President Trump based the U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which sparked a surge of anti-Semitic protests, on a historical narrative that is "unfounded and contrary to reality," the Palestinian Authority charges, says a report in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
Trump's move last week followed the requirements of the Jerusalem Embassy Act of 1995, passed overwhelmingly by Congress, which include moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama acknowledged in speeches that Jerusalem is Israel's capital but signed a waiver every six months delaying enactment of the measure, citing national security concerns.
When Trump announced the decision Dec. 6, he affirmed his commitment to peace in the Middle East, noting the previous policy of not recognizing "the reality" that Jerusalem is Israel’s capital brought us "no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians."
The official Palestinian Authority newspaper, however, insisted Trump "contradicted history."
"As part of his excuses that are unfounded and contrary to reality, Donald Trump claimed that he did nothing but recognize the reality in Jerusalem," said the daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. "He contradicted history when he claimed that Jerusalem has been the capital of Israel and the Jews for 3,000 years.
"It is not the intention to examine the falsification of history and ignorance, or the alignment with the false Zionist narrative, because that is as clear as the sun. If Trump wants to know the truth, he can turn to the Israeli archaeologists who have searched for the last 70 years and have not found a single archaeological remnant related to the third Temple, or even other archaeological remnants that are connected to Jews in Palestine in general."
Palestinan Media Watch noted the "third Temple" has never been built, only the first and second, and "other archaeological evidence" confirming the Jews' presence in Jerusalem "is abundant."
"The denial of Jewish history in the land of Israel even in the face of irrefutable archaeological evidence is one of the most central parts of the Palestinian narrative," PMW said.
PLO executive committee member Saleh Rafat charged Israel is inventing history.
"There are deep Palestinian roots in Palestine through all of history," he said. "It is a Zionist invention that this is the land of the Jewish patriarchs. This is completely incorrect. There were Jews in Palestine … We have Muslims, Christians and Jews. But all of them were and still are ... the Palestinian people.
"The Khazar Jews were brought and expelled from Europe to Palestine, in order to get rid of them. Germany wanted to get rid of them, Britain, France and Italy. All of Europe wanted to get rid of the Jews so that the West would have a permanent base in the Middle East. Indeed, they established the state of Israel on the land of historical Palestine."
For the rest of this report, and more, please go to Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.
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