PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein: "The Palestinian people does not exist"
Way back on March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview with Palestine Liberation Organization executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.

Albert Einstein
Letters to the Editor
New York Times
December 4, 1948

TO THE EDITORS OF THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our times is the emergence in the newly created state of Israel of the "Freedom Party" (Tnuat Haherut), a political party closely akin in its organization, methods, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties. It was formed out of the membership and following of the former Irgun Zvai Leumi, a terrorist, right-wing, chauvinist organization in Palestine.

The current visit of Menachem Begin, leader of this party, to the United States is obviously calculated to give the impression of American support for his party in the coming Israeli elections, and to cement political ties with conservative Zionist elements in the United States. Several Americans of national repute have lent their names to welcome his visit. It is inconceivable that those who oppose fascism throughout the world, if correctly informed as to Mr. Begin's political record and perspectives, could add their names and support to the movement he represents.

Before irreparable damage is done by way of financial contributions, public manifestations in Begin's behalf, and the creation in Palestine of the impression that a large segment of America supports Fascist elements in Israel, the American public must be informed as to the record and objectives of Mr. Begin and his movement. The public avowals of Begin's party are no guide whatever to its actual character. Today they speak of freedom, democracy and anti-imperialism, whereas until recently they openly preached the doctrine of the Fascist state. It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character; from its past actions we can judge what it may be expected to do in the future.

Attack on Arab Village

A shocking example was their behavior in the Arab village of Deir Yassin. This village, off the main roads and surrounded by Jewish lands, had taken no part in the war, and had even fought off Arab bands who wanted to use the village as their base. On April 9 (THE NEW YORK TIMES), terrorist bands attacked this peaceful village, which was not a military objective in the fighting, killed most of its inhabitants? 240 men, women, and children - and kept a few of them alive to parade as captives through the streets of Jerusalem. Most of the Jewish community was horrified at the deed, and the Jewish Agency sent a telegram of apology to King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. But the terrorists, far from being ashamed of their act, were proud of this massacre, publicized it widely, and invited all the foreign correspondents present in the country to view the heaped corpses and the general havoc at Deir Yassin. The Deir Yassin incident exemplifies the character and actions of the Freedom Party.

Within the Jewish community they have preached an admixture of ultranationalism, religious mysticism, and racial superiority. Like other Fascist parties they have been used to break strikes, and have themselves pressed for the destruction of free trade unions. In their stead they have proposed corporate unions on the Italian Fascist model. During the last years of sporadic anti-British violence, the IZL and Stern groups inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window-smashing, and wide-spread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute.

The people of the Freedom Party have had no part in the constructive achievements in Palestine. They have reclaimed no land, built no settlements, and only detracted from the Jewish defense activity. Their much-publicized immigration endeavors were minute, and devoted mainly to bringing in Fascist compatriots.

Discrepancies Seen

The discrepancies between the bold claims now being made by Begin and his party, and their record of past performance in Palestine bear the imprint of no ordinary political party. This is the unmistakable stamp of a Fascist party for whom terrorism (against Jews, Arabs, and British alike), and misrepresentation are means, and a "Leader State" is the goal.

In the light of the foregoing considerations, it is imperative that the truth about Mr. Begin and his movement be made known in this country. It is all the more tragic that the top leadership of American Zionism has refused to campaign against Begin's efforts, or even to expose to its own constituents the dangers to Israel from support to Begin.

The undersigned therefore take this means of publicly presenting a few salient facts concerning Begin and his party; and of urging all concerned not to support this latest manifestation of fascism.

