Palestinian Authority education: Palestine is from the river to the sea

JAN 6, 2025, Palestinian Media Watch |

[PA Ministry of Education, Tulkarem District, Facebook]

[PA Presidential Guards, Facebook]

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" – This slogan, which has been heard around the world during the current war, summarizes the Palestinian Authority's ideology denying Israel's right to exist and seeking its destruction. 

This denial is actively and ceaselessly taught to children in PA schools. Besides stressing its goal of Israel's demise through daily overt brainwashing, the PA leaves room for no other option when all school maps present all of Israel as "Palestine." Children are made to create and draw these maps. They wear these maps. They live and breathe these maps.

Understanding the threat that such maps represent, former President Barack Obama even called it a security threat:

"As President I will never compromise when it comes to Israel's security… Not when there are terrorist groups and political leaders committed to Israel's destruction. Not when there are maps across the Middle East that don't even acknowledge Israel's existence."

[Barak Obama's speech at AIPAC, 2008]

The following are recent representative examples. They are either a permanent part of the PA schools' interior design or were created by students and displayed in classrooms and exhibitions:

A bulletin board below in a PA school in Qabatiya contains a list of 17 cities in "Palestine." 12 of these cities are in Israel proper:

Title: "Long live Palestine from P to E and from the [Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea"

List of "Palestinian" cities: "Safed, Nazareth, Acre, Tiberias, Jenin, Haifa, Beit Shean, Nablus, Jaffa, Tulkarem, Jerusalem, Lod, Bethlehem, Ramle, Be'er Sheva, Hebron, Ashkelon"

[PA Qabatiya Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 30, 2024]

A female student receives an honorary plaque from the PLO featuring a map that erases Israel, has the word "Palestine" written under it in English, and a large key next to it symbolizing the Palestinian refugees' "right of return":

Text on plaque: "The PLO Executive Committee Secretariat"

[PA Ministry of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 12, 2024]

A student at the Deir Sharaf Coed High School receives an honorary plaque featuring the PA map of "Palestine," a large key symbolizing the Palestinian refugees' "right of return," and the word "Palestine" in English:

Children sit around a drawing that includes two PA maps of "Palestine":

Text on drawing: "Palestine Reads"

[PA Ministry of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 2, 2024]

 [Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, Nov. 24, 2024]

A school in Qabatiya has a poster with the text of the Palestinian anthem Fida'i, meaning "Self-Sacrificing Fighter" (see translation below), adorned with the PA map of "Palestine":

Palestinian national anthem Fida'i (Self-Sacrificing Fighter):
"Fida'i, Fida'i, Fida'i, O my land, land of the forefathers

Fida'i, Fida'i, Fida'i, O my people, the eternal people

With my determination, with my fire, and with the volcano of my vengeance

With the yearning of my blood for my land and my home

I climbed mountains and went out to battle

I defeated the impossible, I shattered the chains…

With the stormy wind and the fire of the weapons

And the determination of my people to go out to battle

Palestine is my home and my path to victory

Palestine is my vengeance and the land of resolve…

By the oath, in the shadow of the flag

On behalf of my land, my people, and the fire of pain

I will live as a Fida'i, I will remain a self-sacrificing fighter

And I will die as a Fida'i until I return [to my land]

Fida'i, Fida'i, Fida'i, O my land, land of the forefathers

Fida'i, Fida'i, Fida'i, O my people, the eternal people"

[PA Qabatiya Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 2, 2024]

The PA map of "Palestine" also hangs in a classroom in another school in Qabatiya:

An exhibition named "I Belong" at Meithalun High School for Girls, arranged under the auspices of a PA official, specifically Qabatiya Directorate of Education Director-General Ahmed Jarar'ah, included several works of art featuring the PA map of "Palestine." Many of them are accompanied by the word "Palestine" or in the colors of the Palestinian flag:

[PA Qabatiya Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 30, 2024]

When girls from another school in the Qabatiya Directorate of Education participated in an olive harvesting activity, the PA map of "Palestine" was displayed prominently on one of the trees:

[Qabatiya Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Oct. 27, 2024]

Other girls in Qabatiya also included the PA map in their art works.

Onedrawing shows an Arab woman holding the PA map of "Palestine" with 10 Palestinian flags covering all of Israel:

[PA Qabatiya Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 31, 2024]

An exhibit at the same school featured the PA map of "Palestine" with text proclaiming – "Here we remain":

Similarly, a poster with the PA map states that "victory is approaching" and that "Palestine is for us":

Text: "The morning of victory that without a doubt is approaching…Palestine is for us"

[PA Qabatiya Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 31, 2024]

One student made a hanging decoration showing the PA map and a large key symbolizing the Palestinian refugees' "right of return":

Text on decoration: "All the paths of love lead to Palestine"

[PA Qabatiya Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 31, 2024]

The PA map of "Palestine" is also part of the clothes worn by members of Fatah's Shabiba High School Movement. Below, a young person is wearing a yellow Shabiba vest, which features a logo containing the map:

Text on vest: "Shabiba High School committee, Nablus branch, [Fatah] Commission of Mobilization and Organization"

