Introduction
Suha Arafat’s accusing Israel of poisoning Palestinians with gas has reached world headlines largely because it was said in the presence of Hilary Clinton. However, incitement to hatred of Israel by Palestinian spokespeople has never abated and false accusations similar to Suha Arafat’s are commonplace in the Palestinian Authority [PA] media. Moreover, this campaign has increased recently and its purpose is to portray Israel and the Jews as enemies of the Palestinians and that which is holy to Islam. This media campaign continues to promote an atmosphere of enmity and is part of the broad Palestinian Authority media and education program to encourage Palestinian hostility towards Israel.

This report documents several recent examples of Palestinian media libel:

1. Caricature- Israel poisons the Palestinians for money.
2. Israel conducts chemical experiments on Palestinians.
3. Israel markets spoiled and toxic food to Palestinians.
4. Israel broadcasts “poisonous” radio programs to harm Palestinian youth.
5. Israel has begun the count down toward the destruction of the Al-Aksa mosque.
6. Racist Israel does Nazi style ethnic cleansing.
7. Israel poisons the Palestinians for financial gain.
8. Support for Suha Arafat’s libel in the Palestinian Authority daily.

The Sources:

2. A repulsive libel accuses Israel of conducting experiments on Palestinians reminiscent of human experiments done by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The Palestinians blame Israel for “using the Palestinian Land and body as a field for experiment, by marketing there new chemical pesticides… and based on the results of the use they decide whether or not to market them in the Israeli markets…” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 9, 1999]

3. During the ceremonial opening of the Palestinian ‘Food Day’ exhibit:
“… Shahin [Palestinian minister of supplies Abd Al-Aziz Shahin] reviews the efforts of the office of supplies to protect Palestinian civilians from the spoiled food products, and specifies that the main source of these products is Israel and its settlements…” [Al-Ayyam, Nov. 11, 1999]

4. “The Israeli radio dedicates the most dangerous of its programs, intended for the [Palestinian] youth, in order to trap significant numbers of our youth… The time has come for those responsible for our communications to take note of the dangers of these programs… and the danger in their poisons.”
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 6, 1999]

5. Another accusation was blatantly displayed in the title of a front-page article of in the official PA daily: “Israel begins countdown to the destruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque.” Sheik Ra’id Salah claims “Israeli preparations are being carried out to build the Temple in its place…. He adds that a committee consisting of sixty rabbis permits the Jews to destroy the mosque…”.
[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 31, 1999]

6. Lately, there are other types of libels that are published in the Palestinian media, such as “Israel is testing using the methods of ethnic cleansing adopted by the Nazis in Germany.” [Al-Ayyam, Oct. 17, 1999] Acts of slaughter by Israel are “the truth of the Zionist idea”, their purpose [according to] “the Zionist plan to overturn this land so it is empty of Arabs…” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, July 11, 1999] Israel is nicknamed “the racist state.” [Al-Ayyam, July 11, 1999] The above quotes are from Knesset member Muhamed Barakah. All of these accusations occur very frequently in the Palestinian media. A headline in a Palestinian newspaper proclaims: “The Arab can never be an Israeli…how can there be an affinity between a man and his murderer?” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 18, 1999]

7. Last year, the Head of the Palestinian Consumer Protection Association accused Israel - in a style reminiscent of the medieval libels of Jews poisoning wells - that:
“[Israel] floods our markets with hundreds of thousands of tons of food products which are unfit for human consumption…the common goal which stands behind this is the proliferation of disease, weakness, and slow death in the Palestinian body through indirect means… Milk, which is designated for fattening calves, is packaged and smuggled to the Palestinian markets and sold as milk for babies… The distribution of meat and lamb, which are filled with carcinogenic hormones is done intentionally…[and they engage in] the penetration of poisons and filth-ridden products and smuggling them to us. He [Head of Consumer Protection Association] points to these three subjects which cause severe disease which destroy the Palestinian’s body and influence the genetic code and the destruction of the coming generations, all this in accordance with hard scientific facts… He pointed to the fact that the children are the main targets of this hostile plan…” [Maher Al-Dasouki, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Sept. 12, 1998]

8. Support for the Suha Arafat libel came in the official Palestinian daily:
“We understand the American position… in its defense of Israel and its right to oppress our nation and murder it with poisonous gas because most of these gasses and most of the Zionist murder technology are from American sources… The Americans know more than others that the tear gas caused many miscarriages… blinded many of our youth who opposed the enemy bullets and violence with their chests.” [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 15, 1999]