ISIDORE ABRAMOWITZ
HANNAH ARENDT
ABRAHAM BRICK
RABBI JESSURUN CARDOZO
ALBERT EINSTEIN
HERMAN EISEN, M.D.
HAYIM FINEMAN
M. GALLEN, M.D.
H.H. HARRIS
ZELIG S. HARRIS
SIDNEY HOOK
FRED KARUSH
BRURIA KAUFMAN
IRMA L. LINDHEIM
NACHMAN MAISEL
SEYMOUR MELMAN
MYER D. MENDELSON
M.D., HARRY M. OSLINSKY
SAMUEL PITLICK
FRITZ ROHRLICH
LOUIS P. ROCKER
RUTH SAGIS
ITZHAK SANKOWSKY
I.J. SHOENBERG
SAMUEL SHUMAN
M. SINGER
IRMA WOLFE
STEFAN WOLF

It is unfortunate that the Palestinians did not accept the original 1947 partition agreement drawn up by the United Nations which divided the land equally between the Israelis and Palestinians. They refused then, as most do now, to acknowledge that the State of Israel had a right to exist. The entire 60+ year conflict would have been avoided if the Palestinians would not have been hell bent on the destruction of Israel.

Yep, they've rejected every land swap offered them since then too. Not sure why anyone expects this time will be any different. Even if Fatah somehow miraculously agrees to some kind of peace accord, it won't affect the elements that still exist sworn to Israel's destruction within the West Bank never mind Hamas' controlled Gaza.

Those were different times---Pre Israel times.....

"It is in its actions that the terrorist party betrays its real character from its past actions we can judge what may be expected to do in the future."

Perhaps you should think of the Oslo Accords in which Israel invited the PLO to set up shop in the West Bank and Gaza, Perhaps you should stretch your memory to the failure of negotions under President Clinton and the ensuiing Intifadah the viscious bus bombings, cafe bombings, school bombings that were done by Palestinians.

Perhaps you should think of Israels complete withdrawal from Gaza and the relentless rocket attacks and the Palestinian Authority losing complete control of Gaza to a more ruthless murderous leadership.

"But the terrorists far from being ashamed of their acts were proud of this massacre, publicised it widely..." Perhaps you should think of all the martyrs of Palestine that killed innocent Israelis and proudly displayed their achievements on TV and in schools and city squares.

None of this does not mean that the Palestinians cannot change from their very recent past but at the very least Palestinians have to recognize Israel as an Independent Jewish State (which they currently do not say)---afterall---who are the Israelis really negotiating with---the most recent recent memories that the average Israeli has, is not a good one.

Check this out if you think Fatah and the people of the West Bank are all behind this peace process:

And yet, in this city that Mr Blair hails as the model of a future Palestinian state, people are still disenchanted. When the Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas, shot four settlers dead on the eve of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in Washington, even policemen and local chiefs cheered. "Our grassroots were even more thrilled than Hamas's," says Ata Abu Rumeila, provincial leader of the ruling Fatah faction.

Palestinians and the talks: Suspicion prevails

Nadia - You are correct. That mentality has never changed, and never will. They can put up a front pretending they want peace, but arabs want Israel, piece by piece.

I say we should stay out of it and let Israel and the Palestinians fight it out. The rest of the world could stand guard and keep anyone from interfering until it is settled and then these "peace negotiations" that have been going on falsely since the end of WW2 wouldn't be necessary.

I mean, why not, other countries want Israel off the map, why not let them fully defend themselves and see what comes out in the wash? I've been hearing about this crap my entire life. Time for some real resolution.

Yeah, right! This is the same as having the USA invading Mexico, taking half of its territory, no respect to international laws, and then telling the Mexicans to come and fight with their rocks and sticks...very "balanced" war!

It is not the same as America invading Mexico. Israel did not invade anybody. There was no Israel prior to 1948. The first Jews to settle in the area bought land from the inhabitants. There was no disputed territory until after the war started by the Arab League. If they would have accepted the mandate of the UN, who was actually in control of the area, the mess would not exist today.

It's so OBVIOUS that it's the EXACT SAME THING as what happened between the U.S. and Mexico! Slavery too. And the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII and of course, 9/11!

