LATEST UPDATE: JANUARY 1998
In the Palestinian Authority (PA), as elsewhere in the Arab world, the frequency and extent of antisemitic (and anti-Zionist) statements tend to mirror the state of relations with Israel at any given moment. Antisemitic statements by Palestinian leaders for western consumption have declined significantly since the 1993 Israel-PLO accords, although no effort appears to have been made to restrict the expression of such sentiments in the official PA media. Another major source of antisemitism among Palestinians are militant Islamic groups, which attract a significant, if minority, following.
Total population: 2,291,086
Jewish population: 150
Status: the West Bank and Gaza Strip are administered to varying degrees by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority
Government: the first elections in January 1996 endorsed the leadership of Yassir Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), as chairman of the PA; also elected was an eighty-eight-member legislative council, dominated by members of Arafat's Fatah faction
GDP (1997): US$2.84 billion
The Palestinians have, for the most part, been at odds with Israelis over the overriding political issue of the struggle for power and land rather than for religious or racial reasons. Palestinian attitudes towards Jews before the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian Declaration of Principles were shaped by many influences, such as traditional Muslim and Arab views of Jews, 'imported' European antisemitism and actual experience, and often produced contradictory perspectives. An important feature of this blend was that the traditional object of antisemitic notions - Jews as a racial group - was often redefined as Israelis, Zionists or Jewish supporters of Israel, categories which constitute a large number of the world's Jews.
In the past Israel was often depicted as a front for western imperialist plots to control the Middle East or the entire world. Judaism was seen as a legitimate religion but Jews were not seen as a nation with an identity of its own. Zionism was viewed as a Jewish effort to achieve world domination. The conclusion was that Israel should not exist and that it should be defeated by military means, by the undermining of external support or by internal collapse as a result of weak foundations and the success of terrorist attacks in breaking the nation's morale. These attitudes have lessened in recent years due to Israeli military successes, Arab defeats, declining support of Arab states for the Palestinians and the inability to end Israeli control of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip other than by diplomatic means.
In the 1993 Oslo Declaration of Principles, the PLO recognized Israel's right to exist and subscribed to a peace process free of violence.
The population of the Palestinian administered areas is overwhelmingly Arab and mainly Muslim. Christians remain apprehensive about their future in the light of the uncertain political climate and the activities of radical Islamist movements. Arafat endeavours to reassure them, frequently speaking about the unity of Palestinians and attending Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem. Six seats are reserved for Christians in the Palestinian governing council.
Most PLO leaders refrain from making overtly antisemitic statements, but there is no evidence of efforts to restrict the expression of antisemitism in the official PA media (see Publications and media). Such statements have become more common among PA officials responsible for education, information and culture than among mainstream political leaders.
The most significant Palestinian 'rejectionist' groups are Hamas and al-Jihad al-Islamiyya (Islamic Jihad). The ideology and rhetoric of these groups are a mix of classical European antisemitism with an anti-Jewish interpretation of the Qur'an, and both portray the conflict between Israel and the Arabs as the extension of a historic battle between Muslims and Jews.
The covenant issued by Hamas in 1988 entitled 'The charter of Allah' says: 'The Nazism of the Jews . . . makes war against people's livelihood, plunders their wealth and threatens their honour . . .' It characterizes Jews as being in control of the international media and of manipulating supposedly clandestine organizations, such as the Masons, Rotary clubs and B'nai B'rith: 'Their scheme was laid out in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and their present [conduct] is the best proof of what is said there.'
Antisemitic slogans are combined with anti-Zionist rhetoric at Islamist meetings and rallies. Within the Palestinian administrative areas, graffiti are a particularly popular means of political expression. The military wing of Hamas, Izz al-Din al-Qassam, makes no distinction between Jews, Israelis and Zionists in its propaganda. Similarly, Islamic Jihad often combine anti-Zionist and antisemitic slogans.
Holocaust denial appears rarely among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The presenter of a PA television programme on 25 August 1997 stated: 'It is well known that every year the Jews exaggerate what the Nazis did to them.' His interviewee, the author Hasan al-Agha, agreed: 'They inflate the number of victims all the time . . . In my opinion, it is an investment and, as you know, when it comes to economics and investments, the Jews have been very experienced ever since the days of The Merchant of Venice.'
In general Holocaust denial appears rarely among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The moderator of a PA television show on 25 August 1997 stated: 'It is well known that every year the Jews exaggerate what the Nazis did to them.' His interviewee, the author Hasan al-Agha, agreed: 'They inflate the number of victims all the time . . . In my opinion, it is an investment and, as you know, when it comes to economics and investments, the Jews have been very experienced ever since the days of The Merchant of Venice.'
The official Palestinian media frequently feature antisemitic statements and slogans.
The PA daily newspaper al-Hayat al-Jadeeda repeatedly refers to Jews in conspiratorial terms. An article published on 1 September 1997, for example, blamed 'the Torah, the Talmud and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ' for making the 'conflict between the Jews and the Muslims . . . eternal and on-going', resembling 'the conflict between man and Satan'. The article claimed that not only Muslims but every nation in the world is tormented by the Jews and that the Palestinian people are struggling on behalf of all the world's peoples. On 1 November 1997 the newspaper al-Quds referred to 'a Jewish mentality based on the love of controlling everything . . . which does not easily grant others their rights'. An article entitled 'The legend of Jewish superiority', which appeared in al-Quds on 11 November 1997, suggested that Jews viewed other peoples as worthy only of being their subjects and used antisemitism as 'a weapon of mass destruction against their adversaries'. On 30 November 1997 al-Quds claimed that 'the foundations of the greater Zionist plan' are based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and that the Zionist leaders Theodor Herzl and Chaim Weizmann had travelled the world 'to determine the appropriate location for the implementation of this conspiracy'.
References to the Shakespearean character Shylock are prevalent. For example, on 15 March 1997 Othman Abu Gharbiya, Yassir Arafat's adviser on national political guidance, told the Voice of Palestine radio: 'We are . . . struggling with an enemy who is Shylock. We must know that he is Shylock.' On 5 November 1997 an article entitled 'The banks and Shylock' by Hafez al-Barghouti, the editor of al-Hayat al-Jadeeda, asserted: 'We have had enough of the Shylock of the lands and settlements.'
Palestinian nationalists frequently invoke classical antisemitic images in order to vilify Israel and Zionism. Justice Minister Freih Abu Middein, in an interview published in the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot on 13 April 1997, alleged that Jews control the White House. Similarly, Khaled al-Musmar, deputy head of the PA's propaganda directorate Falastin al-Yaum, claimed on 21 August 1997 that Israel controls the US Congress and is able to terrorize the American president and the administration 'by the use of threats of sexual and moral scandals which are disseminated by the obedient media in the United States'. Agriculture Minister Abd al-Jawad Saleh, interviewed by al-Hayat al-Jadeeda on 6 November 1997, stated: 'We must . . . expose the Zionist-colonialist plot and its goals, which are destroying not only our people but the entire world.' On 3 December 1997 a PA television programme stated: 'The Zionist media . . . dominate more than half of the world's media.'
Palestinian officials occasionally depict Israel and its supporters as anti-Christian as well as anti-Muslim. Hasan al-Kashef, director-general of the information ministry, stated in al-Hayat al-Jadeeda on 7 July 1997 that 'Jesus was a victim of the roots of talmudic extremism, which is currently waving a national flag, wearing the helmet of a national army and employing state-run terrorism by means of armed settlers and an army.'
Institute for Jewish Policy Research and American Jewish Committee
© JPR 1998
