PALESTINIAN AUTONOMY (PA)
Map Gaza Strip (since June 2007 under Hamas rule) Geography People Economy
Map West Bank (including areas under full or part Israeli rule) Geography People Economy


Posters displayinga bogus picture of a mutilated Pope Benedict XVI (AP) respectively an Islamic flag hoisted over Italy and reading 'Conquering Rome is the answer', during a "Day of Rage" of Palestinian Muslims on Sep 22, 2006 (Reuters)

Prebubescentchild brides with adult grooms in mass Palestinian state wedding of 450 "couples" in Gaza (AlJazeera, Aug 2, 2009) | LiveLeak

Early Palestinian nationalism was influenced heavily by Nazism. While other nations have disavowed fascism (Germany and Italy, for example) and have since developed into thriving democracies, the Palestinians have not.


100% of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip live under Palestinian Hamas control

Half of the world's major terror groups are Palestinian or have a Palestinian agenda. For the first time in the history, Hamas - the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and the ideological cousin of al-Qaeda - has gained full control over contiguous territory and population, and has now effectively become a state government without real opponents. Every Palestinian "political party" of note - Hamas, Fatah and PFLP - operates an armed militia listed as terrorist by the US and EU. Hamas and Fatah execute Palestinian captives, attack Palestinian hospitals, put journalists at serious risk. Hamas and Fatah formed jointly the Palestinian government of, by and for terrorists, now torn apart by unprecedented levels of violence between Palestinian factions. Since the 2006/7 Hamas-Fatah civil war, two rival Palestinian "governments" deny their legitimacy reciprocally and "rule" two politically and geographically separated non-states in the Gaza Strip (Hamas) and West Bank (Fatah). The Palestinian president refers to Hamas as "terrorist murderers", albeit only after Hamas tried to assassinate him, and outlawed the Hamas militia. More Palestinians were killed by their brethren than by anyone else. Both Fatah and Hamas do not recognize Israel's right to exist.


Farouq Al-Qaddoumi, head of the PLO political bureau and secretary general of Fatah's Central Committee: "We [Fatah] were never different from Hamas. On the contrary; [Hamas] is a national movement and is part of the national movement. Strategically, we are no different from it."

The Palestinian movement is still largely based on Israel's destruction. The greatest outpouring of attacks on Israel happened after Israel made the Oslo agreement, withdrew from southern Lebanon, the whole Gaza Strip, and virtually all populated portions of the West Bank, proposed an independent Palestinian state, and so on.

In 2000, the Palestinians rejected a peace agreement that would have quickly ended the Israeli presence, created a Palestinian state, made possible repatriation of refugees, and provided more than $23 billion in international payments. Instead, they launched a disastrous war based mainly on terrorism. The Palestinians also failed to use the opportunity of the 2005 complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip to build a stable polity. Instead, the collapse of Gaza in anarchy, radicalism, and violence provides a vision of what a Palestinian state would look like. Palestinian society is quickly becoming a one-religion, one-identity and one-ideological entity of self-hatred.

The 2006 "democratic election" was a reality check into the nature of Palestinian society: Hamas won a clear majority (74) in the 132-seat Palestinian Legislative Council, Fatah about a third (45), PFLP 3 and others 1-2. Armed militias attached to political parties are incompatible with democratic societies:

Hamas Charter, Article 27 (Palestine Center, Jun 6, 2007): "The Palestine Liberation Organization is among the closest to the Hamas, for it constitutes a father, a brother, a relative, a friend."

Palestine Liberation Organization Charter, Introduction, 1964: "We, the Palestinian Arab people, who believe in its Arabism and in its right to regain its homeland, to realize its freedom and dignity, and who have determined to amass its forces and mobilize its efforts and capabilities in order to continue its struggle and to move forward on the path of holy war (al-jihad) until complete and final victory has been attained,"

Palestinian Authority TV Sermon, May 13, 2005: Muslims Will Rule America, Britain ... and the Entire World; Israel is a Cancer; Jews are a Virus Resembling AIDS; Muslims Will Finish Them Off


Cartoon by Chris Britt, The State Journal-Register, Jan 27, 2006
Blow up a bus - Do-it-yourself video circulating on terrorist websites

Hamas - A Profile of Terror - Hamas MP's vow for jihad
State of chaos and anarchy - Palestinian premier's office torched - Lynching of dissidents - Incitement to violence and hatred in media
"PALLYWOOD" - the Palestinian staged-news industry
Child abuse - Suicide bomber cult - Anarchy ruined economy - Millions, including foreign aid, spent on weapons acquisitions
Arabs who sold land to Jews are tortured and lynched - Palestinian sentenced to death by Palestinian court for selling land to Jews - PA affirms death penalty for land sales to Jews
Christianity dying in its birthplace
Two-state solution is for Arabs interim step toward Greater Palestine

On the right side of late Palestinian dictator and sponsor of terrorism Yasser Arafat: President Mahmoud Abbas alias Abu Mazen (official website, Jan 16, 2005)

Abu Mazen: A Political Profile (Yael Yehoshua, MEMRI, April 29, 2003

Iraqi tyran and sponsor of Palestinian terrorism Saddam Husseinholding a gun,
in the background blood drops and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (Al-Quds in Arabic)

"Palestine is part of the Arab Homeland. State of Palestine shall abide by the charter of the League of Arab States. The Palestinian people is part of the Arab and Islamic nations. ... Islam shall be the official religion in Palestine. … The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be a major source of legislation." (Draft of Palestinian Constitution - c. 1, art. 2, 5, 7, Palestinian National Authority official website, Sep 14, 2005)