:P

with all of the time past and lessons learned many people aren't in favor of their tax dollars secretly going some where (like a foreign country) to aid a military that bull-dozes over protestors about this land in dispute.

who are we to sit idle as we are lied to and stolen from, then cheer "god's people" while a nation of kids (bassically) get hearded as goyim? we would be worst than the both of them.

change is good -

This is NOT the same as the USA invading Mexico. Mexico has borders, it's a recognized government. Where was palestine before 1948? what government? who was the leaderthen? what borders? can you answer that?

Israel establish a state in the Transjordanian desert. THAT is the history if you look at the 1947 maps.

The west can't even be at peace with the vile and violent muslim nations, do you REALLY think that anything Israel does will allow them to be free from the terrorism that comes inherently with muslims? Really? There will never be peace until the muslims convert or kill all the infidels.

Stay strong Israel your people have been chosen by God himself.

And yes the US government has it's share of corruption and violence. So go and point fingers all you want, that doesn't change what muslims are or what they do world wide.

Man, it would be funny if not sad the misinformed people that walk in the face of the earth. Israel is the most terrorist country in the world! They completely disregard the rule of law and had made a mockery of the international opinion.

They have killed Americans trying to help the Palestinians, showing that they are above the law. Do you know who Rachel Corrie who was killed trying to protect the demolition of a Palestinian family house? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfAvj5g3dOY

Get you head out of the hole and google "Israeli Atrocities" and I guarantee you will not think like that again. Even Israelis are against their terrorist government.

If you want peace, you must work for peace...and that is definitely NOT what the Israeli government wants...

"Stay strong Israel your people have been chosen by God himself"

....Excuse me! So God, if one exists, doesn't care about anyone else, i.e., no one else counts, we are just totally irrelevant in the eyes of God? What arrogant, self-possessed bull bleep for a people to bestow a title like God's Chosen People on themselves. Is it any wonder why they have incurrred such animosity over the course of history from so many of the "non-chosen" people of the world?

to some people this makes way too much sense. the clever politicians figure a way to make it seem more complicated than this, but when it's imminent peril to their own butts simplicity finds it's way into their realm of reality.

the best arguement schits have is the fact that god gave it to them. does god let you keep land that was never meant to be desecrated by blemished tithes? stay with it if you can.

Because they need the land and the access to water...basically, they want to destroy the Palestinians and keep their land...

Israelis use white phosphorus on civilians. Israelis have nuclear weapons that they will allow no inspections on. Israelis are gobbling up land and forcing Palestinians to live in what amounts to concentration camps. I dont want certain elements to exist! That dosent mean im going to act on that or that i even have the means to.

Koboid

Refer to #1.1

god will bless israel. can you fathom the conccept of solomons temple gone and heaven born within you? or the geographic land of israel taken and a new jerusalem given among the inheritance for the meek believers of the christ? the son of man is here and the kingdom is at hand.

dont be left behind by churches, mosques and synagaugs still waiting for x to come.

Israelis are gobbling up land and forcing Palestinians to live in what amounts to concentration camps.

Both the claims are exaggerated. The Palestinians are force to live in refugee camps by other Arabs. Look it up. There is not a single refugee camps in Israel. As far as gobbling up land, did you hear of the Gaza Disengagement in 2005? Everything is not as black and white as you make it sound.

Of course there are no refugee camps in Israel, heard of ethnic cleansing?

Ethnic cleansing is occurring between the Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq and now in Pakistan, killing tens of thousands of people. We hear daily of car bombs going off in crowded market places so don't make accusations that clearly apply to the Muslims who have been killing each other for centuries. By the way, over 20% of Israel’s population is Arab and contrary to your lunatic suggestion, they have better healthcare, living standards and freedoms than any of their Arab neighbors living in Muslim countries.

Over 20% of Israel's population is Arab

If the Israelis are committing genocide or ethnic cleansing, they really, really suck at it since the population of the Palestinian Territories has doubled from 2 to 4 million since 1995:

Palestinian Territories Population

"freedom is my bag baby" you are clearly too lazy to read the facts. there are no Israelites anymore those were the hebrews of the bible (who the Palistinians are descendents of) and the Palestinians have been on that land for thousands of years. The Israelis can't make land claims to something after thousands of years. If they could do that then someone could just come to your house and kick you out of it saying that their great ancestor from 200 years ago owned the land your house is own so its theirs now. get it?

