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MEMRI: Palestinian Columnist In Response To UN Secretary-General’s
MEMRI Special Dispatch | 6766 | February 1, 2017
Palestinian Columnist In Response To UN Secretary-General’s Statements On
Jerusalem’s Jewish Connection: The Jews Have No Connection To Jerusalem Or
Palestine At Large
Fatah and PLO officials lashed out at the new secretary-general of the UN,
António Guterres, for remarks he made on January 28, 2017 to Israeli Radio.
Guterres said that there is no doubt Jerusalem is holy to all three major
monotheistic religions today, but it is “completely clear that the temple
which was demolished by the Romans was a Jewish temple.”
The Palestinian officials said that Guterres’s remarks encourage Israel to
step up its measures against Jerusalem, constitute direct aggression against
the Palestinian people’s rights in the city, and deal a blow to
international efforts for peace. They also undermine the UN’s credibility
and contradict truth, history and UNESCO’s resolution from October 2016
stating that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is a Muslim site.
‘Omar Al-Ghoul, a columnist for the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida who was an
advisor to former PA prime minister Salam Fayyad, published a scathing
article in which he demanded that Guterres apologize to the Palestinian
people for the injustice of his remarks. Jerusalem and all of Palestine,
from the river to the sea, belong to the Palestinian people, he wrote, and
the Jews have no historical connection to them. He added that Jerusalem
belongs to the Muslims and Christians alone, and that the Temple of Solomon
never existed in Palestine.
The following are excerpts from his article and from other Palestinian
responses to Guterres’s remarks.
Fatah, PLO Officials: Secretary-General’s Comments Deal A Blow To UN’s
Credibility, Encourage Terrorism Against Palestinians
PLO Executive Committee member Ahmed Majdalani called the UN
secretary-general’s statements “a severe breach of policy and a blow to the
UN’s credibility as an international body [reflecting] bias towards an
occupying force.” He added: “The secretary-general should clarify his
remarks, which undermine international efforts for peace and give the
occupation a green light to step up its measures against Jerusalem… The UN
secretary-general appears to be uninformed and not updated in the field in
which he engages, and we remind him of the resolution by UNESCO, which
considers the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the entire Haram Al-Sharif [i.e., Temple
Mount] to be a sacred Islamic site designated for worship.”
Fatah Revolutionary Committee deputy secretary Fayez Abu ‘Aita called the
secretary-general’s statements “direct aggression against the Palestinian
people’s rights in Jerusalem and [a show of] bias towards the occupation by
legitimizing and empowering the illegal Israeli presence in Jerusalem.” He
added that they “encourage Israel to use more terrorism against the
Palestinian people, to attack the sites sacred to Islam and to Christianity,
and to continue expanding settlement construction until the two-state
principle is eliminated.”
Columnist In PA Daily: Jerusalem And All Of Palestine, From The River To The
Sea, Is Muslim Land
‘Omar Al-Ghoul, a columnist for the PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida and advisor
to PA prime minister Salam Fayyad during the latter’s term in office,
harshly condemned Guterres: “The world expressed great optimism at Mr.
António Guterres’s recent appointment as UN secretary-general, especially in
light of his promise to reform this leading international institution in
order to develop it and in order for it to be able to follow events around
the world more quickly and vitally. But that optimism is apparently
misplaced, since someone who wants to reform and awaken the international
organization does not deviate from the UN Charter, or from its resolutions
and rules, but must instead be wiser and bolder when taking political
positions, instead of making offhand comments according to whims and narrow
interests.
“António Guterres made a clear and obvious mistake towards peace and the
political process on the Israeli-Palestinian track when he stated… that he
believes in the connection between Jerusalem and the Jews. The
secretary-general argued, contradicting the UNESCO resolution, history and
facts, that in his opinion – which deviates from the truth and the facts –
it is as clear as the sun is clear that ‘the temple which was demolished by
the Romans was a Jewish temple.’ Thus, the new secretary-general fell into
the trap of his own unbalanced view, because the issue of Jerusalem and the
Palestinian-Israeli blood feud are not resolved by personal opinions. [Mr.
Secretary-General,] your personal opinion is yours alone and not a binding
position held by the UN or by the nations of the world. You, as
secretary-general, must not involve the UN in positions that it does not
need and that do not correspond with its regulations and resolutions.
Furthermore, you have no right to err in flattering Israel due to
considerations easily understood by any observer – because your remarks do
not correspond to history or to the existing data.”
Read The Full Report
https://www.memri.org/reports/palestinian-columnist-response-un-secretary-generals-statements-jerusalems-jewish-connection
For assistance, please contact MEMRI at [email protected].
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The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) is an independent,
non-profit organization that translates and analyzes the media of the Middle
East. Copies of articles and documents cited, as well as background
information, are available on request.
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proper attribution.
Source: http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=72124
