PMW Bulletin
July 26, 2015

Palestinian Authority: Israel is "Judaizing" Jerusalem,
creating a false Jewish history,
and destroying Arab Muslim Palestinian history

PA Deputy Minister:
Palestinians were present in Jerusalem
"centuries before the Jewish religion"
and Israelis "are stealing history and geography"

Official PA TV:
Israeli excavations are "evil projects" to achieve an "evil goal":
"Full control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque
and building the alleged Temple in its place"

"The Judaization octopus devours the [Palestinian] historic sites"

[Website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, July 13, 2015]
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=15297

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
p:+972 2 625 4140 e: pmw@palwatch.org
f: +972 2 624 2803 w: www.palwatch.org

Today, on Tisha B'Av, Jews mourn the destruction of the first and second
Temples in Jerusalem (586 BCE and 70 CE). However, the Palestinian Authority
denies that there ever was a Temple, consistently referring to Solomon's
Temple as "the alleged Temple." Moreover, the PA also teaches its people
that there was never a Jewish history in Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Authority claims persistently that Israel is "Judaizing"
Jerusalem, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented. Israel is said to:

- falsify historical artifacts in order to prove a "false" Jewish history in
Jerusalem
- destroy Palestinian and Islamic relics and signs of an Arab presence in
the city
- plot to take over and destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to rebuild the
"alleged Temple"
in its stead

The cartoon above published by Fatah captures this Palestinian narrative.
Israeli soldiers are shooting their rifles and rolling a Torah scroll over
the word "Jerusalem" which is bloodstained.
[July 13, 2015] Israel is said to be forcing a fake Jewish history on
Jerusalem.

Five recent PA TV programs repeated these historical revisions:

1. PA Deputy Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Salwa Hadib recently declared
that "the Palestinian people has been present in it [Jerusalem] for
thousands of years... centuries before the Jewish religion." She also
claimed that Israelis "are stealing history and geography":

PA Deputy Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and member of Fatah's Revolutionary
Council Salwa Hadib: "Jerusalem is not only a religious city. Jerusalem is
civilization. It has been a Canaanite city for thousands of years. The
Palestinian people has been present in it for thousands of years, whether it
was in Babylon, Assyria or Canaan, they [the Palestinians] gathered in the
area before anything else, centuries before the Jewish religion... An
Israeli engineer and an archeologist brought Israeli coins - shekels and
agoras - and threw them on the ground before the renovation [of the Al-Karmi
neighborhood in Jerusalem] in order to prove, after dozens and hundreds of
years, that 'we (i.e., the Israelis) were present here.' They are stealing
history and geography."
[Official PA TV, May 24, 2015]
Click to view
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=488&fld_id=492&doc_id=15229

2. A PA TV host agreed with a researcher of political Islam who stated on PA
TV that "the vision of the Zionists" is to "destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque" and
"find the Temple." The researcher claimed Israel has not found "even one
remnant" that proves the existence of the Temple:

Political Islam researcher Muhammad Hijazi: "The vision of the Zionists and
the extremist settlers for the holy city: They try to take over and divide
the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They want to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque while talking
about the Temple of Solomon. For 20 years, Israel has been digging under the
foundations of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. They have conducted tens of thousands of
research projects in order to find the Temple of Solomon under the Al-Aqsa
Mosque, but they haven't found even one remnant that verifies this. The
political goal is to Judaize the entire city of Jerusalem and expel its
Palestinian residents..."
PA TV host: "They hope that tomorrow morning the Al-Aqsa Mosque will be
destroyed... As you said, they are trying to actually destroy the Al-Aqsa
Mosque..."
Member of General Secretariat of the Union of Religious Scholars in Syria,
Saber Al-Fara: "Not just for 20 years. They have been trying to destroy the
Al-Aqsa Mosque for 60 years!"
[Official PA TV, June 4, 2015]

Click to view
http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=772&fld_id=772&doc_id=15122

3. Official PA TV recently stated that Israeli excavations are "evil
projects" to achieve an "evil goal": "full control over the Al-Aqsa Mosque"
and "building of the alleged Temple in its place":

PA TV narrator: "The Jews conquered it [Silwan neighborhood] along with
Jerusalem [in 1967]. From then on, there have been plans to Judaize and to
erase Arab and Muslim antiquities through tunnel excavations and theft of
antiquities, and by fabricating a fake Jewish name, such as the 'City of
David.' This is Silwan... Through these evil projects, the Israeli
occupation seeks to restore the alleged Kingdom of David and to build his
palace there, in order to achieve its evil goal: Full control over the
Al-Aqsa Mosque and building the alleged Temple in its place."
[Official PA TV, May 9, 2015]

