000]

[A teacher, next to pupils on Palestinian Television, 2 November 2000].

And then either life that will gladden friends or death that will anger the enemy.

The honorable soul has two objectives: Achieving death and honor." 

(the poem appears in 5^th, 6^th and 12^th grade PA school books)  [PATV, 27 October 2000]

Narrator: "… the heroine was shot …and her pure blood flowing and her pure spirit joyously going to her creator…."

Girl's Mother: "I asked: who is she that died? She told me – ‘it's your daughter.'

I said: ‘Thank Allah, thank Allah. We have a right to liberate our homeland and we will liberate it. It is our honor to fall … She would say "it doesn't matter, I will die for the redemption of the homeland", meaning – I want to die for the redemption of the homeland…  Intisar fell and it is an honor for us and an honor for our children…"
Relative of the family:…"Every time she heard a bang [she said] ‘someone was shot, I hope that next time it will be me, I want to die as a martyr'.[PA TV  - Oct. 7, 1998]

However, far more severe is the virulent anti-Semitism found in old book "Our Country Palestine" (by Mustafa al-Deba'a, published in 1947 and expanded in 1965) which is in use in the new curriculum under the heading "activity" to teach about the children's towns ["Our Beautiful Language" for sixth grade, p.110].  With the aim of endearing "Our Country Palestine" upon the children, the new textbook devotes three pages to the book, heaping praises on both it and its author, proclaiming it a "Great Book" and elevating it and the story of how it was written to the level of a sort of Palestinian Epic. The "activity" includes going to the school or city library for the book:

The following are examples of the teachings from prominent locations in this "great book":

a banner on the title page of Volume I:

"There is no alternative to destroying Israel"

from the introduction to Volume II:

"Perhaps Allah brought the Jews to our land so that their demise would be here, as it was in their wars with Rome"

from the back cover of Volume I:

"[the book] will demonstrate the fraudulence of the Jewish claim, that Palestine is theirs by historical right, which is the greatest lie known to humanity.  The Jews were foreigners who strayed to it, and their existence there was terminated 2,000 years ago.  The Arabs, on the other hand, settled it in pre-historic times and subsequently ruled unceasingly for thousands of years..."

from the introduction (p. ix):

"The Arabs, and not the Jews, are those who have the connection [to the land] and the right.  The return of the Jews to Palestine and permitting them to establish a Jewish State contradicts history..."

the book is dedicated to:

"...those who are battling for the expulsion of the enemy from our land!"

from the introduction (p. viii):

"It is undeniably conclusive from this part of the book that the Jewish claim to historic rights to Palestine has no justification, it is a deceitful and disproved claim with no parallel in history, it is a blatant lie...  as to the attachment of the Arabs to Palestine and their historic right to it, this is eternal and clear... they have resided in it since the dawn of the land's history, before there were Jews in the world, their attachment has never been severed and continues to this day..."

and:

"The Jews entered our homeland and left it just as other transient nations have entered it and left it"

The book describes the evil of Jewry and their desire to dominate in language that is reminiscent of  "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion", including exposing the Jewish goal "...to establish a global Jewish empire, whose territory will be not only from the Nile to the Euphrates and from Medina to Kuwait  - the true goal of the Jews is to rob the majority of all the Arab homeland. [p. 11]

and:

"The Jews have no places left in Palestine they claim are holy sites to them except the Wailing Wall... the Moslems permitted the Jews, out of kindness and generosity, to visit this wall... as to what the Jews claim it is theirs, house of worship and cemeteries located in Palestinian territory, well these are the property of Christians and Moslems... Palestine, the gift of the heavens to the earth is today the subject of the heart's aspirations for Christian's and Moslems –representing half the world's population- and the struggle waged in it is not between Moslems and Jews alone, rather it is between Christianity and Islam on the one side, and Zionism on the other."  [p. 9, 10-11]

banner on the chapter The Beer Sheba Region:

"The thieves wish to settle millions of Jews in the Beer Sheba region..."

subheading of the chapter; The Jews in Our Country:

"Palestine was never anything but  an artificial environment for the Jews." [vol. i, p. 543 -quote from Gustav Lubon]

PA Daily:

"Morale and psychological manipulation has a significant place in the minds of Jews, and formed a very important source of strength in the "Hebrew State".