The mere existence of the Palestinian Authority is the result of Israel being the only power in history to have granted autonomy to the Palestinians. "Palestine" is the name of a geographical area. Never in history existed a state named Palestine. When the Arabs ruled the area - as a result of their imperial conquests from the 7th through the 9th century C.E. - it was out of their two Caliphal capitals, Damascus and Baghdad. Neither Arab Jordan or Egypt consented to Palestinian autonomy when the disputed territories - West Bank and the Gaza Strip - were under their occupation (from 1948-1967). Today Arab League asserts right to 22nd Arab state, 2nd one in historic Palestine. In 1995 and 1997, Israel relinquished control over virtually all of the West Bank’s and Gaza Strip's Palestinian residents. Since that time, nearly 60 percent of them –in main cities– have lived entirely under the Palestinian Autority's jurisdiction. Another 40 percent live where the Palestinian Authority exercises civil authority but, in line with the Oslo accords, Israel has maintained "overriding responsibility for security". In 2005 the Gaza Strip became the first independent Palestinian territory ever.

Small scale conflict: under two Palestinians killed per day since Sep 30, 2000. The claims regarding the number of Palestinian casualties and their causes are not subject to independent verification, and there are documented examples where fictitious funerals have been held. In any case, many times more Palestinians were killed by Palestinians and while warring with Arab regimes like Jordan and Lebanon than in their war against Israel.

Israel's strategy of winning Palestinian hearts and minds failed because Israeli carrots could never overcome the intimidation applied by Palestinian terrorist regime's sticks:

"Free Press" - Palestinian gunmen on inside the newspaper Donia al-Watan
in Gaza, threatening to kill the editor-in-chief, Abdallah Issa (JP, Nov 27, 2005)

"Free Elections" - Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades members plunder computers
after ransacking the PA's central election commission office in Nablus, Dec. 14, 2005

Al-Arabiya's Gaza bureau bombed after the TV station aired a tape of the Palestinian PM

Half of the world's major terror groups are Palestinian or have a Palestinian agenda - Palestinian Legislative Council rejects US anti-terror pledge - Arafat - godfather of international terrorism and Bin Laden's inspiration - The deliberate killings of Arab, Israeli, European, American civilians by Palestinian armed groups are both widespread and systematic, and are perpetrated as part of a publicly announced policy to target civilians.

In 1990, the Palestinians supported Saddam Hussein during the invasion of Arab Kuwait

The PA collects no taxes from its own people, a luxury never mentioned by those bemoaning the PA's poverty - Most money provided by donor countries went to funding violence, lining corrupt officials' pockets, and paying salaries as a way of buying support - Palestinians received the largest amount of money per capita in the history of foreign aid but this was still not enough to balance the budget - Cutting aid could be really effective is in blocking Hamas from hiring thousands of its militants as internationally subsidized terrorists, teachers, officially appointed clerics or media workers paid by Western taxpayers to commit violence and spread hate - Palestinian despot Arafat in Forbes Report "The World's Richest People"

Compare Freedom Score of Palestinian Autonomy Authority (Not Free) and
Israel (Free) Source: Freedom House

Compare Human Development Index of Israel (0.905),
Palestinian Authority (0.731) & 22 Arab regimes (0.662) (PDF, 670 KB)
Source: United Nations Human Development Report 2003

Compare Corruption Index of Palestinian Autonomy Authority (4.3), Israel (7.3),
Germany (7.3) and USA (7.7), Source: Transparency International (PDF, 1.8 MB)

Yasser Arafat ‘has £1.8bn fortune’ (William Tinning, The Herald, Nov 7, 2003): "... [Arafat] has amassed a personal fortune of between £602m and £1.8bn. ... Arafat's wife, Suha, 40, who lives away from the struggles of her homeland, is given more than £60,000 a month from Palestinian Authority funds."
Arafat's Swiss Bank Account (exile-based Issam Abu Issa, former chairman of the Palestine International Bank and founder of the Palestinian National Coalition for Democracy and Independence, The Middle East Quarterly, Fall 2004): "Yasir Arafat and the Palestinian Authority are known internationally for the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. As ruinous as that violence has been, another cancer permeates Arafat's administration; its name is corruption. From firsthand experience, I understand just how deep it is."

The Fight for Arafat’s Fortune Begins (Aljazeera, Nov 1, 2004): "Sources close to the Palestinian leadership said a bitter fight had broken out over who should control the ailing leader’s fortune estimated to be between $4.2 billion and $6.5 billion."

End sleaze or lose aid, Arafat told (Ross Dunn, The Scotsman, Feb 29, 2004): "The World Bank has issued the Palestinian Authority with an ultimatum to put an end to rampant corruption or lose hundreds of millions of pounds of vital foreign aid. The Bank’s top official in the region, Nigel Roberts, said Yasser Arafat had to stop the handing of large cash payments to his security commanders - used to keep them loyal to Arafat personally - and other financial practices open to corruption. Otherwise, he said, the Palestinian Authority risked losing the support of the international community. In an interview with Scotland on Sunday, Roberts said the Palestinians were receiving the largest amount of money per capita in the history of foreign aid but this was still not enough to balance the budget."

Understanding Palestinian Politics (Prof. Barry Rubin. Foreign Policy Research Institute, Nov 5, 2004): "Who will be the key players and factions in post-Arafat Palestinian politics? There are unfortunately far too many of them. Arafat's legacy will be fought over by at least five major factions, three separate institutions, and fourteen different security agencies in his own group Fatah alone. That leaves aside the Islamist organizations and smaller PLO groups, and individual rivalries or ambitions within all these groups. 'Factions' is probably too precise a word. No real parties exist: there are no disciplined groupings or generally recognized charismatic leaders. The structure is loose and rapidly shifting. Ideology is virtually non-existent; there is no meaningful Left, Right and Center. In general, too, connections between local leaderships in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip are weak, and there is no clear hierarchy or chain of command."

