Can you shake a bloody hand in peace?

Mythbusting Talking Points


Is there a 'Palestinian' People?

Jordanian Flag
Jordanian Flag
  		      Jordanian Flag
Proposed
Palestinian Flag
Source: Masada2000.org

CLICK HERE for the history and meaning of the term 'Palestine/Palestinian'.


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Jews in Their Ancestral Homeland
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Muslim Claims to Jerusalem are Illegitimate

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Land for Peace? or a Piece of Paper?
"Arafat is the leader of the Palestinians. I cannot change this fact, it is their disaster. He is so loyal to his truth that he cannot compromise it... This truth does not allow him to end his negotiations with Israel unless Israel breaks its neck. Arafat is not a partner."

   - Shlomo Ben-Ami, Ha'aretz, 13 September 2001

  • In 1993, Yasser Arafat (the leader of the PLO) chose the 'peace of the brave' and the Oslo Accords were agreed upon in the famous handshake with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the Whitehouse lawn. This Accord adheres to the tenet of 'Land for Peace'.

  • Since the Accords, 98% of the Palestinians now live under the administration of the Palestinian Authority. In return, and instead of peace, Israel has suffered innumerable terrorist attacks resulting in a 250% increase in casualties*: over 1200 murdered since Oslo (9 September 1993 - 31 December 2003).

  • Arafat, and other PA leaders, frequently refer to all agreements with Israel as Hudabaiya (temporary) agreements. On 18 December 2001, the Nobel Prize winning terrorist made a speech in Arabic to a crowd in Ramallah, inciting them to martyrdom and conquest of Christian holy sites in Jerusalem:
    "The Oslo Agreement is a Trojan horse with which to get senior Palestinian leaders into Israel.... The intifada that the Palestinians began last year represents their coming out of the insides of the horse."

    "This brave people will continue to protect and defend our holy land with its blood and soul, and all its property... we will sacrifice ourselves for our holy places, and we will establish our dominion over them. We are prepared to give 70 of our martyrs for every martyr of theirs in this campaign... One martyr in Jerusalem is worth 70 martyrs elsewhere..."

    "Palestinian youth will wave the flag of Palestine, Allah willing, over the walls of Jerusalem, its churches and its mosques, whether someone likes it or not, and whomever does not like it can drink the water of the Dead Sea."
    Following this speech, Arafat's Fatah Tanzim and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (part of Fatah) became responsible for the majority of attacks against Israelis.

    Three days prior to this speech, Arafat had made a different speech to the English-speaking press, calling for an end to all violence against Israel. [He was real SINCERE. Can't you tell?]

  • Feisal Husseini, appointed by Arafat as a Jerusalem Affairs minister, was portrayed as a moderate by the Western media. Even Husseini recognized the Palestinian intention to use the 'peace agreements' as a stepping stone to destroy Israel. In his last interview, given to Egypt's Al-Arabi newspaper, Husseini said:
    "The Oslo accords were a Trojan horse; the strategic goal is the liberation of Palestine from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea..."

  • The Oslo Accords required the Palestinian Authority to remove the parts of the Palestinian National Charter of 1968 which call for Israel's destruction through terrorism and the violent establishment of a Palestinian state over the territory of Israel AND Jordan -- the area defined as 'Palestine, the Jewish National Homeland' during the British Mandate (Article 1). The PA has never met this Oslo requirement or altered it's intention to destroy Israel.

    • Article 9 of the Charter: "Armed struggle is the only way to liberate 'Palestine' (previously defined in Article 1 as Israel AND Jordan).

    • Article 10: "Commando action [read: terrorism] constitutes the nucleus of the Palestinian popular liberation war."

    The Palestinian National Council has never revoked these articles.

  • The Phased Plan for the Destruction of Israel was adopted by the PA after the Arabs were defeated in 1973 after initiating the Yom Kippur War. This plan is referred to often by Arafat and other PA leaders. It states it's basis is the Palestinian National Charter, which defines Palestine as the territory comprising Israel AND Jordan, as per the British Mandate. The Plan calls for:

    • "...armed struggle, to liberate Palestinian territory and to establish the independent COMBATANT national authority over every part of Palestinian territory." - Article 2

    • "...the aim of completing the liberation of all Palestinian territory," (Israel AND Jordan) in order to further Arab unity. - Article 8

    The Palestinian National Council has never renounced this Phased Plan.

