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PA Teaches Children That Refugees Will Flood and Take Back Israel — the ‘Original Homeland’
Palestinian children and their teachers celebrating the right to “return” to and reclaim all of Israel. Photo: Palestinian Media Watch.
The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s goal to destroy Israel and turn it into “Palestine” hasn’t changed.
At every opportunity, the PA invokes the “right of return” for all Palestinian “refugees.” PA leader Mahmoud Abbas recently stated that “the right of return is a sacred right,” that “Palestine is ours,” and that “the one who needs to leave is the occupation” — in other words, Israel:
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “The return [of the Palestinian refugees] — don’t forget the return, don’t forget the return. Not for me; I’m a refugee and all are refugees.
I want to go, why not, this is my land. One day I will return, the right of return is a sacred right … Palestine is ours and Jerusalem is ours, and we will wait, Allah willing.
A short period, not a long one; not 20 years, much less. Rest assured the [Palestinian] state will return. We remain on our land, and we will not leave. The one who needs to leave is the occupation.” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, April 23, 2025]
Young Palestinian scouts were taught that same message for “Nakba Day” — the day of the “catastrophe” of the establishment of Israel. They marched with a sign proclaiming that “the refugee camp is the waiting station“:
Text on sign: “The refugee camp is the waiting station
[The following are cities and towns in Israel -Ed.]
Acre
Jaffa
Tzipori
Khirbet Al-Loz”
[Fatah Commission of Information and Culture, Facebook page, May 14, 2025]
Speaking on “Nakba Day,” Abbas stressed that he views the Palestinian refugees’ “right of return” as a “permanent and non-negotiable right” [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, May 16, 2025].
The PA claims that UN Resolution 194 grants a “right to return” not only to the 750,000 Arabs who left Israel during the war in 1948, but also to their 6-7 million descendants worldwide, even though the resolution itself makes no mention of refugee status being passed down in perpetuity.
Abbas has specifically mentioned that “1.5 million refugees” in Gaza alone should be allowed to flood Israel.
Photos from Nakba Day events in Tulkarem show scouts marching with keys symbolizing the right of return for refugees to their “homes” in Israel and girls with drawings, many of them featuring the PA map of “Palestine” that presents all of Israel together with the PA areas as “Palestine,” and large keys symbolizing the “right of return”:
The PA message to Palestinian children is that Israel has no right to exist, that all of Israel will become “Palestine,” and that all 6-7 million refugees will “return.”
This is exemplified in the text on the sign held by the girl below. It marks 77 years since the “Nakba,” negating Israel’s entire existence:
Text on sign: “77 years since the Nakba — on Nakba Day we will not forget the right of return. Our roots are deeper than the occupation [i.e., Israel]”
[Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, May 18, 2025]
A girl holds a drawing of a woman embracing the PA map of “Palestine” and a large key symbolizing the “right of return”:
Text on drawing: “Do not be sad, O Palestine, victory is coming. O Jerusalem, peace will hover over you again”
[Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, May 18, 2025]
Tulkarem Directorate of Education emphasized that the events above were designed by educators to “instill values” and “emphasize the right of return”:
The scout groups and guidance teams of the Tulkarem Directorate of Education marked the 77th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba through national activities and awareness activities that were organized in the directorate’s schools, with the participation of students, teachers, and the local community…
The directorate emphasized that these activities are part of the efforts to instill values of belonging and national awareness among the students to emphasize the [Palestinian refugees’] right of return and reject all forms of expulsion and occupation. [emphasis added]
[Tulkarem Directorate of Education, Facebook page, May 18, 2025]
In Nablus, Abbas’ Fatah partnered with schools and the PA Police for Nakba Day events, and here too children were taught that “return” is certain, posing with symbolic keys:
Text on key: “Return is a right and the will of a people”
Text on keys: “We remain as long as the hyssop trees and olive trees remain
Returning and staying
We will return”
Text on drawing: “Returning”
Posted text: “A national day to improve resolve at the Fadwa Touqan School
The Fatah Movement Nablus Branch’s Sbeih Abu Al-Saud sub-branch, in partnership with the [PA] Nablus Police represented by Deputy [Police] Commissioner Lana Mokhlalati, organized a national day to strengthen resolve in our blessed land on the anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.”
[Fatah Movement – Nablus Branch, Facebook page, May 14, 2025]
In Hebron as well, educators promoted the key as a symbol of return, which appears below on the PA map of “Palestine” that includes all of Israel wrapped in a keffiyeh pattern, signifying Israel’s destruction:
Girls at the event held posters with pictures of Palestinian refugees:
Text on poster (right): “The right of return is a sacred right”
Text posted by the South Hebron Directorate of Education stressed that the purpose of the event, which was attended by educators, official figures, and representatives of institutions including Director-General of the South Hebron Directorate of Education was “to preserve the memory of the Nakba in the hearts of the students, and to strengthen their sense of affiliation to their homeland and the right to return to the Palestinian land.” [South Hebron Directorate of Education, Facebook page, May 19, 2025]
A filler on official PA TV also focused on the key of the refugee that “has not yet rusted”:
Text: “In the Nakba, a foreign minority attacked a national majority, expelled it from its land, and erased its cultural status. .. and documents of ownership whose owners are still waiting for the day of return that will constitute testimony to a right and a home …
The key has not yet rusted … Their [Israeli] Independence Day is our Nakba Day” [emphasis added]
[Official PA TV, May 14, 2025]
The author is a contributor to Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this story first appeared.
The post PA Teaches Children That Refugees Will Flood and Take Back Israel — the ‘Original Homeland’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.