Destructive Legacy (JP, Nov 7, 2004): "Arafat leaves another legacy: the first society in history to have glorified suicide-murders on a national scale, starting from grade-school children."

A Gangster With Politics | After Arafat, what's left of the Palestinian cause? Not much. (Bret Stephens, Wall Street Journal, Nov 7, 2004): "... he was also one of the 20th century's great political illusionists."

President Bush's call of June 24, 2002 to the Palestinians, to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure, end incitement to violence in official media, elect new leaders not compromised by terror, and embrace democracy.

President Discusses Roadmap for Peace in the Middle East. Remarks by the U.S. President on the Middle East (Mar 14, 2003): "The Palestinian state must be a reformed and peaceful and democratic state that abandons forever the use of terror. ... And the Arab states must oppose terrorism, support the emergence of a peaceful and democratic Palestine, and state clearly that they will live in peace with Israel."

Where Hatred Trumps Bread. What does the Palestinian nation offer the world? (Cynthia Ozick, Wall Street Journal, Jun 30, 2003): "... the most ingeniously barbarous Palestinian societal invention, surpassing any other in imaginative novelty, is the recruiting of children to blow themselves up with the aim of destroying as many Jews as possible in the most crowded sites accessible. ... The child who has been taught to die and to kill from kindergarten on, via song and slogan in praise of bloodletting, represents an inconceivable cultural ideal."

Half of the world's major Foreign Terrorist Organizations as designated by the U.S. Department of State are Palestinian or have a Palestinian agenda:
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade [belonging to Arafat's Fatah]
Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)
HAMAS (Islamic Resistance Movement)
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
PFLP-General Command (PFLP-GC)
Asbat al-Ansar [Palestinians in Lebanon]
Hizballah (Party of God) [Lebanese with Palestinian agenda]
Al-Qaida [Muslim with Palestinian agenda]

Terrorist Organizations as designated by the European Union

Full text of the Covenant of Hamas, 1988 (Yale Law School, Jan 27, 2006) | Main points:
Goals of HAMAS: 'The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.' (Article 6)

On the Destruction of Israel: 'Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.' (Preamble)

The Exclusive and Irrevocable Moslem Nature of the Area: '... the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [irrevocable religious endowment - MEI] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any king or president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that.' (Article 11)

'Palestine is an Islamic land... Since this is the case, the liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Moslem wherever he may be.' (Article 13)

The Call to Jihad: 'The day the enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In the face of the Jews' usurpation, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.' (Article 15)

'Jihad is not confined to the carrying of arms and the confrontation of the enemy.' (Article 30)

'Ranks will close, fighters joining other fighters, and masses everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to the call of duty, loudly proclaiming: 'Hail to Jihad!'. This cry will reach the heavens and will go on being resounded until liberation is achieved, the invaders vanquished and Allah's victory comes about.' (Article 33)

Rejection of a Negotiated Peace Settlement: '[Peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement... Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam... There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.' (Article 13)

Condemnation of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty: 'Egypt was, to a great extent, removed from the circle of struggle [against Zionism] through the treacherous Camp David Agreement. The Zionists are trying to draw other Arab countries into similar agreements in order to bring them outside the circle of struggle. ...Leaving the circle of struggle against Zionism is high treason, and cursed be he who perpetrates such an act.' (Article 32)

Genocide: 'The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: 'O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.' (Article 7)

Anti-Semitic Incitement: 'The enemies have been scheming for a long time ... and have accumulated huge and influential material wealth. With their money, they took control of the world media... With their money they stirred revolutions in various parts of the globe... They stood behind the French Revolution, the Communist Revolution and most of the revolutions we hear about... With their money they formed secret organizations - such as the Freemasons, Rotary Clubs and the Lions - which are spreading around the world, in order to destroy societies and carry out Zionist interests... They stood behind World War I ... and formed the League of Nations through which they could rule the world. They were behind World War II, through which they made huge financial gains... There is no war going on anywhere without them having their finger in it.' (Article 22)

'Zionism scheming has no end, and after Palestine, they will covet expansion from the Nile to the Euphrates River. When they have finished digesting the area on which they have laid their hand, they will look forward to more expansion. Their scheme has been laid out in the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion'.' (Article 32)

'The HAMAS regards itself the spearhead and the vanguard of the circle of struggle against World Zionism... Islamic groups all over the Arab world should also do the same, since they are best equipped for their future role in the fight against the warmongering Jews.' (Article 32)

Hamas Uber-Alles (David Meir-Levi, FP, Feb 24, 2006): "... Hamas’ goal is not just the conquest of 'Palestine'. This is now the only democratically elected political power in the world whose foundational agenda includes the genocide, and whose sole defining paradigm is terrorism."

Palestinian Legislator Pleads Guilty to Assisting Terrorism (Greg Myre, New York Times, Sep 5, 2005): "A prominent member of the Palestinian parliament, Husam Khader, pleaded guilty on Sunday in an Israeli military court to charges of assisting an armed Palestinian faction that has carried out many attacks against Israel, the military said."

Bin Laden's inspiration (Alan Dershowitz, professor at Harvard Law School, JP, Nov, 12, 2004): "Yasser Arafat was the godfather of international terrorism who dashed his people's hope for statehood, stole billions of dollars intended for the relief of their suffering, and indoctrinated their children with so much hatred that they willingly turned themselves into human bombs."