  • At the Camp David Summit (11-21 July 2000) Arafat was offered an independent Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza. According to media reports, which include statements made by both President Clinton and Prime Minister Barak, the State of Israel offered some major compromises:

    • Israeli redeployment from 95% of the West Bank and 100% of Gaza

    • Creation of a Palestinian state in the areas of Israeli withdrawal

    • Removal of isolated settlements and transfer of the land to Palestinian control

    • Other Israeli land (portions of the Halutza Dunes) exchanged for West Bank settlements close to Israel, which would be annexed to Israel

    • Dividing Jerusalem, giving Palestinians control of most of East Jerusalem (not the Jewish Quarter)

    • "Religious sovereignty" over the Temple Mount, replacing Israeli sovereignty in effect since 1967

    • The ground-rules of the Camp David talks established that, in the absence of an agreement, these concessions negotiating positions are no longer valid and are rendered null and void.

    Arafat rejected this offer WITHOUT MAKING ANY KIND OF COUNTEROFFER and WALKED OUT. Shortly thereafter he initiated the 'Al Aqsa Intifadeh', a.k.a. the 'Oslo War'.

  • Contrary to popular belief, Prime Minister Sharon's 2000 visit to the Temple Mount did NOT start the Al Aqsa Intifadeh.

    • PA Communications Minister, Imad Al-Faluji, visited Lebanon and on 3 March 2001 spoke at the Ein Al-Hilweh refugee camp. The Lebanese rag Al-Safir quoted Al-Faluji as stating that the Al-Aqsa Intifada was premeditated:
      "Whoever thinks that the Intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon’s visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, is wrong... This Intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat’s return from the Camp David negotiations, where he turned the table upside down on President Clinton."
      He made similar statements to the PA-controlled Al-Ayyam paper on 6 December 2000.

    • Arafat-appointed Fatah Central Committee member, Sakhr Habash, similarly said on 7 December 2000 in an interview with the PA-controlled Al-Hayat Al-Jadida paper:
      "...[after] analyzing the political positions following the Camp David summit, and in accordance with what brother Abu Ammar [Arafat] said, it became clear to the Fatah movement that the next stage necessitates preparation for confrontation."

    • BEFORE the failure of the Camp David Summit, some Palestinian groups threatened the upcoming intifadeh:

      • Arafat himself on 26 June 2000, a month before the Summit, was quoted by Al-Hayat (London paper) as saying: "Whoever forgot should remember the [Palestinian victories in] the battle of Al-Karameh, [Jordan, 1968], the battle of Beirut [1982], and in the 7 years of the Intifada. We are ready to erase everything [i.e. the peace process] and resume [the struggle] from the beginning.."

      • On 20 June 2000 the PA Justice Minister, Freih Abu Midein, was quoted in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida (a PA-controlled paper): "In the past we lost a 100,000 martyrs and now we are ready to sacrifice five or six thousand... No matter how many martyrs the Palestinian people sacrifice, at the end of the day the Jewish people will be the ones to pay the price."

      • The day before the Summit (10 July 2000) Khaled Musmar, Deputy Head of the National Guidance Directorate, was quoted by PA-controlled Al-Hayat Al-Jadida as saying: "We are not afraid of the sounds of the weapons. As President Abu-Ammar [Arafat] said in the past, we are all seekers of shahada [martyrdom]. So it was in the past and so it will be in the future until either our people's will is realized, or we become martyrs. This is the big difference between us and [the Israelis]. THEY LOVE LIFE AS MUCH AS WE LOVE SHAHADA."


        • Source: MEMRI


    • On the Thursday before PM Sharon's visit to the Mount, an Israeli Border Patrol soldier was murdered by a double roadside bomb inside Israel

    • The morning before PM Sharon's ascent, a Palestinian policeman on joint patrol with his Israeli 'partner' opened fire on that 'partner', murdering the Israeli policeman in cold blood

    • While PM Sharon was on the Mount, cameras recorded large mounds of rocks, later used by Palestinians to throw at Israeli policemen and Jewish worshippers below at the Western Wall, which had been trucked to the site in a premediated move

    • The sermon given at the mosque after Sharon's visit included this statement: "We want the battle against the enemy to be orderly. We want dead amidst the enemy. We want to kill and not be killed. We must fight guerrilla warfare."

    • As an Israeli citizen, PM Sharon has every right to ascend the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site.

    • PM Sharon did not approach Muslim areas of worship while on the Mount.

    • *There were 477 murdered victims of terror between 1967 and the Oslo Accords.

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Zionism and 'The Fence'

  • Click HERE to open the Jerusalem Post's interactive map of the security fence in a new window.

