THE PROTOCOLS OF THE ELDERS OF ZION ON THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY WEBSITE
by Dr Reuven Erlich
Anti-Semitic incitement in the Arab world:
Spreading The Protocols of the Elders of Zion through an official Internet website of the Palestinian Authority
General characteristics
Within the information available on Al-Nakba, an Internet website of the Palestinian State Information Service (SIS), one may find an online version of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The website, hostile to Israel, contains inciting publications on the Nakba[1] (the term used by the Palestinians to describe the "catastrophe" of 1948) and is available both in Arabic and in English. The Arabic version, catering to the Arab and Palestinian public, has a higher dosage of inciting contents while the English version, addressing non-Arab target audiences, is more moderate and does not contain The Protocols (see Appendix A for characteristics of the website).
The Palestinian Authority State Information Service is a governmental institution directly affiliated to the presidency of the Palestinian Authority. Founded on February 12, 1996 by a decree issued by Yasser Arafat, then Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, it is the official institution responsible for "organizing and developing information and media activities in the Palestinian territories."[2] The State Information Service is headed by Riyad al-Hassan.
As noted earlier, the Al-Nakba webpage that contains The Protocols only appears in the Arabic version, as a subsection inside a section titled "The Historical Background of the Nakba"; i.e., the Palestinian and Arab reader may infer that the foundation of the State of Israel and the emergence of the problem of Palestinian refugees are nothing but a part of the implementation of the so-called The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
It should be noted that the connection between "classic" Christian anti-Semitic myths (expressed in The Protocols) and the Israeli-Arab and Israeli-Palestinian conflict is immensely popular in anti-Semitic literature. As early as in the 1950s, translations of The Protocols as well as derivative "research" literature started appearing in Egypt. In the first translation of The Protocols published in Egypt in 1951, Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad, one of Egypt's top writers, wrote that all Arabs must learn The Protocols because the Arab world was the principal victim of the Jewish schemes since the end of the 19th century until and after the Nakba.[3] Such a connection of The Protocols with the foundation of the State of Israel and the other "plagues" that befell the Arab world also appears in introductions to modern editions of The Protocols.[4]
The Al-Nakba website, featuring The Protocols, was last updated in 2004 (i.e., in Arafat's era) and it does not appear that the website is being regularly updated. The webpage containing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was last updated on May 12, 2004 and has not changed since. It should be noted that in Abu Mazen's era, the Palestinian Authority reduced the levels of incitement on television and in newspapers. However, the continuing availability of The Protocols on an official Palestinian Authority website is a clear demonstration that the Palestinian Authority has yet to thoroughly cleanse all the media operating on its behalf, including the Internet, of blatant expressions of incitement against the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and even against the United States and the UK.
The website contains 24 Protocols translated by 'Ajaj Nuwayhid, a Lebanese Druze and a well-known figure in the Arab-Palestinian national movement (see Appendix D). The translation of The Protocols was taken by the Palestinian SIS from the website of the Islamic Da'wa Party, a Shiite party operating in Iraq. It should be noted that The Protocols, translated and edited by 'Ajaj Nuwayhid, were first published in Beirut in 1967 and later appeared in many editions in Syria and in Lebanon. In Syria, the book was published by the publishing house of Mustafa Tlass, a confidant of former Syrian President Hafez Assad and Syria's Defense Minister for many years.
It should be noted that the Internet serves as an important leverage for the spread of anti-Semitic publications on behalf of various countries, bodies and figures across the Arab/Muslim world. The example at hand well demonstrates how The Protocols are marketed by the Internet among Arab countries (and, subsequently, to Muslim/Arab communities across the world). It is our assessment that the translations of The Protocols spread via the Internet are based mostly upon versions published in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. These three countries are the predominant source of anti-Semitic inflammatory publications, including The Protocols, which continue to top the bestseller lists in the Arab/Muslim world for over half a century.[5]
End Notes
1. Al-Nakbah - The Catastrophe: This term denotes the colossal failure - the "catastrophe" - of the armies of 7 Arab states. On May 15th 1948, they had launched an aggressive war, aimed at preventing the establishment of the new Jewish-Zionist State of Israel and replacing it with a Palestinian-Arab state (which was never created). The origins of this war lay in the Arabs' (including the Palestinians') total rejection of the UN General Assembly resolution of the 29th November 1947. This stipulated the establishment of a Jewish and an Arab state in (British Mandatory) Palestine. Thus, the Arab armies' invasion into Israel was launched in defiance of the UN and international law. Ever since, the 15th May marks Israel's independence, as opposed to the Palestinian-Arabs' catastrophe.
