Some of the participants in the 2011 Pan Arab Games, taking place in Qatar, were upset this weekend after discovering that a map showing “Palestine” presented its boundaries as only included Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
The map was presented, along with the maps of other participating countries, at the opening ceremony of the games in Doha. The representation of “Palestine” made some of the participants furious, as they claimed that the map only showed 22% of the area of “Palestine”.
The participants said that presenting “Palestine” in this way constitutes recognition of Israel and an acceptance of what they termed “the American scheme of the new Middle East.” They also threatened to return to their home countries and not participate in the games.
They also stressed that Qatar had made a bad mistake and that it will be responsible for it and at the same time they demanded that the map be corrected. In addition, they threatened to take to the streets to demand an apology to the “Palestinian people.”
Not stopping there, the participants also blamed the Palestinian Authority for the incident, claiming that it is a natural outcome of its policy of negotiating with Israel.
The PA, while stating its intentions to negotiate peace with Israel in international media, usually presents a totally different picture within its own media. This includes claiming that the entire land of Israel is in fact “Palestine” and not restricting themselves to Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
A few months ago, PA representatives in the United Nations were handing out maps of “Palestine” that show it in place of all of Israel, including Tel Aviv.
As far back as 2008, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was filmed at a PLO Central Committee meeting with an emblem that negated the existence of the State of Israel, hanging in the background. The emblem included the PA flag above a map which depicted Palestine replacing the entirety of the State of Israel.
There have also been numerous other cases in which official PA media have broadcast maps of the region, obliterating Israel completely, and replacing it with the PA flag.