  • Palestinians claim that Zionism is racism. Zionism is the belief that all Jews should return to live in their ancestral homeland, today called Israel. This belief is not limited to white Jews. Indeed there are Jews of every race and a wide derth of nationalities, so Zionism is hardly 'racist'.

  • Zionism does NOT mean that ONLY Jews should live in Israel. Indeed, on the day of Israel's independence, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion in the Proclamation of Independence called publicly for the Muslims to remain and live in peace.

  • Palestinians claim that the separation fence between Israel and Palestinian areas is an 'apartheid' fence. (Apartheid is the political and economic segregation of a race.) It is strange that the Palestinians cry foul and accuse Israel (who continually asked Muslims to remain and live in peace) of apartheid when it is Palestinians who are demanding a separate, Jew-free State. If anyone should be throwing around accusations of apartheid, segregation, or ethnic cleansing, it should be Israelis accusing Palestinians.


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Refugees

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC) defines a refugee as a person who:
"...owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country..."
     -The 1951 Convention relating to the Status of
       Refugees
The non-Jewish residents of nascent Israel were invited repeatedly to stay and live in peace. They hardly had to fear persecution of any kind from Israel. Indeed, those who did stay enjoy the highest level of freedom of any Arab in the Middle East. Israel's Proclamation of Independence, issued May 14, 1948, invited the 'Palestinians' to remain in their homes and become equal citizens in the new state:
In the midst of wanton aggression, we yet call upon the Arab inhabitants of the State of Israel to preserve the ways of peace and play their part in the development of the State, on the basis of full and equal citizenship and due representation in all its bodies and institutions... We extend our hand in peace and neighborliness to all the neighboring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all.
The Jewish Haifa Workers' Council also invited the largest Arab population in nascent Israel to remain:
Do not fear: Do not destroy your homes with your own hands... do not bring upon yourself tragedy by unnecessary evacuation and self-imposed burdens... in this city, yours and ours, Haifa, the gates are open for work, for life, and for peace.
     -April 28, 1948
It was the five Arab armies preparing to destroy Israel on the day of her independence who invited Arabs to voluntarily abandon their property. Indeed, their statements referred to the Arabs leaving Israel not as refugees but as an itinerant fifth-column:
    General Azzam Pasha, Arab League Secretary:
    This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades.
    Ash Sha'ab (Jaffa newspaper), 30 January 1948:
    The first of our fifth column consists of those who abandon their houses and businesses and go to live elsewhere.... At the first signs of trouble they take to their heels to escape sharing the burden of struggle.
    As Sarih (Jaffa newspaper), 30 March 1948, excoriated Arab villagers near Tel Aviv for:
    bringing down disgrace on us all by 'abandoning the villages.
    John Bagot Glubb, the commander of Jordan's Arab Legion, in the London Daily Mail, 12 August 1948:
    Villages were frequently abandoned even before they were threatened by the progress of war.
    Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Said, declared repeatedly over radio broadcasts:
    We will smash the country with our guns and obliterate every place the Jews seek shelter in. The Arabs should conduct their wives and children to safe areas until the fighting has died down.
    The Secretary of the Arab League Office in London, Edward Atiyah, wrote in his book, The Arabs:
    This wholesale exodus [of Arabs] was due partly to the belief of the Arabs, encouraged by the boastings of an unrealistic Arabic press and the irresponsible utterances of some of the Arab leaders, that it could be only a matter of weeks before the Jews were defeated by the armies of the Arab States.
    In his memoirs, Haled al Azm, the Syrian Prime Minister in 1948-­49, also admitted the Arab role in persuading the refugees to leave:
    Since 1948 we have been demanding the return of the refugees to their homes. But we ourselves are the ones who encouraged them to leave. Only a few months separated our call to them to leave and our appeal to the United Nations to resolve on their return.
    Monsignor George Hakim, a Greek Orthodox Catholic Bishop of Galilee told the Beirut newspaper, Sada al-­Janub on 16 August 1948:
    The refugees were confident their absence would not last long, and that they would return within a week or two. Their leaders had promised them that the Arab armies would crush the 'Zionist gangs' very quickly and that there was no need for panic or fear of a long exile.
    One refugee quoted in the Jordanian newspaper, Ad Difaa on 6 September 1954 said:
    The Arab government told us, "Get out so that we can get in." So we got out, but they did not get in.
    Habib Issa said in the New York Lebanese paper, Al Hoda on 8 June 1951:
    The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Azzam Pasha, assured the Arab peoples that the OCCUPATION of Palestine and Tel Aviv would be as simple as a military promenade. He pointed out that they were already on the frontiers and that all the millions [of dollars] the Jews had spent on land and economic development would be easy booty, for it would be a simple matter to throw Jews into the Mediterranean.... Brotherly advice was given to the Arabs of Palestine to leave their land, homes and property and to stay temporarily in neighboring fraternal states, lest the guns of the invading Arab armies mow them down.
    And Jordan's King Abdullah, writing in his memoirs, blamed Palestinian leaders for the refugee problem:
    Since 1948, Arab leaders have approached the Palestine problem in an irresponsible manner... They have used the Palestine people for selfish and political purposes. This is ridiculous and, I could say, even criminal.
The UNRWA also acknowledged in it's 1951 report, as did the Arab-sponsored report from the Institute for Palestine Studies in Beirut, that the majority of the 'refugees' were not expelled (which disqualifies them as refugees) and that "68% voluntarily abandoned their property without seeing an Israeli soldier."

