Eleven of the 36 parties running in the Palestinian elections have logos that reject Israel’s right to exist, with the entire country being represented as Palestine, the watchdog organization Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) has found.
Included in these 11 parties that make up nearly one-third of all parties running in the Palestinian Legislative Council are two of the major front-runners: Hamas and Fatah.
The Gaza-based terrorist group Hamas has a logo featuring a green circle with the Palestinian flag at the bottom. Inside is a picture of Jerusalem with the Dome of the Rock square in the center, and in the back an image of all of Israel in green. This, according to PMW, means the map itself is Palestine, erasing Israel.
Fatah, the current ruling party under Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has a logo featuring a shield with an image of all green Israel on the inside. Below it are two arms painted with the Palestinian flag, each holding guns, with a grenade lying between them. This, PMW explains, indicates that not only is Israel going to be liberated into Palestine, but it will be done through combat.
This map is common among all the logos, with other parties such as Al-Mustaqbal (the Future) – belonging to Abbas’s arch-rival Mohammad Dahlan – having the same map.
A variety of other symbols are included as well. For instance, the independent party We Shall Return has two hands shaking in front of Israel, which is colored in the Palestinian flag. Another party, Homeland’s Awakening, has the country and the Dome of the Rock by an upright fist painted in the colors of the Palestinian flag.
The idea of an image of all of Israel as Palestine isn’t new, and has been the subject of controversy in the past.
In March 2020, US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) sparked online backlash after posting an image of her wearing a T-shirt with all of Israel as Palestine enrobed with a black and white keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian nationalism.
Donna Rachel Edmunds contributed to this report.