The Fate of Palestinian Moderates. Arafat's thugs don't murder only Jews (Wall Street Journal, Apr 20, 2002): "Palestinian militiamen shot dead two alleged collaborators with Israel on Thursday, then tied the body of one to the back of a pickup truck, dragged him through town and attempted to hang him from a rooftop overlooking the traditional birthplace of Christ ... During the uprising in the late 1980s, some 800 "collaborators" were murdered, many of them simply Palestinians who had prospered under Israeli occupation. After the 1993 Oslo accords gave him a statelet, Mr. Arafat quickly set about criminalizing "collaboration"--most famously with a law making the sale of land to Jews punishable by death. But those who get a trial are the lucky ones. Seven decades of "collaborator" killings have silenced or driven out many who would be open to coexistence with Israel.It's yet one more reason to believe there will never be peace so along as the dictator and his brownshirts run Gaza and the West Bank."
Dead Body Dragged Through Bethlehem (Fox News, Mar 14, 2002): "BETHLEHEM, West Bank — Palestinian militiamen shot dead two alleged collaborators with Israel on Thursday, then tied the body of one to the back of a pickup truck, dragged him through town and attempted to hang him from a rooftop overlooking the traditional birthplace of Christ ... It was the second time in three days that suspected informers have been killed and their bodies shown off. About two dozen collaborators have been killed by Palestinian militiamen during the past 18 months of fighting."

Yasser Arafat, the late head of both the Palestinian Autonomy and "Fatah". The "Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade" of "Fatah" is one of the many Palestinian groups designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations by the U.S. Department of State, along with al-Qaida. "President" Arafat always dressed in an olive-green military uniform, a pistol in his belt - or on the table

Ten Tips on How to Be an Arafat Apologist
(Jamie Glazov, Frontpage Magazin, Apr 11, 2002)

The End of 'Arafat'. Even if he lives, the idea of him must die. (Wall Street Journal, Sep 17, 2003): "If you look at the Nobel Prizes' own biography of Yasser Arafat, you find this remarkable sentence toward the end: 'Like other Arab regimes in the area, however, Arafat's governing style tended to be more dictatorial than democratic.' That is to say, Arafat by his own choice of governance--dictatorship over democracy--bears individual responsibility for the legacy he leaves. That legacy includes: the contemporary crime of hijacking and blowing up civilian-filled airliners; the attempted destabilization of Jordan and Israel and the successful destruction of Lebanon as a formerly sovereign nation; and decades of violated international agreements, culminating in the collapse of Oslo. ... has made possible any crime, culminating in the anti-moral act known as suicide bombers."

The self explaining logo of Arafat's and Abu Mazen's "Fatah" showing two guns and a grenade on the map of Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip

Feigning Civilian Status Violates the Laws of War (Human Rights Watch, Mar 31, 2003): “International law prohibits attacking, killing, injuring, capturing or deceiving the enemy by resorting to what is called perfidy. A perfidious attack is one launched by combatants who have led opposing forces to believe that the attackers are really noncombatants. Acts of perfidy include pretending to be a civilian (who cannot be attacked) or feigning surrender (surrendering soldiers also cannot be attacked) so that opposing forces will let down their guard at the moment of attack. Other examples include feigning protective status by the misuse of emblems of the United Nations or the red cross and red crescent. Perfidy poses particular dangers because it blurs the distinction between enemy soldiers, who are a valid target, and civilians and other noncombatants, who are not. Soldiers fearful of perfidious attacks are more likely to fire upon civilians and surrendering soldiers, however unlawfully.”

Without distinction - attacks on civilians by Palestinian armed groups (Amnesty International): "The deliberate killing of Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed groups amounts to crimes against humanity. As defined in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, crimes against humanity are various acts committed as part of a ''widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population'', ''pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organization's policy to commit such attack''. (71) The specified acts include murder, torture and ''other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.'' (72) Crimes against humanity do not require a link to an armed conflict - they can be committed either in peacetime or in wartime. The deliberate killings of Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed groups and individuals are both widespread and systematic, and are perpetrated as part of a publicly announced policy to target civilians. They therefore satisfy the definition of crimes against humanity included in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which is recognized as reflecting customary international law. War crimes and crimes against humanity are among the most serious crimes under international law, and represent offences against humanity as a whole. Bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice is therefore the concern and the responsibility of the international community. This view is illustrated in the Preamble to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted in July 1998, which affirms that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by taking measures at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation."

Palestinian National Authority official website, Jul 2, 2003: "President Arafat Condemns Israeli Decision to Allow Non-Muslims into Al-Aqsa ... Officials from the Waqf—the Islamic trust running the site—banned Jews and other non-Muslims from visiting the site ..."

Friday Sermon on Palestinian Authority official TV (Jun 8, 2001) (MPG, 4.2 MB):
"... I pray to Allah that we live to see the usurping Knesset [Israeli Parliament] collapse on the heads of the Jews ..."

The mere existence of Arafat's Palestinian Authority is the result of Israel being the only power in history to have granted autonomy to the Palestinians. Neither Arab Jordan or Egypt consented to Palestinian autonomy when the disputed territories - West Bank and the Gaza Strip - were under THEIR occupation (from 1948-1967).

The Palestinians rejected, among others, the Peel Commission partition proposal of 1937 that would have given them a state three times Israel's size, the UN partition plan that would have given them a state in 1948, and in 2001 Israel's offer of 97% of Gaza and the West Bank and a land swap within the Green Line for the rest.