CONCLUSION: Therefore, the vast majority of those persons now designated as Palestinian refugees are, in fact, not refugees at all. It should also be noted that under international law, if during a defensive war you voluntarily abandon your property to aid the offensive forces, you forfeit all rights to that property.

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The Double Standard

  • When Israel became independent in 1948 it was attacked by FIVE Arab nations. Israel did NOT fight or attack Arabs already in Israel, but defended itself AGAINST the invading Arab armies.

  • Nearly 1 million Jews, expelled from Arab and Persian lands and absorbed by Israel, are not considered 'refugees' because of Israel's law granting a 'right of return' of all Jews to Israel. Nor are the 300.000 Arab and Persian Jews who went to countries OTHER THAN Israel considered 'refugees'.

  • Jews and other ethnic groups had lived in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf region for more than 2.500 years, more than 1.000 years before the advent of Islam. A greater number of Jews (1.160.000) were displaced than Palestinians (600.000) as a result of Israel's establishment and wars against the Jewish state. According to the American Sephardi Federation, less than 4.000 Jews remain in these areas today.

  • Jordanian law includes to this day a 'right of return' to Jordan for the 450-600.000 non-Jewish 'Palestinian' displaced persons and their descendants. Yet these 'Palestinians' (Jordanians) are considered 'refugees' despite the Jordanian law. (Jordanian Nationality Law, Official Gazette, No. 1171, Article 3 (3) of Law No. 6, 1954, 16 February 1954, p. 105. [reactivated in law no. 7, sect. 2, of 1 April 1963. When Jordan made peace with Israel in 1994, this judenrein legislation remained])

  • THE UNHRC removes names from refugee rolls everywhere in the world after refugees are resettled. Yet UNRWA ensured that 'Palestinians' retained 'refugee' status despite their Jordanian citizenship and despite the fact that 3/4 of these displaced persons have never resided in camps (i.e., they are effectively resettled).

  • Why were 'Palestinians' the only refugee group in the world, despite being one of the smallest groups after WWII, entitled to a separate UN agency( UNRWA)? And if this group was somehow so special, why was a separate refugee agency NEVER provided for the larger Jewish refugee group (Arab and Persian Jews), not to mention the Jewish survivors of the Holocaust?

  • The UNHCR defines refugees as those persons having lived in an area 'habitually' for at least 10 years. The UNRWA shortened that definition to 2 years, because they otherwise could not enroll the vast majority of displaced persons, who otherwise failed to meet global refugee criteria:

    • UNRWA Director Howard Kennedy on 1 November 1 1950, reported to the United Nations Ad Hoc Political Committee that "a large group of indigent people totalling over 100.000 ... cannot be called refugees, but ... have lost their means of livelihood because of the war and post-war conditions ... The Agency felt their need was even more acute than that of the refugees who were fed and housed."
          -Joan Peters, From Time Immemorial, p. 18n

  • The UN eligibility officer, George B. Vinson, reported that the refugee rolls were inflated by as much as 30%. UNRWA stated in it's 1951 report that refugees "eagerly report births and ...reluctantly report deaths" and that it was impossible to exclude nomadic Bedouins and impoverished migrant workers for "humanitarian" reasons.


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The Palestinian Authority and Religious Freedom

  • Article 16 of the Palestinian National Charter states that the PA will "safeguard the religious sanctuaries and guarantee freedom of worship and of visit to all, without discrimination of race, color, language, or religion."