2. This information is taken from the State Information Service website: http://www.sis.gov.ps/arabic/aboutus.html.
3. Yossef Bodansky, Islamic Anti-Semitism as a Political Instrument (Hebrew; Tel-Aviv, Tammuz Publishing, 2000), p. 47. The book was also published in English by the Freeman Center for Strategic Studies (Houston, 1999).
4. See for example the introduction to the version of The Protocols published by the Syrian Dar al-Awael Publishing House (2005), pp. 11-13. The translation of the introduction appears in the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center Bulletin dated March 1, 2005. 5. See the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center website for examples of various Arabic versions of The Protocols: Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center .
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appendix A: Characteristics of the Al-Nakba website
General
The Al-Nakba website belongs to the Palestinian Authority State Information Service (SIS),[6] an official institution of the Palestinian Authority. The website is available in two versions - one in the Arabic language and the other in English. Significant differences exist between the two versions, seeing as each one is addressed to different target audiences. The differences touch upon contents as well as the form of delivery. One of the primary differences is the inclusion of the Arabic translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion in the Arabic version, in the section on Zionism. In contrast, the translation of The Protocols does not appear in the English version.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. In Arabic: Al-Hay'a al-'Amma lil-Isti'lamat.
The operators of the website
The Al-Nakba website is stored on the server nakba.sis.gov.ps. The address alone makes it clear that the server belongs to the State Information Service (SIS), defined under the government domain name (gov) in the Palestinian Authority (ps). The logo that appears on the website (in both of its versions) is another indication of Al-Nakba's being an official Palestinian Authority website.
At the bottom of the posters and banners appearing on the website is the name of the organization in English (State Information Service) and in Arabic. There is also an address for contacting the managers of the website by e-mail (nakba@sis.gov.ps).
The contents of the website in its two versions
The major theme of the website is the Nakba - the events of 1948, the historical developments that preceded them and the problem of the Palestinian refugees. Documents, maps and various studies regarding the Nakba are used to support the Palestinian point of view.
The Arabic version of the website contains more extensive materials than its English counterpart. Several main sections in the Arabic version, such as maps, documents, studies and caricatures, do not appear in the English version at all. Even sections that appear in both versions and could have been expected to be identical do not necessarily contain the same information. Likewise, the wording in the English version is much more moderate than in the Arabic version.
Website updates
Most of Al-Nakba's webpages were last updated during the months of May-June 2004. The front page, providing the tone of the website, was last updated on June 3, 2004 in the Arabic version and on May 10, 2004 in the English version. Certain sections of the website in the English version are still "under construction" and it does not appear the website is being routinely updated. The webpage containing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was last updated on May 12, 2004.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appendix B: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion on the Al-Nakba website
General characteristics
The webpage containing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is only available in the Arabic version, as a subsection in a section titled The Historical Background of the Nakba, in the sub-part dealing with the Zionist movement (between the part dealing with the leaders of Zionism and the part dealing with the Balfour Declaration). The address of the webpage is http://nakba.sis.gov.ps/Zionism/Zionism-5.html.
The webpage contains 24 Protocols preceded by the following foreword: "Following is the translation by historian 'Ajaj Nuwayhid of the version of The Protocols that appeared in the 81st English edition, published in 1958 by Victor Marsden, based on the first edition published in Russian in 1905 by scholar Sergei Nilus."
The address of the website from which the translated Protocols were taken appears at the end of the text: الصفحة الرسمية لحزب الدعوة الاسلامية / تنŸ.
The above-mentioned website proclaims itself to be the official website of the Islamic Da'wa party, which is the shortened name of the Islamic Da'wa Party in Iraq. The website contains announcements on events happening in Iraq, interviews with prominent figures, articles and more. Among other things, on the left side of the website, under the Internet search box, appears a list of links to various articles, including the translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It is therefore the source of The Protocols that appear on the Palestinian Authority website, both relying on 'Ajaj Nuwayhid's translation and editing.
Think-Israel



Rispondi Citando