[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, Dec. 8, 2024]

A classroom in Zenobia Junior High School for Girls in Tulkarem features a large poster with the PA map of "Palestine":

Text on poster: "On this land, there is something that justifies life"

[PA Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 5, 2024]

A display at an educational event of the PA South Hebron Directorate of Education also featured 2 PA maps of "Palestine" in the colors of the Palestinian flag. Written at the top of the display is the word "Palestine" in English, with the PA map of "Palestine" in the colors of the Palestinian flag in place of the letter "L":

[PA South Hebron Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 2, 2024]

At the same event, five PA maps of "Palestine" appeared in another display. One of them is in the colors of the Palestinian flag, three of them appear with a keffiyeh (Arab headdress) pattern and a Palestinian flag next to two of them, and one of them with a picture of former PLO and PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.

On the wall of a classroom in the Lutfiya Al-Seifi High School for Boys are 2 maps in the shape of the PA map of "Palestine."

[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, Dec. 15, 2024]

An exhibit at the Bal'a Junior High School for Girls in Tulkarem included a display on a story entitled "Laila Leaves Home" about children of the Gaza Strip who had to leave their houses due to Hamas' launch of the 2023 Gaza war. The background of the posters features an image of a girl embracing the PA map of "Palestine":

[PA Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 18, 2024]

Small children not yet attending school are also taught the PA message that Israel is to be erased. Children in a classroom at the Qabatiya Scientific Academy kindergarten on a daily basis are exposed to a piece of artwork featuring the PA map of "Palestine":

 "Palestine." Abbas' Presidential Guard posted this image of a young boy wearing a keffiyeh (Arab headdress) and a black shirt with the PA map of "Palestine" on it and "Palestine" written on the map:

Posted text: "May Allah gladden your morning"

Text on image: "A Jerusalem morning and a good morning, O homeland"

[PA Presidential Guard, Facebook page, Dec. 11, 2024]

A schoolgirl wears a sweater with the PA map of "Palestine":

Kids are also seen with the PA map of "Palestine" at demonstrations:

At a demonstration in Nablus for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, the child in the front center held a poster that featured the PA map of "Palestine" in the colors of the Palestinian flag.

Text on the poster: "Palestine is the cause of the honorable only."

[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, Dec. 1, 2024]

The map of "Palestine" erasing Israel is displayed prominently in offices of school principals and officials of the PA Ministry of Education, as decorative maps and as honorary plaques and diplomas.

At the Tulkarem Industrial High School, which was built with funding from Norway, the PA map of "Palestine" is prominently displayed. "Palestine" is written at the top and the names of Israeli cities are marked on it. Next to the PA map is a sign noting that the school was established with funding from Norway.

[PA Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 16, 2024]

On Teacher's Day, teachers at the Ajnadayn Junior High School for Boys in Tulkarem were given honorary certificates featuring the PA map of "Palestine," as well as the logo of the school that also includes the PA map:

Text on honorary certificate: "The [Tulkarem] Directorate of Education and the Ajnadayn Junior High School for Boys

Commemorating Palestinian Teacher's Day

Stay proud and an asset to the educational process

Happy New Year to the education family"

[PA Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 16, 2024]

Another teacher from Tulkarem was given an honorary plaque featuring the PA map of "Palestine":

Posted text: "Pictures from the honoring of the outstanding teachers on Teachers' Day"

Text on plaque: "Thanks and appreciation from the [PA] Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the General Union of Teachers, and the Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie to educational initiator Rana Mahmoud Bay'eh …"

[PA Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 22, 2024]

The office of PA South Hebron Directorate of Education Director-General Yasser Saleh displays a large decoration in the shape of the PA map of "Palestine":

Text on decoration: "On this land there is something worth living for"

[PA South Hebron Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 11, 2024]

On the wall in the office of the principal of Fahma High School for Boys in Qabatiya hangs a decoration featuring the PA map of "Palestine" with the names of several Israeli cities written on it including Safed, Beit Shean, Nazareth, Lod, and Be'er Sheva:

[PA Qabatiya Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 8, 2024]

On the wall of the office of PA Nablus Directorate of Education Director-General Ahmed Sawalha is an honorary plaque featuring the PA map of "Palestine," as well as a picture of terrorist Khalil Al-Wazir "Abu Jihad," who was responsible for the murder of 125 people:

[PA Nablus Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 9, 2024]

A Fatah event honoring teachers was held in an office displaying a huge decoration with the PA map of "Palestine" with a Palestinian flag in the upper left corner:

Posted text: "The organizational branches of the Fatah Movement's Nablus branch honored male and female teachers on Teacher's Day"

[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, Dec. 15, 2024]

The office of PA South Hebron Directorate of Education Director-General Yasser Saleh is also adorned with the PA map:

[PA South Hebron Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 11, 2024]

Conference rooms in different schools in Tulkarem also display a variety of PA maps of "Palestine":

[PA Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Dec. 16, 2024]

Reaching retirement, the principal at the Aida Naifeh High School for Girls was gifted a plaque with the PA map of "Palestine" and a large key representing the Palestinian refugees' "right of return":

[Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, Nov. 19, 2024]