Dear Editor –
A comparison of the Basic Law of Israel and the Palestine Basic Law is illuminating.
The Palestine Basic Law says Arabic shall be the official Language of Palestine. No other language is accorded a special status, as Arabic is in Israel’s Jewish Nation-State Law.
The Palestine Basic Law, Article 3, claims Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. There are many ways to approach this interesting claim.
Security Council records from 1956 quote Ahmad Shukairy: “Palestine is nothing but southern Syria.”
Zuheir Mohsen, in his 1977 Trouw newspaper interview, informs the reader that “Just for political reasons we carefully underwrite our Palestinian identity. Because it is of national interest for the Arabs to advocate the existence of Palestinians to balance Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists only for tactical reasons. The establishment of a Palestinian state is a new tool to continue the fight against Israel and for Arab unity.”
Jerusalem is claimed as the capital of a state that did not exist in the Arab mind until it became politically useful to advance such a claim. It is also worth noting that since modern statistics were kept, from 1860 onward, that Jews outnumbered Muslims in Jerusalem by 2- or 3- to one. Jews face Jerusalem when they pray, but Muslims turn toward Mecca. Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Koran.
Lastly, Article 4 states that Sharia shall be the main source of Palestinian legislation, and Article 19 advises that freedoms must not contradict the law. This does not conform to the “democratic, secular state” platform of Fatah.
Julia Lutch
Davis,CA
SOURCES:
https://www.palestinianbasiclaw.org/basic-law/2003-amended-basic-law
AND
http://repository.un.org/bitstream/handle/11176/83977/S_PV.724-EN.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y
See Item 44 on page 10:
“Palestine is nothing but southern Syria.”
Ahmad Shukairy
AND
James Dorsey’s interview with Zuheir Mohsen in the Dutch daily “Trouw” from March 31, 1977.
“Alleen maar om politieke redenen onderschrijven wij zorgvuldig onze Palestijnse identiteit. Het is namelijk van nationaal belang voor de Arabieren om het bestaan van de Palestijnen aan te moedigen tegenover het zionisme. Ja, het bestaan van een aparte Palestijnse identiteit is er alleen om tactische redenen. De stichting van een Palestijnse staat is een nieuw middel om de strijd tegen Israel en voor de Arabische eenheid voort te zetten.”
Run this through Google Translate and you get: “Just for political reasons we carefully underwrite our Palestinian identity. Because it is of national interest for the Arabs to advocate the existence of Palestinians to balance Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists only for tactical reasons. The establishment of a Palestinian state is a new tool to continue the fight against Israel and for Arab unity.