Click to view
http://www.palwatch.org/pages/news_archive.aspx?doc_id=15059

4. A PA TV program entitled The Citadel of David, strong resolve and pride
against the Israeli forgery, claimed that the Israeli Tower of David Museum
has become "a Judaizing museum" that tells of "the alleged Temple":

Official PA TV narrator: "In 1980, the occupation changed it [David's
Citadel] into a Judaizing museum called the 'David Citadel Museum' (i.e.,
Tower of David Museum), which tells the story of the alleged temple. It
displays the Talmudic narrative, remains of rocks - that are claimed to be
from the period of the Temple, paintings, exhibits, models, signs, and
advanced audio systems - that tell an imaginary Hebrew history, especially
the Talmudic details about the alleged temples, the first and second ones."
[Official PA TV, March 14, 2015]
Click to view

5. Yet another PA TV narrator reiterated the libel that Israel is erasing
Palestinian landmarks, referring to "the Judaization octopus" which "is
spreading [its arms] to devour what is left of the historic sites that left
their mark on the city for thousands of years."

PA TV narrator: "The occupation authorities are working incessantly to
change the character of occupied Jerusalem. The Judaization octopus is
spreading [its arms] to devour what is left of the historic sites that left
their mark on the city for thousands of years. One of those sites is the
Silwan Spring (i.e., Gihon Spring), which the occupation later turned into
Talmudic walking trails..."
PA TV reporter: "We are at the Silwan pool. This is a historic site with
definite Arab-Palestinian-Canaanite roots and history."

[Official PA TV, March 11, 2015]
Click to view
http://www.palwatch.org/SITE/MODULES/videos/pal/videos.aspx?fld_id=&doc_id=15212&year=2015

The denial of Jewish history in Jerusalem and rejection of the existence of
the Temple by the PA and Fatah - both headed by Mahmoud Abbas - has been
documented in depth by Palestinian Media Watch, as has the PA claim of
Israeli falsification of artifacts and heritage theft.

The following are longer excerpts of some of the statements denying Jewish
history in Jerusalem:

PA TV: Tower of David Museum is "a Judaizing museum" that tells of "the
alleged Temple"

Official PA TV program From Jerusalem
Name of TV report: The Citadel of David, strong resolve and pride against
the Israeli forgery
Official PA TV narrator: "[David's] Citadel fell into the hands of the
occupation in 1967 and extensive excavations began, during which a part of
it [the Citadel] was destroyed along with a number of ancient Islamic
relics. In 1980, the occupation changed it into a Judaizing museum called
the 'David Citadel Museum' (i.e., Tower of David Museum), which tells the
story of the alleged temple. It displays the Talmudic narrative, remains of
rocks - that are claimed to be from the period of the Temple, paintings,
exhibits, models, signs, and advanced audio systems - that tell an imaginary
Hebrew history, especially the Talmudic details about the alleged temples,
the first and second ones."
[Official PA TV, March 14, 2015]

PA TV narrator: "The occupation authorities are working incessantly to
change the character of occupied Jerusalem. The Judaization octopus is
spreading [its arms] to devour what is left of the historic sites that left
their mark on the city for thousands of years. One of those sites is the
Silwan Spring (i.e., Gihon Spring), which the occupation later turned into
Talmudic walking trails..."
PA TV reporter: "We are at the Silwan pool. This is a historic site with
definite Arab-Palestinian-Canaanite roots and history."
Fakhri Abu Diab, member of the Silwan and Al-Bustan Neighborhood Defense
Committee: "5,000 years ago, the Jebusite and Canaanite Arabs came and
founded Jerusalem... The Jews understood the history and significance of
this historic landmark, and wanted to impose a Biblical-Talmudic-Jewish
story on this place, in order to falsify facts and prove that they have a
past and a history in this area."
[Official PA TV, March 11, 2015]

Notes:
The Silwan Spring (Gihon Spring) - A natural water spring, used as a primary
water source of ancient Jerusalem. The spring is located in the City of
David national park, in the area of the East Jerusalem neighborhood of
Silwan.

The Silwan Pool (Shiloah\Siloam Pool) - A pool for water storage, located in
the City of David national park, in the area of the East Jerusalem
neighborhood of Silwan. The pool seems to have been dug and first been in
use during the First Temple Period (circa 1000 - 586 BCE). The pool was
expanded during the Second Temple period (530 BCE - 70 CE) as part of
Jerusalem's elaborate water system, but went out of use following the
destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. A Byzantine church and an
additional pool were built at the site in the 5th century CE.

The PA term "Arab-Palestinian-Canaanite" is an anachronism. Canaan is a
biblical name for the land of Israel dating back to the second millennium
BCE. The name "Palestine" was only used much later in the 2nd century CE,
after the Romans changed the name of Judea/Israel to "Palaestina" to punish
the Jewish nation for their revolt. The Arab conquest of the area only took
place in the 7th century CE.