There's actually still quite a bit of discord between the "original" population and the Ashkenazi settlers from Europe today. Today, there's a lot of discrimination against Russian emigrants and everyone considered Sephardic which used to mean Jews from Portugal and Spain but now means just about anyone who isn't Ashkenazi. Here's some information about the demographics of Israel from Wikipedia:

Israel, the Jewish nation-state, is the only country in which Jews make up a majority of the citizens.[83][84] Israel was established as an independent democratic state on May 14, 1948.[85] Of the 120 members in its parliament, the Knesset,[86] currently, 12 members of the Knesset are Arab citizens of Israel, most representing Arab political parties and one of Israel's Supreme Court judges is a Palestinian Arab.[87]

Between 1948 and 1958, the Jewish population rose from 800,000 to two million.[88] Currently, Jews account for 75.8% of the Israeli population, or 5.4 million people.[1] The early years of the state of Israel were marked by the mass immigration of Holocaust survivors and Jews fleeing Arab lands.[89] Israel also has a large population of Ethiopian Jews, many of whom were airlifted to Israel in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[90] Between 1974 and 1979 nearly 227,258 immigrants arrived in Israel, about half being from the Soviet Union.[91] This period also saw an increase in immigration to Israel from Western Europe, Latin America, and the United States[92]

A trickle of immigrants from other communities has also arrived, including Indian Jews and others, as well as some descendants of Ashkenazi Holocaust survivors who had settled in countries such as the United States, Argentina, Australia and South Africa. Some Jews have emigrated from Israel elsewhere, due to economic problems or disillusionment with political conditions and the continuing Arab-Israeli conflict. Jewish Israeli emigrants are known as yordim.[93]

State of Israel

Can you people just keep GOD out of this? The poor guy must be so pissed about all of you doing all this bad things in his name! Get real people. You don't want peace...you want war! All this religion non-sense is about power and money! Get rid of religion, stay in your own country, leave people alone and there is no more wars, I promise.

Change - Are you referring to muslims? It sounds very much like muslim religion followers.

No land was stolen, baby!

depends on how one defines stolen. according to the book, israel would be taken away due to iniquities. sounds like god may have taken it back and given it away to someone else

Why should any Muslim country give up land, maybe a big chunk of California couls have been their "promised land" how do you think that would go over.? Why did Britan put the Israelis smack in the middle of Palestine? Britan could have sheltered them, no one wanted them.

Kobold--what is your point.

Californians are not Muslim Arab Brothers. Californians did not wage war on Israel and Lost. Why should the US give California to the Palestinians? Don't you think --that after starting a war with Israel---Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan could have settled those Palestinians and not left them in the squaler of refugee camps---Don't you think that would have been brotherly.

Entire Jewish communities were decimated in the Arab world do to the war with Israel but Israel did not put these people in refugee camps---they were socialized into the society and settled as citizens of Israel.

This just did not happen within the Arab world. Instead Palestinians were discriminated against---not allowed to own land---forced to live in refugee camps---forced to feel defeated and inferior---and forced to feel that there was no way out. This is why there is terrorism today and why Israel is forced to take the blame. If this problem is ever to be resolved it is not just Israel that has to change---the brotherly Arab countries will have to begin to settle and grant citizenship to people that have lived within their borders and in refugee camps since 1948---FAT CHANCE IF YOU THINK THAT WILL EVER HAPPEN because ALL the Arab countries that surround Israel are amoung the most selfish, petty, and unprogressive countries in the world---they have kings, sheiks, dictators, presidents that pass their leadership to their sons etc. They definitely have the money to help just don't count on them giving a dime to help.