  • The Waqf, the Islamic society appointed by Arafat to 'safeguard' the Temple Mount, refuses to allow freedom of worship on the Mount. Only recently have non-Muslims been allowed to ascend the Mount, and then only in small numbers. Any caught moving their mouths (praying) are immediately expelled by the Waqf police.

  • The PA-appointed Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and head of the Waqf, Sheikh Ikrema Sabri issued a fatwa (religious edict) on 8 January 2001 claiming that the Temple Mount AND the Western Wall area are only Muslim areas. In addition, he said:
    "There is not the smallest indication of the existence of a Jewish temple on this place in the past. In the whole city, there is not even a single stone indicating Jewish history. The Jews do not even know exactly where their temple stood. Therefore, we do not accept that they have any rights, underneath the surface or above it."
    The Boston Globe in March 2001 also quoted Arafat-appointed Sabri:
    "The Temple Mount was never there, there is not one bit of proof to establish that. We do not recognize that the Jews have any right to the wall or to one inch of the sanctuary. Jews are greedy to control our mosque... If they every try to, it will be the end of Israel."
    From this it is clear that Arafat’s intent is to deny access to the Temple Mount for any individuals other than followers of Islam. Professor and Imam, Abdul Hadi Palazzi of Rome, has denounced Sabri (and the PA) as a fraud.

  • In October 2000, Israel withdrew from Schechem (Nablus) after receiving assurances from the PA that they would safeguard Joseph's Tomb and allow free access to the Jewish holy site, as per the Oslo Accords, which specifically mention the site. After the withdrawal, the Palestinians destroyed Joseph's Tomb in Schechem (Nablus), then converted it to a mosque. In April 2002, Israel reestablished military authority over the site, but freedom of access is limited because of ongoing terrorist attacks against would-be worshippers attempting to reach the site.

  • The PA frequently uses Christian places of worship, such as the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, as well as Christian homes, schools, and orphanages, to launch attacks against neighboring Israeli populations. Since the PA was given control of Bethlehem and Nablus in 1993, a mass exodus of Christians has occurred and left these former flourishing communities wallowing in the oppression and intolerance of Sharia law.

  • For a summary of Palestinian Denial of Religious Freedom, click HERE.


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Palestinian State: Democracy or Terrorist Regime?

  • Arafat has never condemned terrorist attacks. Instead, he criticizes them only because they hurt the Palestinian strategy. For example, on 15 May 2002 Arafat gave a speech to the Palestinian Legislative Council in Ramallah in which he condemned suicide attacks because they "do not serve our cause, but rather subject us to angry criticism on the part of the international community." Note, he did not condemn them for moral reasons, because they are a wicked crime against humanity, but that for strategic reasons, that they do not 'serve the cause'.

  • For a fully annotated report with pictures regarding "The Involvement of Arafat, PA Senior Officials and Apparatuses in Terrorism against Israel: Corruption and Crime", click HERE.

  • In the U.S. State Department's Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003 report (and the 2002 report), the allegation is made that: "The PA's efforts to thwart terrorist operations were minimal in 2003," and, moreover, that "some personnel in the security services, including several senior officers, have continued to assist terrorist operations."

  • Reports on incitement and glorification of terrorism and murder of Jews in Middle Eastern textbooks: Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace

  • Palestinian Authority Antisemitism (and calls to violence) since the Hebron Accords: A Compendium of Hate

  • For a summary of Palestinian Intimidation of Journalists, click HERE.

  • From ZOA, a weekly report on Palestinian Arab Violations of the Roadmap

  • Even the EU has admitted it's funding to the PA is used for terrorist purposes.

  • Documents seized at the Orient House prove that the PA routinely orders and funds terrorist attacks. See the actual documents HERE.

  • Middle Eastern Terrorist Attack Search

  • For an interactive map of security incidents in Israel, updated weekly, click HERE

  • The PA has murdered over 51 Americans since the Oslo Accords*, yet continues to receive US taxdollars instead of sanctions and bombs. Read the article HERE.
    (*ZOA keeps up-to-date statistics)

  • Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000

  • Arafat's Harvest of Hate by Charles Krauthammer

  • We Should Not Forget - Jacob Richman's archive of pictures from attacks

  • Here is an article (with graphic pictures) concerning the treatment of those Palestinians considered 'collaborators' with Israel.

  • Powerpoint presentation, click each picture in slideshow to progress to next: Taxdollars to Summer Camps: Learning to Become a Martyr

  • Pictures of violence from Rotter, GRAPHIC

  • The Real Picture


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