Dis-information has been one of the bases of morale and psychological manipulation among the Israelis, and propaganda played an important role in the psychological prodding of world political leaders to support Zionism.

The Palestinian media has reported extensively during the past few weeks on events carried out by Palestinian organizations opposed to accords with Israel, such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others. High ranking members of Yasser Arafat's organization, Fatah, as well as of the Palestinian Authority, participated and spoke at many of the events.

The statements were usually sharp, and not in the same spirit as efforts to revive the dialogue and reach an agreement. Ahmad Hilles spoke at an Islamic Jihad rally in Gaza, and said the Intifada must go on and Israelis must get hurt, so that their blood will be shed everywhere. Hilles spoke in front of a large audience, which shouted slogans denouncing the Washington negotiations, and waved Hizbulla flags and posters of Ayatollah Humeini. Across from him, at the head of the rally, stood tens of masked men wearing white shrouds on which were written 'Hizbullah Jerusalem Regiments', while holding explosive charges in their hands.

At the funeral procession in Rafiah, in which masked men had participated, the minister of supplies in the Palestinian Authority, Abu Ali Shaheen, said the people who die in today's riots pave the way for the return of Palestinians to Beer Sheba, Jaffa, Jerusalem, and to all of the Palestinian homeland.

Following are articles from the Palestinian Authority daily newspapers:
Rafiah has buried 4 of its martyrs in a glorious funeral procession

Islamic Jihad marks the annual international Jerusalem day in Gaza

1. Exposing the extreme American identification with the occupation

2.  Demand the shattering of the American monopoly and hegemony

3.  Call upon Palestinian, Arab and Moslem masses to boycott American products and denounce its policies in the region

4.  Call upon the Arab world to enter into confrontation with American interests using all possible means

Israeli Arab Knesset Member Abd-Al Malek Dahamshe was interviewed recently on Palestinian Television. A viewer called in to the studio and commented that, "Our problem with Israel is not a border problem, but on of existence". M.K. Dahamshe responded: "We exaggerate when we say 'peace'... what we are [really] speaking about is 'Hudna'". [Palestinian Television, 1 September 2000]

"Hudna" is an Islamic term whose meaning is a cease fire. Not only did M.K. Dahamsha not disassociate himself from the position opposing the very existence of Israel that was expressed by the caller, but he in effect agreed with the caller by referring to the agreements with Israel not as "Peace" but rather as "Hudna", that is, a cease fire.

This report investigates to what extent this position of Dahamshe reflects the position of the Palestinian Authority. When Palestinian officials speak to their own people, and not in international forums, do they anticipate that an permanent agreement with Israel will be peace agreement bringing closure to the conflict with Israel, or that it is just a "Hudna" - a temporary cease fire?

Findings

The research demonstrates a clear and singular world-view within the Palestinian leadership, when they speak among themselves, whether in speeches to the nation and educational lectures, or through educational messages to Palestinian youth and through the new textbooks published by the Palestinian Authority just this month. The clear and consistent message is: Israel has no right to exist, by definition Israel is a colony that stole the land of "Palestine" and evicted its residents. Therefore within the framework of the "justice" that the Palestinians demand, there is no room for Israel in "Palestine". Thus the internal Palestinian lexicon contains many terms and expressions to describe and explain the negotiations in this context, for example: "The permanent agreement is a stage"; "The Oslo accord is just getting our foot in the door; "All the agreements are temporary"; "The Prophet also signed the Hodaibiah agreement..." [an agreement that was signed between the prophet Mohammed and the heretics of Mecca, and that was subsequently breached by Mohammed] where all these are simply part of the process of liberating "Palestine". The common justification given for the very need for a temporary agreement with Israel is, "Because of current balance of power". From the views and positions expressed within the Palestinian Authority it is evident that Dahamshe's statement, that a permanent agreement with Israel is to be viewed as "Hudna", is very much the rule and not the exception.

The following are a few examples where PA leaders have stated this explicitly.

1. Palestinian Authority Minister Shahian: Oslo is just the first step in the destruction of Israel:

"The Palestinian people accepted the Oslo agreements as a first step and not as a permanent arrangement, based on the premise that the war and struggle on the ground [i.e., locally against Israeli territory] is more efficient than a struggle from a distant land... for the Palestinian people will continue the revolution until they achieve the goals of the '65 revolution...". [Al Ayaam, 30 May 2000. P.A. Minister of Supply Abd El Aziz Shahian] [The "'65 Revolution" is the founding of the P.L.O. and the publication of the Palestinian covenant that calls for the destruction of Israel via an armed struggle.]