Jay, you need to get a history lesson...here it goes... Palestine and Israel 101...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYIXukpMIIY. Watch and learn, then talk about it. The worst thing is someone misinformed or worse saying something that he/she was taught by the American media...

Change, please tell me you didn't get all of your information from this elementary school youtube clip. It skips for 70 CE to 1500 to 1922. This leaves out some pretty important infomation. It also doesn't discuss the pogroms of Jews by Arabs that force almost 1 million Jews to flee Arab lands for Israel around the same time Palestinians were fleeing. Jay is absolutely correct in when he said:

Entire Jewish communities were decimated in the Arab world do to the war with Israel but Israel did not put these people in refugee camps---they were socialized into the society and settled as citizens of Israel.

This clip is far from being unbiased. It shows detailed information about the Palestinian views and nothing in depth about the Israeli side. There is far too much history to learn everything that is needed to be known in a 30 minute clip.

I'll agree with you here...

The worst thing is someone misinformed or worse saying something that he/she was taught by the American media...

but not having both sides of the story puts someone in the category you're describing.

Change - Yopu got your "history" lesson from this U-Tube? No wonder ignorance is the king here.

You crack me up.

"materialman" you are retarded. Abbas is not part of Hamas. He is a puppet president who is kept in his office only because he cooperates with israel in allowing them to do all the jacked up junk they do to the palestinians. The reason the arabs hate us soo much is because we continue to support israel in their illegal and jacked up actions against the palestinians. do some more homework bud.

"materialman" you are retarded. Abbas is not part of Hamas.

Other than being a clear violation of the COH, this statement is ridiculous. He did not say Abbas was part of Hamas. He noted that even if Abbas makes peace, Hamas will not recognise it. Before you attack someone and tell them to do homework, consider some yourself.

You are now on msnbc.com which doesn't have a Code of Honor!

:P

ive heard that the tax payers of US rightfully own that land. we're just waiting for the federal reserve to be audited. maybe they've washed our money. our children should inherit the land. and here we come. snoop dog might write a song about it.

Nadia - MSNBC discussion board is the newsvine and it does have COH.

ogx - Your English is horrible, but aside from that, we own a whole lot more than that land you are sarcastically reffering to. We give arabs 4 times more than we give to Israel. By your logic, we should own the middle east.

It's a separate service. The Code of Honor is for Newsvine. This is MSNBC. It even says so on the top of the page that it's MSNBC on Newsvine.

Since MSNBC is the parent company of Newsvine, they've sort of created a bridge between MSNBC and Newsvine to drive cross-site page views, unique visitors, etc. to drive advertising revenues, but they're two separate services with a shared GUI.

thanx 4 da update mr. piacci. is israel only a quarter of what is given to the arabs? how about the population and land mass?

please keep the numbers comin. some of us get our education here on msnbc.

thanks for posting that i watched the first few minutes of it i'm gonna watch the rest when i have more time later today

This is the beauty of the internet. No bias information. These people on the video are from all walks of life, no political agenda, and inclusive the Israelis. The problem is, again, the lack of information, and worse, the misguided information fed by the American media who, obviously, plays according to that 1% that control power. People forget that we, the 99%, can VOTE! So, yes, we can screw their plans if we exercise what DEMOCRACY is. Make your own decisions based on facts not Faux News, CNN, MSNBC and all the BSers.

This is the beauty of the internet. No bias information.

LOL!!!! No bias??? Wow. The internet can be a great source of information but that clip is far from unbiased.

Definition of UNBIASED

1
: free from bias; especially : free from all prejudice and favoritism : eminently fair <an unbiased opinion>

2

: having an expected value equal to a population parameter being estimated <an unbiased estimate of the population mean>

Change - You seems to be very passionate about somewhere 6000 miles away. But you don't voice concern about Southern Sudan which is much closer and is killing millions.

I just wonder if this has anything to do with.... religion?... nah.

