- In 1998, PA historians held a conference in which they devised a policy of historical revisionism. The developing PA educational system would not aim to teach historical truth but rather to convey a political history aimed at denying Israel's right to exist in the Land of Israel. Palestinian academics, recognizing the futility of attempting to erase the documented history of the Jews, instead adopted a different solution of literally stealing the identity of the Jews by identifying ancient Hebrews as both Arabs and Muslims and denying their connection to today's Jews of the state of Israel. Another component of the negation of Jewish history is the denial of modern Jewish experience-including the horrors of the Holocaust.
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Many PA academics have gone beyond the theoretical "struggle." They teach that the killing of Jews by Muslims is a precondition of world redemption. Because Jews are inherently evil and an existential danger, their annihilation is justified self-defense, a service to humanity, and an enactment of God's will.
There is much more, including Holocaust denial.
In 1998, PA historians held a conference in which they devised a policy of historical revisionism. Dr. Yussuf Alzamili, head of the History Department at the Khan Yunis Government Educational College, presented the approach of the developing PA educational system. The goal would not be to teach historical truth but rather to convey a political history aimed at denying Israel's right to exist in the Land of Israel. Thus, at the conference, "Alzamili called on all universities and colleges to be active in the writing of the history of Palestine and not to enable the defiled and the enemies to distort it...or to enable legitimacy for the existence of Jews on this land."[4]
Historians eager to follow this lead were regularly featured on PA TV's educational programs. They fabricated an entire Palestinian Arab history, packaged it with academic credibility, and erased Jewish history from the land.
The challenge to PA academics was considerable, since much of the Jewish historical record has continuous independent and archeological documentation. Even Islam recognized the Hebrew narrative to a great degree. Hence the Palestinian academics, recognizing the futility of attempting to erase the documented history of the Jews, instead adopted a different solution of literally stealing the identity of the Jews by identifying ancient Hebrews as both Arabs and Muslims and denying their connection to today's Jews of the state of Israel.
One leading historian, Jirar al-Qidwa, chosen by Arafat as an adviser and today chairman of the PA Public Library, has been featured regularly and prominently on educational TV and was a major promoter of this "replacement" ideology. Although historical records confirm that the first presence of Arabs in the Land of Israel was after the Muslim conquest in the seventh century C.E., Al-Qidwa unabashedly and emphatically turned the Hebrews of the Bible into Arabs: "Regarding the Israelites [of the Bible], they were Arab tribes and among the purest.... And believe me, in Allah's name, that my blood has more of the Israelites' blood and the blood of the ancient Hebrews than does the blood of Netanyahu and Sharon."[5]
Prof. Issam Sissalem, chairman of the History Department at the Islamic University of Gaza and host of PA TV educational programs for many years, has also been a driving force of this historical revision:
[Biblical Hebrews] were primitive shepherd tribes. They had no history. Titus slaughtered them, and this land was cleansed of those fools...the ancient Hebrews were destroyed, utterly decimated. Actually, they were foreigners in this land. They were primitive Bedouin from the Arabian desert. This land is ours. Jerusalem and every one of her stones are ours. They [the Jews] are liars. Their allegations are lies and are worthy of scorn and ridicule.[6]
Turning the ancient Hebrews into Arabs was not enough for the PA, and the religion of Islam was attached to all biblical characters with similar fervor. Therefore, even though Islam was first introduced by Mohammed in the seventh century, long after ancient Judaism, the academics denied the existence and legitimacy of ancient Judaism by turning it into Islam. As Al-Qidwa stated:
Judaism is not a religion in the full sense of the word, and is not a nation at all.... Where does this religion come from? The source of Judaism is the Mosaic Law...which is the continuation of Islam of our master Abraham.... Several researchers...have found in the Bible [Torah], when translated correctly, texts that prove that it is the continuation of Islam.[7]
Denying the central place of Jewish worship was likewise critical to this replacement ideology, as was the denial of the Jewish presence in Jerusalem. Sissalem, in his weekly program with children in the TV studio, explained that the tradition of the Temple in Jerusalem was based on "Jewish lies":
Girl asks Sissalem: "Tell us about the Night Journey and Ascent to Heaven and the Al-Buraq Wall that the Jews falsely claim as the Wailing Wall and hold ceremonies there."
Sissalem: "That's the place where Mohammed went to Heaven, and it is part of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Zionist enemy falsely claims that this wall is part of the so-called ‘Temple.' This is a deceitful lie."
Girl 2: "We hear many claims by the Jews that Solomon's Temple is located in Jerusalem under the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Is this true?"
Sissalem: "This is the biggest lie in history by those liars."[8]This revisionism, initiated in 1998, continues unabated until today. During Ramadan broadcasting in October 2006, Dr. Hassan Khader, founder of the Al- Quds Encyclopedia and regular TV host, repeated the claim that the Jews have no ancient historical connection to the Western Wall of the Temple:
The first connection of the Jews to this site began in the sixteenth century.... The Jewish connection to this site is a recent connection, not ancient...like the roots of the Islamic connection.... Who would have believed that the Israelis would arrive 1,400 years [after the beginning of Islam], conquer Jerusalem, and make this wall into their special place of worship, where they worship and pray?[9]
The purpose of this revisionism, as expressed by Alzamili in 1998, was not academic accuracy but was inherently political-namely, to deny the "legitimacy for the existence of Jews on this land."[10]
Following this lead, many academics did not leave the political conclusions to the TV viewers but stated them explicitly. For example, after repeating his denials of any Jewish connection to the land, Sissalem announced the political implications: "They [Jews-Israelis] are like a parasitic worm that eats a snail and lives in its shell. We will not let anyone live in our shell!"[11]