Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin
July 30, 2004
PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH
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Rewriting history:
Poetry video says Israel has been Palestinian homeland for "a million years"
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook

Introduction
Denying Israel's right to exist by claiming the Jews have no historical
roots in Israel is a backbone of Palestinian Authority (PA) cultural
education, as is the attempt to reinforce Palestinian claims to the land by
creating an ancient Palestinian history in Israel.

A new poetry video called You and Us, broadcast on PA TV almost every day
in recent weeks, uses both tactics.

As shots of Israelis appear on the screen, an announcer's grave voice reads
the poem's opening line: "You are phantoms in my land." The juxtaposition
of text and visuals also portrays Israelis as "conquerors." The text of the
poem states that the land has been Palestinian homeland for "a million
years," since "the dawn of man's creation," and that no one occupied the
land before the Palestinians' arrival. Scenes of Yasser Arafat accompany
the repeated phrase, "This is the beginning," and the poem's final line
refers to "revolution" as the PA flag appears on the screen.

The following is the text of the poem, with a description of the
accompanying visuals:

"You are phantoms on my land [visuals of Israelis]
And our roots in her are deep [scenes of land]
For a million years it is our homeland
May the conquerors exploit as they will [war scenes]
We came - the dawn of man's creation in the world
And our arrival - the beginning and time
Before us no foot had strode through her [scenes of land]
And calls were not heard
Ours are the caves of her mountains
Ours are her rivers
Ours are her plants, vineyards, the fields
And a waterway there is, faced with fields
And the bones of our fathers that lived on the ground
And under it they died...
This is the beginning [scenes of Yasser Arafat]
This is the beginning
And every beginning is followed by an end [scenes of Al-Aqsa Mosque]
The days are long [war scenes]
The days have always been long
And the course of history - revolution [PA flag flying] ."

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