PMW Bulletin
May 17, 2013
False claim by UNRWA in response to PMW report: Map without Israel that
official posed with does not represent today but "pre-1948" Palestine

UNRWA's name still appears in logo of youth center that currently glorifies
suicide bomber on its Facebook page

Israeli representative to the UN cites PMW's UNRWA story in complaint to UN
Secretary-General

http://www.palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=9009

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Earlier this week, Palestinian Media Watch reported that the Director of
UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, Ann Dismorr, posed with a map that erases the
State of Israel and presents all of it as "Palestine," at an UNRWA event in
Lebanon.

These pictures were broadcast on Palestinian Authority TV and on the
Palestinian news site pn-news.net, corroborating PMW's report.

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4767

UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunness, responding on UNRWA's website,
rejected PMW's report. He claimed that the map in question was not intended
to reflect the present, but reflected the period before Israel was
established:

"UNRWA categorically rejects accusations in the media that the Agency is
'erasing Israel from the map' because its officials and stakeholders stood
next to a map which does not show Israel.
The map in question is an embroidery depicting a pre-1948 map and therefore
ante-dates the creation of the state of Israel. The allegations are
therefore completely false."
[UNRWA's website, May 14, 2013,
http://www.unrwa.org/etemplate.php?id=1748 ]

UNRWA spokesperson Gunness' justification that the map "depict[s] a pre-1948
map" is baseless, as the map includes the PLO-PA flag and not a British
flag. That exact map erasing Israel, especially when accompanied by the PA
flag, is one of the many ways the PA expresses its rejection of Israel's
existence and right to exist.

In addition, Gunness' statement that the UNRWA official "stood next to a map
which does not show Israel" is also misleading, as it indicates a passive
non-involvement. In fact, the UNRWA official is shown holding the map and
the map was the central focus of the picture.

Furthermore, UNRWA spokesperson Christopher Gunness wrongfully claimed that
PMW has been "forced to retract" "allegations" about UNRWA in the past:

"The organization (PMW) that originated the accusation has made similar
allegations in the past about UNRWA's neutrality and was forced to retract
after the agency showed them to be false."

In actual fact, PMW has never retracted any report about UNRWA. In the past,
PMW has exposed events held by Palestinian organizations that glorified
terror and honored terrorists, and did so using UNRWA's name and logo. These
events that connected UNRWA with terror glorification were publicized in the
Palestinian media and websites, and precisely reported by PMW.

Click to see PMW's report from 2011 of UNRWA's connection to the Al-Amari
club that held a football tournament glorifying suicide terrorist Wafa
Idris.
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4765
Click to see UNRWA's denial that they were connected to this tournament.
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=4767

It is noteworthy that in 2011, UNRWA spokesperson Gunness chose not to
condemn the tournament named after terrorist Wafa Idris, despite the fact
that UNRWA's logo was included in the announcement of the event. Nor did he
condemn the youth center for glorifying the suicide bomber. Instead, UNRWA
denied its responsibility by informing PMW that the use of its name by the
Al-Amari youth center in its logo was not authorized.

What is striking about Gunness' claim is that today, a full two years later,
UNRWA's name still appears on Al-Amari's logo on its Facebook page:

[Al-Amari Club's official Facebook page, accessed May 16, 2013,
http://on.fb.me/12dQ7hx]
Worse still, the club continues to celebrate suicide terrorist Wafa Idris as
a hero. Idris killed one and injured more than 100 in her attack in 2002.

A few months ago, the Al-Amari Club's Facebook page posted a picture of
terrorist Wafa Idris alongside the following text:

"Peace upon you, (i.e., suicide bomber Wafa Idris) daughter of Al-Amari
(Refugee Camp.) Would that Heaven be enjoyable for you and Martyrdom death
for Allah (Shahada) be enjoyable for you.

13 years have passed and your memory remains because you are the symbol of
sacrifice. You are the symbol of pride, pride in its fullest, of our
resolute refugee camp. You are the pride of the women of Palestine.
We pledge our loyalty to you, oh Wafa, oh she who fulfilled her commitment
and fulfilled her promise, oh most noble of the noble ones. Rest in peace
and may a light shine on your pure soul, the woman who is worth a thousand
men."

Caption on the picture:

"The first female Martyrdom-seeker in the Al-Aqsa Intifada
Martyr (Shahida) Wafa Idris"

This text still appears today on the club's official Facebook page, which
carries the UNRWA name within the club's logo. Notwithstanding UNRWA's
claims in 2011 that its name should not appear in the logo, terror
glorification continues to take place under the banner of UNRWA even today.

As a final note, Israel's representative to the UN Ron Prosor reacted to
PMW's original report about the map, protesting to UN Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon in a letter:

"The map identified 'Palestine' as the geographic area extending from the
Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River. The State of Israel was conspicuously
absent. It doesn't take a PHD in Middle Eastern history or geography to
realize that a map of the Middle East that doesn't include Israel is deeply
and profoundly prejudiced."

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that other UN organizations have been
associated with events glorifying terrorists.

Palestinian Media Watch regularly reports on the PA's denial of Israel's
right to exist, and its portrayal of "Palestine" as replacing Israel.