The All-Palestine Government (APG) was established in Gaza in September 1948. On October 1, 1948, an independent Palestinian state was declared in Gaza by the Palestinian National Council (PNC) - although only half of the municipal and village leaders had arrived out of the 150 invited. Haj Amin Al Husseini, a fugitive collaborator of Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler, was elected President of the PNC as well as President of the Higher Council - a sort of presidential institution to stand above both the APG and PNC, the executive arm and the legislative arm, respectively. The APG was recognized only by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, but not by Transjordan and other Arab states or any non-Arab country. On October 1, 1948, the very same day the PNC's deliberations began in Gaza, the First Palestinian Congress of Palestinian mayors, tribal leaders and notables adopted in Amman a number of resolutions; the establishment of the APG in Gaza was ruled contrary to the wishes and interests of the Palestinians; Transjordan and Palestine were termed a single territorial entity that must remain a single political entity. The Gaza Strip was the only area of the former British Mandate for Palestine under the factual and official sovereignty of the All-Palestine Government. In effect, the Gaza Strip was under direct Egyptian administration, though Egypt never laid any claim to or annexed the territory. After the 1958 unification of Egypt and Syria in the United Arab Republic (UAR), the UAR President Gamal Abdel Nasser officially annulled the All-Palestine government by decree in 1959; no significant Palestinian opposition is on record.

The Arab-Israeli conflict is not really a dispute over land or religion. Rather, it is a conflict between good and evil, between democracy and tyranny, between those who sanctify life and those who glorify death. It is a conflict between those who believe in due process and those who believe in summary execution. In choosing the depravity of dismembering civilians, Arafat's Palestinian Authority murderers have cast off the image of God. While Israel has always been prepared to negotiate a settlement with the Palestinians, their leaders have instead made a pact with the devil. Sending murderers to blow up teenagers is not an abrogation of a treaty signed in Norway. It is the apogee of wickedness. Teaching schoolchildren that one goes to heaven for killing Jews is not irresponsible. It is evil. Blowing up teenagers outside a disco is not merely morally repugnant. It is satanic. And Palestinian leaders who justify these bestial means are not desperate, they are satanic. Whatever grievances the Palestinians claim to have against Israel, choosing to settle them by maiming and murdering innocent men, women, and children is a crime against God and a sin against humanity. The Jews would have every right to claim to be the most desperate people of the world. 6 million Jews, 1/3 of the Jewish people, were turned into piles of ashes by the Nazi murderers. But the Jews never retaliated by machine-gunning German schoolgirls. More than a million Armenians were slaughtered by the Ottomans in World War I. But they never responded by blowing up coffeehouses. China completely overran and occupied Tibet. But the Dalai Lama never called upon his monks to bomb kindergartens. Only the Palestinians have chosen this course and in so doing they have gone over to the dark side.

AN INTERIM REPORT ON THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATION OF PALESTINE (Herbert Samuel, British High Commisioner, 1921): "Included in the area of the Palestine Mandate is the territory of Trans-Jordania. It is bounded on the north by the frontier of Syria, placed under the mandate of France; on the south by the kingdom of the Hejaz; and on the west by the line of the Jordan and the Dead Sea; while on the east it stretches into the desert and ends--the boundary is not yet defined--where Mesopotamia begins."

In July 1922, the League of Nations entrusted Great Britain with the Mandate for Palestine, that incorporated the Balfour Declaration, and charged the Mandatory to secure the Jewish National Home while safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion. Recognizing "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine," Great Britain was called upon to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine. The area of the Palestine Mandate included the territory of "Trans-Jordania" (Art 25 of the Mandate for Palestine).

In September 1922, the League of Nations and Great Britain decided that the provisions for setting up a Jewish national home would not apply to "Transjordan", which constituted three-fourths of the Mandate for Palestine territory and which eventually became the Kingdom of Jordan. See Palestine Order in Council (Aug 14, 1922): "This Order In Council Shall Not Apply To Such Parts Of The Territory Comprised In Palestine To The East Of The Jordan". Therefore, in many ways, Jordan is actually an Arab Palestinian state with an Arab Palestinian majority ruled by an Arab dynasty.

1964 Palestine Liberation Organization Charter, article 24: “This Organization [the PLO - MEI] does not exercise any regional sovereignty over the West Bank in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in the Gaza Strip or the Himmah area.”

Egyptian stamps | 1967: "Arab Solidarity for Palestine Defense", not including the West Bank (at that time occupied by Arab Jordan) | 1962: "Gaza Part of Arab Nation" (Gazans - at that time under Arab Egypt's occupation - with Egyptian flag, Palestine not mentioned)

Of the original 1922 League of Nations Palestine Mandate to establish the Jewish National Home (120,000 sq km), Israel got only 17% (20,330 sq km), while Arab Jordan got 77% (91,971 sq km). Golan Heights (1,200 sq km): 1%.

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip are the remaining 5% of the former British Mandate and are today under Israeli or Arab Palestinian home rule, their current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement, their permanent status to be determined through further negotiation. The disputed West Bank and Gaza Strip area of 6,220 sq km is matching equivalent to a circle with a radius of 45 km. This is 1/2400 (0.04%!) of the total area of the Arab world & Iran (15.15 million sq km).

In Need of A New Abbas (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, September 12, 2003): "Abba Eban once famously said that the 'Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.' ... For 56 years, every time the Palestinians were offered the possibility of a state side by side with Israel, they chose rejection and violence."

The Truth About the Mideast. Fourteen fundamental facts about Israel and Palestine.(David G. Littman, NRO, Oct 7, 2002)

Is Jordan Palestine? (Daniel Pipes)

Palestine for the Syrians? (Daniel Pipes, Commentary, Dec 1986): During a meeting with leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1976, Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad referred to Palestine as a region of Syria, as Southern Syria. He then went on to tell the Palestinians: "You do not represent Palestine as much as we do. Do not forget one thing: there is no Palestinian people, no Palestinian entity, there is only Syria! You are an integral part of the Syrian people and Palestine is an integral part of Syria. Therefore it is we, the Syrian authorities, who are the real representatives of the Palestinian people."