Russia recently took over South Ossetia and Abkhazia and no one really batted an eye. Then last year the Sinhalese Buddhist majority decided they weren't going to care about civilians any more and literally obliterated the Tamil tigers along with a lot of the Tamil civilian population and no one really batted an eye. And of course there's the ongoing atrocities aided and abetted in some cases by U.N. so-called Peacekeepers in Congo and the ethnic cleansing and genocide that's going on in Darfur that people sometimes bat an eye at but really do nothing to stop....and so on....

Meanwhile the U.N. and especially the U.N. Human Rights Council which is a complete joke are obsessed with condemning Israel. The reality is that Palestinians have been kicked out, massacred, or thrown into squalid areas and refugee camps with second class citizen status with few to no rights everywhere in the Arab world and the Arab-Israelis have far more rights and a far better quality of life in Israel and the Palestinian Territories than they do anywhere in the Arab world.

Well said.

I second that.

Good observation.

Look at the maps of Israel from 1948 and today.

You are aware that between 1948 and today the Arab League declared a war in which they intended to massacre every Jew in Israel right? What do you think the world would have said had they been successful?

parkerjoe, Are you serious? You never heard of this?

http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_independence_arab_countries.php

But on May 15, 1948 with the termination of the Mandate, the declaration of the State of Israel, and the British departure, the states of the Arab League (armies from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Egypt, and a token force from Saudi Arabia) invaded the new country with the declared intent of destroying it.

The invasion was hardly surprising. Mufti el-Husseini, one of the worst Nazi collaborators, called for Jihad against Jews in a 1943 broadcast from Radio Berlin during the height of the Holocaust:

• Kill the Jews wherever you find them, this is pleasing to Allah.

Prior to the 1948 war against Israel, the Iraqi Prime Minister said all the Arabs would need would be "a few brooms" to drive the Jews into the sea. All they were waiting for was the British and said, "once we get the green light from the British we can easily throw out the Jews." [Quote from Sir Geoffrey Furlonge, "Palestine Is My Country: The Story of Musa Alami (Praeger Press, 1969)]

On the day that Israel declared its independence (May 15, 1948), Azzam Pasha, Secretary General of the Arab League, at Cairo press conference, (reported in the New York Times, May 16, 1948) declared "jihad", a holy war. He said that the Arab states rejected partition and intended to set up a "United State of Palestine." He then stated:

• This will be a war of extermination and a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres and the Crusades".

parkerjoe, are you going to answer? If you're going to attack what I say, at least defend your statements.

Some people don't like the truth. PJ is one of them.

Well it was the Israelites land before that. The united nations decided to step in and make a country out of the waste lands of Jordan to give to Israel after world war 2. The 7 day war was initiated by whom? It wasn't Israel. To the victor goes the spoils.

Where was palestine? If you can point to Ugoslavia today, I will show you palestine in 1947 map.

Both are missing on both maps.

They like to go to Vegas and gamble. When they lose money, they cry and throw tantrum asking for their money back.

In the modern world you cannot gain land through war.

Every heard of Southern Ossetia?

Gaza isn't a state. Palestine has never been a state. Both are territories. Palestine has always been a territory of some empire or other since it was created by Emperor Hadrian of Rome to stick it to the few Jews remaining in Judea after the Romans razed it around 70 AD. Palestine is a corruption of Philistine who were ancient enemies of the Hebrews and wiped out as a people around 600 years prior to the invention of Palestine.

Jordan, as Israel, Kuwait, and Iraq was, was arbitrarily carved out of the territory Great Britain received by mandate at the end of WWI from Turkey after the Ottoman Empire collapsed. British cartographers simply took their pens to maps without regard for cultural identity, religious affiliation, clan, tribe, ethnicity, etc. and drew borders based on traditional geographic markers such as mountains, rivers, and borders with existing nation states.

Now you've learned something today!

some say israels military is funded by america. if this is true, we are iinvolved. will you be infavor of our kids fighting for this?

how about we teach palestine to build solar panels for iran like germans do for america (who happen to be making a killing at it). solar can rival nuclear. i don't think iran knows this