Introduction and Background:
PA TV cited again this morning the infamous forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as an authentic document. This was part of an educational program, the objectives of which were to deny the existence of the Jewish nation and to deny Israel´s right to exist.

As background, it should be noted that a foundation of Palestinian Authority (PA) ideology is that the Jews do not comprise a nation but only a religious group, and therefore do not have a right to a national home. This foundation of PA ideology is taught regularly by educators and political leaders, and was recently reiterated by the current PA Prime Minister, Ahmad Qurei:

... "President Bush said that Israel is a Jewish state, which is a cause for our concern. This should not have been said ... What is the meaning of the concept of a Jewish state... Does this mean that this is a Jewish state, this is Sunni, this is Shi´ite, this is Alawite, and that one is Christian... These differences could plunge the region into a whirlpool ..." [Al-Nahar-Lebaneseand Al-Hayat Al- Jadida, June 15 2003]

Today on PA TV, three senior historians, including the Chairman of the PA Public Library, and Arafat´s Advisor on Education, Dr. Jarir Al-Kidwah, again taught this delegitimization of Israel´s existence with significant elaboration and detail. Using the denial of Jewish nationhood as a starting point, they taught that modern Jews have no connection to the Land of Israel, and the early Zionists were therefore not interested in returning to Israel. Any country would have satisfied the Jews, who feared European anti-Semitism. However, it was the Europeans -- Britain in particular -- who directed the Jews to Israel, with two goals:

1- Britain wanted to control the natural resources of the Middle East, and by planting a foreign "cancer" they could control the Arab states;
2 - The Jews were such a detriment to European society that sending the Jews to the Middle East was an ideal way to "rid Europe of the burden of its problematic Jews."

As part of today´s discussion, a historian explained that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the Russian forgery that was presented as the Jews´ secret plan to rule the world, played a role at the first Zionist Congress in 1897. The PA often teaches that Zionist ideology is based on The Protocols.

The following is the transcript from today´s "history" program, followed by two items from the PMW archives that document the repetitive nature of this de-legitimization of Israel in PA teaching:

First, the same teaching taught more than three years ago on PA TV by two of the same historians; second, an article from the official PA daily dating back five years ago, long before the violence started, explaining that Hitler and Britain´s Foreign Secretary Balfour, who signed the "Balfour Declaration" promising the Jews a Jewish state in British Palestine, were both motivated by the same need to "rid Europe of the burden of her Jews."

1- Todays "history" program on PA TV:

Dr. Riad Al-Astal, history lecturer at Al-Azhar University in Gaza:
"In these circumstances [of European nationalism] developed what is known as the Zionist Renaissance, and the seeds of what is called The Protocols of The Elders of Zion appeared at the end of the 18th century. They are the Protocols that were presented in the Basel Congress in Switzerland [the First Zionist Congress in 1897]"

Dr. Jarir Al-Kidwah [Arafat Advisor on Education and Head of the PA Public Library]:
"Theodore Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, did not believe in Judaism. He strongly opposed any who claimed Judaism was a religion... He believed that the Jews around the world were one nation just because they were Jews... [and] here is the danger."

Dr. Isam Sisalem [Senior Historian and Educational TV host]:
"The Jews lived in isolated areas, in ghettos in Poland and in Russia. They were the remains of the Khazars ... with no connection to our land and the history of our land [Palestine]... and even those who live with the name have no history or connection to this land." [He then explains that as a result of the pogroms in Russia the Zionist wanted Jews to emigrate.]
"At that time, Britain wanted to plant a cancer [in the Middle East to control it]. It did not occur to them [the Zionists] that Palestine would be theirs. They wanted... any Homeland. Our people wisely sensed this, as they planted on the land and lived in peace and security, continuing a 12 thousand year journey on this land. They sensed the danger, the moment the first settlement appeared. The first settlement appeared in 1842, when Moses Montefiore bought it in Jaffa under a false name, and they [the Zionists] would use French false names and others."

Moderator [albaz]: “Dr. Riad, the year 1897 is considered a crossroads… and we regard this date as a black one in our lives…”
Al-Astal: “… the Zionist Movement began at the Basel Congress to plan the exploitation of the powers’ struggle and the struggle of Europe over the Middle East … the European states off course welcomed this idea and were striving to plant Israel as a functional state, which will serve the Imperialism, and as a bridgehead for ruling over the world, the Near East and therefrom the Middle East and the Far East… the international conspiracy was bigger than us [the Palestinian People]”.
Sisalem: “Britain wanted to plant here the Jews in order to protect the Suez Canal… Max Nordau, the deviser, the planner of the idea [the idea of settling the Jews in Argentine, Italy, Mozambique, Angola, al- Arish and so on] at the Basel Congress, decided that they [the Jews] will immigrate to here [to Palestine], and that is why they clothed the issue in a fictitious religious and false [manner]…
Britain decided to plant in this land a foreign secluded entity - a cancer - in order to drive a wedge between the [Arab] nation…
Al-Astal: “There are two major elements for which Britain and the other European states were striving: the first element was to get rid of the Jews, who were known as those who provoke civil wars, disturbances, and financial crises in Germany, in France and in other European states. Regarding the second point… it is: the European plan, the British-French plan… to torpedo any hope for an Arab unity”.
Sisalem [talking about a battle in which 150,00 British soldiers were defeated by the Turks]: “… alongside the British army there was a fighting Jewish regiment - this cancer began with them, [in] this land to which they have no connection…”

Archive Materials:

1. PA TV November 9, 2000 Program: Pages from our History

Dr. Jarir Al-Kidwah [Arafat Advisor on Education and Head of the PA Public Library]:
"The Europeans were afraid of Arab unity, which would have hurt their colonialism in our region, and so they decided... to prevent Arab unity by placing a foreign body in the heart of the Arab nation, and that is the Zionist body manifested by the Jews in Palestine..."

Dr. Isam Sisalem [Senior Historian and Educational TV host]:
"The Zionists and Colonialists met in Brussels and decided to establish a cancer in the land .. They [the Jews] thought of Uganda, Cyprus, Argentina. Palestine was not a goal... But British interests caused the establishment of this cancer here... hence the Crusader wars continue..."

Dr. Isam Sisalem: "In 1927 they named the region the Land of Israel."

Moderator: "We hope our nation will be able to overcome the cursed Balfour Declaration ..." [PA TV November 9, 2000]

2. "The difference between Hitler and Balfour" - PA daily, Al- Hayat Al-Jadida, June 12, 1998

"The difference between Hitler and Balfour was simple: the former [Hitler] did not have colonies to which to send the Jews and so he destroyed them, whereas [according to] Balfour´s plan... Palestine turned into one of his colonies and he began to send the Jews there. Lord Balfour is Hitler with colonies, while Hitler is Balfour without colonies. They both wanted to get rid of the Jews ... Zionism was crucial to the defense of the West´s interests in the region, [by] ridding Europe of the burden of her Jews." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 12, 1998]

Comment:
Even as the PA purports to embrace the peace process, it is clear that the PA leadership, including Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei, continues to refuse to recognize Israel as a legitimate state. Indeed, PA leaders and educators rely on known distortions of history to teach the Palestinian people that Israel does not have the right to exist. (PMW.ORG.IL 12/28/03)