Muslim versus Muslim; Jews kill a Palestinian and its death to Israel (Faith Freedom International): "Since 1970 more than 4 million Muslims have been killed by Muslims in the Iran-Iraq war; Somalia; Afghanistan; Kurdish persecution in Iran, Turkey, and Iraq; 20,000 Muslims killed in Syria in 1982; Pakistan-Bangladesh war; 100,000 Shia Muslims killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the last 12 years; Algeria; Tajikistan; and other inter Islamic conflicts. While the plight of Christians and Animists in Sudan remains hidden from most people despite 2 million mainly Africans being killed by the Arab Islamic regime, including forced starvation and slavery. Yet Arabs and Muslims state time and again that they are brothers and that Palestinian Arab suffering is a crime against humanity. While Arab persecution of all non-Muslims in Saudi Arabia; slavery in Sudan and massacres of non-Muslims; Berber persecution in Algeria; Coptic Christian persecution in Egypt; and other hostile acts by Arabs remain hidden from the mass media."

Myth: United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 calls for immediate Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders: Fact: Resolution 242 makes two points in relation to drawing borders in the Middle East. First, it calls for a "withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict." Notably, there is no article or modifier applied to the word "territories." This is in fact not a semantic detail; the omission was deliberate and meant to highlight the fact that there was no expectation that Israel would be forced to resume the pre-1967 borders. Efforts by Soviet First Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Kuznetsov failed to convince the council members that adding the word "all" would be productive; the Security Council rejected the Soviet draft and unanimously adopted the British-drafted text as Resolution 242. Moreover, Resolution 242 calls for "Termination of all claims or states of belligerence and respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence of every State in the area, and their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." Such recognition by the Arab powers of Israel's right to peaceful existence has never occurred. Eugene Rostow, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law and Public Affairs at Yale University and Chairman of the Interdepartmental Control Group responsible for shaping U.S. policy in the Middle East at the time, wrote, "until the states concerned in the dispute make peace in accordance with Resolution 242, the Security Council decided, Israel could remain in the territories it held after the Six Day War as occupying power. The legality and legitimacy of its presence as occupying power is thus certified by the Security Council."
From "occupied territories" to "disputed territories" (Dore Gold): "The politically-loaded term "occupied territories" or "occupation" seems to apply only to Israel and is hardly ever used when other territorial disputes are discussed, especially by interested third parties. For example, the U.S. Department of State refers to Kashmir as "disputed areas. Similarly in its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the State Department describes the patch of Azerbaijan claimed as an independent republic by indigenous Armenian separatists as "the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabakh."
Israeli Settlements and International Law (MFA)
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE ARAB-ISRAEL CONFLICT
(Extracts from "Israel and Palestine - Assault on the Law of Nations", Prof. Julius Stone): (PDF 1.4 MB)
"The legality of Israel's presence in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza has been the subject of heated argument since 1967. Some regard these areas as illegally occupied, others as disputed territories and there is an obvious need for clarity if the subject is to be discussed rationally in terms of facts rather than assumptions."

"The EU's relations with West Bank and Gaza Strip" (European Union Report 2000): "Palestinian foreign trade is presently heavily concentrated on Israel, with about 90% of imports coming from Israel, and about 80% of exports going to Israel. The most important other trading partners are Egypt, Jordan, the Gulf States and the Netherlands. Despite the conclusion of trade and co-operation agreements between the Palestinians and Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, as well as the European Union, the United States and others, which all provide for preferential access for Palestinian exports, there has been almost no geographical diversification of trade." This was in July 2000, before the start of Arafat's terror war against Israel in Sep 2000 trying to "kill Israel", the client which gave the Palestinians more than 80% of the business. Today it is easy to see that Arafat's terrorism ruined the whole Palestinian economy.

Two Years of Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis. An Assessment (Summary, The World Bank, Mar 5, 2003) (PDF, 48 KB)

(From World Bank's Press Release No: 2003/241/MNA): "Twenty-seven months after the outbreak of the intifada, 60 percent of the population of the West Bank and Gaza live under a poverty line of US$2 per day. The numbers of the poor have tripled from 637,000 in September 2000 to nearly 2 million today. The World Bank’s new report, “Two Years of Intifada, Closures and Palestinian Economic Crisis”, surveys the economic and social damage caused by the current conflict and proposes measures to help stabilize the ailing Palestinian economy ... All Palestinian economic indicators continued their dramatic decline through the second year of the intifada. Gross national income per capita has fallen to nearly half of what it was two years ago. More than 50 percent of the work force is unemployed. Physical damage resulting from the conflict amounted to US$728 million by the end of August 2002. Between June 2000 and June 2002, Palestinian exports declined by almost a half, and imports by a third. Investment shrunk from an estimated US$1.5 billion in 1999 to a mere US$140 million last year. Overall national income losses in just over two years have reached US$5.4 billion ? the equivalent of one full year of national income prior to the intifada.The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) financial situation remains precarious. As a result of rising unemployment, reduced demand and the Government of Israel’s withholding of taxes collected on the PA’s behalf, monthly revenues dropped from US$91 million in late 2000 to US$19 million today. A collapse of the PA has been avoided by donor budget support, which totals US$1.1 billion over the last two years. Seventy-five percent of this has come from Arab countries. The recent resumption of revenue transfer by the Government of Israel is a positive development. With unemployment rising and incomes collapsing, over half a million Palestinians in this formerly middle-income economy are now fully dependent on food aid. Per capita food consumption has declined by 30 percent in the past two years, and the incidence of severe malnutrition recently reported in Gaza by Johns Hopkins University is equivalent to levels found in some of the poorer sub-Saharan countries. The proximate cause of Palestinian economic crisis is closure - the imposition by the Government of Israel (GOI) of restrictions on the movement of Palestinian people and goods across borders and within the West Bank and Gaza. Closure is viewed by GOI as regrettable but necessary in order to protect Israeli citizens from violent attacks."