2. A Palestinian Authority preacher: "All agreements are temporary".

"We the nation of Palestine, our fate from Allah is to be the vanguard in the war against the Jews until the resurrection of the dead, as the Prophet Mohammed said: The resurrection of the dead will not come until you do battle with the Jews and kill them, you on the east side of the river, and they on the west side."

We the Palestinians, are the vanguard in this issue, in this battle, whether we want to or whether we would refuse. All the agreements that made are temporary, until the command shall come from Allah, until the destiny from Allah shall be realized". [Palestinian Televison, 28 July 2000. The Preacher Dr. Ahmed Yousuf Abu Halbiah]

3. Arafat's Deputy: The Palestinian State is just the first stage.

"... At this stage we'll prevail in our struggle [to attain] the goals of the phases [doctrine]. The goal of this phase is the establishment of the independent Palestinian State, with its capital in Jerusalem. When we achieve this, it will be a positive [step] and it will advance us to the next phase via other ways and means..."

'Every Palestinian must know clearly and unequivocally that the independent Palestinian State, with Jerusalem as its capital is not the end of the road'. The [rise of] the Palestinian State is a phase after which another there will be another phase and that is the democratic state in all of Palestine." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 25 November 1999]

[Othman Abu Arbiah is Arafat's aide for Political Guidance and national affairs, and the Director-General for National Affairs, a senior position in the Palestinian national educational systems]

4. A Palestinian Authority Preacher: Whoever concedes Haifa or Ashkelon is a traitor, a loathsome criminal, whose abode is in Hell.

The prohibition against coming to terms with the very existence of Israel, as a fundamental Palestinian premise and belief, was stressed this past month by the P.A.'s preacher at the Al Akza mosque, an Arafat appointee.:

"The Islamic land of Palestine is one and not divided, There is no difference between Haifa and Nablus, between Lod and Ramallah, between Jerusalem and Nazareth, between Gaza and Ashkelon. The land of Palestine is Waqf land that belongs to Moslems throughout the world and no one has the right to act freely or the right to make concessions or to abandon her. Whoever does this betrays a [trust] and is nothing more than a loathsome criminal whose abode is in Hell!" [Palestinian Television, 8 September 2000. The Preacher of Al Akza Mosque, Sheikh Yousuf Abu Snina]

At first glance, the P.A.'s senior and official preacher appears to define Arafat and the entire ranking echelon of the P.A. as, "traitors.. criminals.. whose abode is in Hell" given that they agreed to the existence of Israel that includes giving up on "Haifa, Lod, Nazareth, and Ashkelon". However, if it is understood and agreed-to internally within the Palestinian world, that the agreements with Israel are just for a "Hudna" (cease-fire), the preacher's words are not aimed at Arafat or his government's ministers. To the contrary, these statements by his own appointee, give Arafat a "Shariatic" (Islamic law) Seal of Approval and testify that Arafat is not guilty of "giving up or abandoning" Palestinian land.

5. The P.A.'s Communication Minister: The Occupation State will cease to exist and the historical Palestine will be restored.

"Our people have hope for the future, that the Occupation State ceases to exist, and that it makes no difference [how great] its power and arrogance...". [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 18 November 1999. Minister of Communications, Amad Alfalugi]

6. Salim Alwadia, Abu Salem, Supervisor of Political Affairs:

"When we picked up the gun in '65 and the modern Palestinian Revolution began, it had a goal. This goal has not changed and it is the liberation of Palestine." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, 20 January 2000]

Conclusion

The conclusion of the research is that the calming message from the Israeli and Palestinian leadership to their respective people are direct opposites of one another: Israel leaders are saying: The permanent status agreement will be painful, but we must accept it because it will mark the end of the conflict with the Palestinians and the Arab world in general. The Palestinian leaders are saying: The permanent status agreement will be painful, but we must accept it because it is not the end of the conflict. This is but the current phase of the conflict.

The words of M.K. Abd-Al Malek Dahamshe constitute the conceptual basis for the Palestinian Authority's policies:

Translated and adapted from the Hebrew by Hershel Ginsburg.