Dispelling common myths about the proposed Palestinian state (Zalman Shoval, Jerusalem Post, Jan 29, 2003)

Palestinian universities in East-Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza Strip (all founded after 1967 when Israel took over these territories from Arab Jordan and Arab Egypt):
Al Azhar University of Gaza
Al-Quds University (6 campuses in Jerusalem and West Bank)
Arab American University of Jenin
Bethlehem University of Bethlehem
Birzeit University of Birzeit

Hebron University of Hebron
Ibrahimieh Community College of Jerusalem
Islamic University of Gaza
Palestine Polytechnic Institute
An-Najah National University of Nablus official website: "In 1977 it became An-Najah National University with Faculties of Arts and Science. In 1978 An-Najah National University joined the Association of Arab Universities as a full member. The university grew and advanced from this point forward constructing auditoriums, a library and a student center until it was declared a "closed military area" by the Israeli authorities in 1988. It was reopened in 1991 and has been fully functioning since. It has 10 Undergraduate Faculties, 30 Masters, and one Ph.D program. The university has also added nine professional and technical centers, such as the Center for Water and Environmental Studies and the Center for Urban and Regional Planning. An-Najah National University continues to advance and develop and offer the highest level of secondary education in the West Bank. The foundation has already been laid for its new campus, which will house the School of Medicine, a Teaching Hospital and its existing Science and Technical Faculties, and An-Najah hopes to expand to hold more than 10,000 students by the new millenium.” You got it? From 1948-1967, under the occupation of the Arab Jordanian brothers, Nablus got no university. But since 1977, under Israeli rule, Nablus not only got their first university but “the university grew and advanced”. Needless to say, while tens of thousands of Arabs study at Israeli universities, no Jew can safely enter Nablus: Hamas and Islamic Jihad Triumph in Al-Najah University Student Elections. The USA and the EU classify Hamas and Islamic Jihad as terrorist organizations.

Who Is Really Oppressing the Palestinians? (David Meir-Levi, FP, Feb 3, 2006): "A heartless, Machiavellian Arab leadership bent on violence, war, terrorism, destruction and genocide subordinated Palestinian hopes and aspirations to their own dark plans; even while Zionists in the pre-State period and the Israeli government thereafter accepted, supported, and attempted to assist the Palestinian people."

The truth about Christians in 'Palestine' (Arab-American journalist Joseph Farah. WND, Feb 28, 2003: "Arafat's Islamo-fascist storm troopers have shown nothing but contempt for Christians and their holy sites – particularly in the last five or six years."

My new Muslim hero (Joseph Farah, WND, Nov 28, 2001): "... Zohair Hamdan, the muktar of the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sur Bahir, was gunned down by would-be assassins who fired nine rounds, hitting the Arab peace crusader with five. When Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods were scheduled to fall under Palestinian Authority control under the peace plan of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Hamdan protested, saying he would prefer to remain under Israeli sovereignty rather than Arafat's. Courageously, Hamdan did something that is without precedent in the world of Arab politics. He launched a petition campaign, collecting more than 10,000 signatures of Jerusalem Arabs opposing Arafat's rule."

Which Came First - Terrorism or "Occupation"? (MFA)
Victims of Terror (CNN Special)
Victims of Palestinian Violence and Terrorism since September 2000 (MFA)
Jenin and Other Palestinian Cities: Operation Defensive Shield (Executive Summary of IAC Report, July 25, 2002) (PDF, 131 KB)
Jenin and Other Palestinian Cities: Operation Defensive Shield (IAC Report, July 25, 2002) (PDF, 1.08 MB)

Balancing Security and Human Rights in the Palestinian Justice System (Human
Rights Watch, Nov 2001)
History Isn't on the Palestinians' Side. Arafat's strategy is suicidal in more ways than one. (Victor Davis Hanson, The Wall Street Journal)

Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements (1993):

Article XV RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES

1. Disputes arising out of the application or interpretation of this Declaration of Principles, or any subsequent agreements pertaining to the interim period, shall be resolved by negotiations through the Joint Liaison Committee to be established pursuant to Article X above.

2. Disputes which cannot be settled by negotiations may be resolved by a mechanism of conciliation to be agreed upon by the parties.

3. The parties may agree to submit to arbitration disputes relating to the interim period, which cannot be settled through conciliation. To this end, upon the agreement of both parties, the parties will establish an Arbitration Committee.

Palestinians' premier is no moderate (Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe, Mar 30, 2003)

Stuck on a Barrier That's Not on the Road Map (Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, Aug 8, 2003): "There have been nearly 100 Palestinian suicide bombings. All the terrorists came from the West Bank, where the barrier is being built. Not a single one has come from Gaza. Why? Because there already is a fence separating Gaza from Israel. ... In America, we build stretches of fence along the Mexican border to prevent foreigners from coming in to take jobs. It takes a lot of audacity to demand that Israel stop building a fence whose purpose is to prevent foreigners from coming in to commit mass murder. As part of the propaganda campaign against the barrier, it has been called a wall. In fact, it is a fence, with electronics on either side to prevent infiltrators. It is wall-like for only about a tenth of its length -- in just two places, both along the Trans-Israel Highway. Why? Because Palestinian gunmen had been shooting from Palestinian territory onto the highway and killing innocent Israelis."

Palestinian Pretense & Israeli Reality. What the world knows, but can’t say, to be true (Victor Davis Hanson, NRO, Mar 18, 2003): "Much of the problem, then, quite simply is also psychological and arises because a Jewish state is right smack in the middle of the Arab world — and by every measure of economic, political, social, and cultural success thriving amid misery. Without oil, without a large population, without friendly countries on its borders, without vast real estate, and without the Suez Canal, it somehow provides its citizenry with a way of life far more humane than what is found in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, or Egypt. Yet the world listens to the Palestinians' often-duplicitous leadership — despite the corrupt nature and murderous past history of Mr. Arafat's regime — because its sponsors sell a good part of the globe's oil. And to risk their wrath, one would have to support a few million Jews, not hundreds of millions of, say, British, Swedes, or Italians. And so we give not a damn over millions of innocents elsewhere butchered over millions of acres each year worldwide, but instead focus on what the Palestinians lost while attempting to destroy their neighbors."

The Gaza Strip’s Palestinians do not live in the world's most crowded place. Compare:
Gaza Strip: 1.48 million residents on 360 km² = 4,118/km²
Singapore: 6,400/km²
Monaco: 16,818/km²
Hong Kong Administrative Region, China: 6,352/km²
Tel Aviv, Israel: 7,533/km²
Ashdod, Israel: 4,381/km²
Jerusalem, Israel: 5,768/km²
Beirut, Lebanon: 12,500/km²
Damascus City: 6,680/km²
Cairo, Egypt: 37,136/km²
Casablanca, Morocco: 9,132/km²
Istanbul, Turkey: 6,211/km²
Copenhagen, Denmark: 5,777/km²
New York, USA: 10,482/km²
Paris, France: 24,948/km²
Barcelona, Spain: 16,094/km²
Athens, Greece: 7,604/km²
Berlin, Germany: 3,840/km²
Moscow, Russia: 9,685/km²
London, United Kingdom: 4,761/km²
Naples, Italy: 8,334/km²
Taipei, Taiwan: .9,660/km²
Mumbay, India: 21,880/km²
Lagos, Nigeria: 7,941/km²
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 4,781/km²
Mexico City, Mexico: 5,950/km²
Los Angeles, USA: 3,168/km²

How crowded is the Gaza Strip? (elderofziyon, Jan 4, 2009)

Palestinian betrayal of the Kurds (Alan Dershowitz, professor at Harvard Law School, KurdistanObserver.com/JP, Aug. 9, 2004)

Palestinian concerts spark discord (Qatar-based Aljazeera TV, Khalid Amayreh, July 10, 2005): “With the advent of summer every year, a cultural tug-of-war erupts in the West Bank. The issue is not the omnipresent Israeli-Palestinian strife, nor the increasingly contentious elections, in which each party seeks to assert its presence. The issue is the summer carnivals. … This past week, dozens of armed men affiliated with Fatah's armed wing, the al-Aqsa Brigades, cut short a rock concert by a popular Palestinian signer in Nablus, the largest town in the West Bank.”

Jerusalem Arab tortured and murdered over home sale to Jews (Khaled Abu Toameh, JP, Apr 14, 2006): "In 1995, the Palestinian Legislative council voted unanimously in favor of the death sentence for land brokers who sell lands to Jews. Former PA justice minister Freih Abu Medein announced that the death sentence would be applied to land sellers based on the Jordanian law which was authorized as PA law. The PA mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ikremah Sabri, announced a fatwa in the same year authorizing the killing of any Arab who sells property to Jews. The fatwa also forbids Muslims from burying the perpetrators in Muslim cemeteries."

British National Archives unveil presence of Nazi S.S. agents in Mandatory Palestine, working closely with Palestinian leaders (YNet, May 7, 2006)

The Arab/Muslim Nazi Connection (Christian Action for Israel, Apr/May 2000): "Hitler's Mein Kampf currently ranks sixth on the best-seller list among Palestinian Arabs. Luis Al-Haj, translator of the Arabic edition, writes glowingly in the preface about how Hitler's "ideology" and his "theories of nationalism, dictatorship and race… are advancing especially within our Arabic States."

Palestinian Grand Mufti Haj Amin Al Husseini Meeting with Hitler (TV Report, Aug 16, 2006)
Hitler, The Mufti of Jerusalem and Modern Islamo-Nazism (TV Report, Aug 16, 2006)

1941, Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitlerand Palestinian Arabs and World Muslim Congress leader Haj Amin El Husseini | Meeting minutes | Nov 2, 1943, Nazi Germany solidarity telegram:"To the Grand Mufti Amin El Husseini: The National Socialist movement of Greater Germany has, since its inception, inscribed upon its flag the fight against the world Jewry. It has therefore followed with particular sympathy the struggle of freedom-loving Arabs, especially in Palestine, against Jewish interlopers. In the recognition of this enemy and of the common struggle against it lies the firm foundation of the natural alliance that exists between the National Socialist Greater Germany and the freedom-loving Muslims of the whole world. In this spirit I am sending you on the anniversary of the infamous Balfour declaration my hearty greetings and wishes for the successful pursuit of your struggle until the final victory. Signed: Reichsfuehrer SS Heinrich Himmler"

1973, Communist Germany solidarity paradewith the leader of the Palestinian Arabs



Palestinian Autonomy related documents (MEMRI)
CIA World Factbook (West Bank)
CIA World Factbook (Gaza Strip)