Yusuf Dia Pasha al-Khalidi يوسف ضياء الدين باشا الخالدي
Born in Jerusalem in 1842. He was a prominent Ottoman politician who served as mayor of Jerusalem during several terms.
He wrote a letter on March 1899 to the chief rabbi of France and Hertzl:
“You are well aware that I am talking about Zionism. The idea in itself is only natural, beautiful and just. Who can dispute the rights of the Jews to Palestine? My God, historically it is Your country!“
Awni Abd al-Hadi عوني عبد الهادي
Born in Nablus in 1889. He was a Palestinian political figure.
From his testimony for the Peel Commission in 1937:
“There is no such country [as Palestine]! 'Palestine' is a term the Zionists invented! There is no Palestine in the Bible. Our country was for centuries part of Syria.”(source: Economics Of The Middle East And North Africa (Mena), The (Second Edition), page 2)
Dr. Philip Khuri Hitti فيليب خوري حتي
Born in Shemlan, Lebanon, in 1886. He was a Lebanese-American professor and scholar at Princeton and Harvard University, and authority on Arab and Middle Eastern history, Islam, and Semitic languages.
From his statement to the Anglo-American committee of inquiry, January 11, 1946:
“Sir, there is no such thing as Palestine in [Arab] history, absolutely not.”
Dr. John G. Hazam added:
“Before 1937, when Balfour made his declaration, there was never any Palestine question, or even any Palestine as a political or geographical entity, as Professor Hitti has explained.”
Ahmed Shuqeiri أحمد الشقيري
Born in Tebnine (today in southern Lebanon) in 1908. He was a Palestinian political leader and the first Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, serving from 1964 to 1967.
He told the UN Security Council in May 31, 1956:
“it is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing but southern Syria”(source: The New York Times, June 1, 1956, page 3. "SYRIA SAYS IN U.N. PALESTINE IS HERS")
Zuheir Mohsen زهير محسن
Born in Tulkarm in 1936. He was a Palestinian leader of the Syria-controlled as-Sa'iqa faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) between 1971 and 1979.
He said in an interview with the Dutch newspaper Trouw ("Truth") in March 1977:
“The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism. Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity exists only for tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan.“(source: “Wij zijn alleen Palestijn om politieke reden,” James Dorsey, Trouw, 31 March 1977.)
Hussein bin Talal الحسين بن طلال
Born in Amman, Tranjordan, in 1935. He was the King of Jordan from 11 August 1952 until his death in 1999. A member of the Hashemite dynasty, a royal tribe from Mecca.
He said in an interview with the Arabic newspaper A-nahar al-Arabia in November 26, 1981:
“The truth is that Jordan is Palestine and Palestine is Jordan”(source: An-Nahar al-Arabi Wa-l-Duwali (Beirut), Dec. 26, 1981.)
Azmi Bishara عزمي بشارة
Born in Nazareth in 1956. He is a Palestinian political activist, public intellectual, political philosopher and author.
On an interview to the Israeli left-wing media personality Yaron London in the 1990s, when asked about the Palestinian people, he said:
“No, I don't think there is a Palestinian people. I don't think there is a Palestinian people at all. No, I think there is an Arab nation. I always thought that and I never changed my mind. I don't think there is a "Palestinian Nation". I think that's a colonial invention, Palestinian nation. When were there ever Palestinians? Where? I think that there is an Arab nation. I haven't yet turned into... despite my struggle against the occupation I haven't turned into a Palestinian nationalist, never. I think that Palestine, up to the end of the 19th century, was just the southern part of Greater Syria.“
Fathi Hamad فتحي أحمد حماد
Born in Beit Lahia in 1961. He is a Palestinian politician and member of the Hamas political bureau.
He said on March 23, 2012 on Egyptian Al-Helma TV:
“Allah be praised, we all have Arab roots, and every Palestinian, in Gaza and throughout Palestine, can prove his Arab roots - whether from Saudi Arabia, from Yemen, or anywhere. We have blood ties. So where is your affection and mercy? Personally, half my family is Egyptian. We are all like that. More than 30 families in the Gaza Strip are called Al Masri ("Egyptian"). Brothers, half of the Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis. Who are the Palestinians? We have many families called Al-Masri, whose roots are Egyptian. Egyptian! They may be from Alexandria, from Cairo, from Dumietta, from the North, from Aswan, from Upper Egypt. We are Egyptians. We are Arabs. We are Muslims. We are a part of you.“
Mudar Zahran مضرعدنان زهران
Born in Jordan in 1973. He is a Palestinian-Jordanian writer.
He addressed the European Parliament in September 2018:
“When standing here in Brussels I am in a safe spot. Basically we the Palestinian-Jordanian people... The Palestinians are the chosen people of the European Parliament. People in the European Parliament love the Palestinians. They care for them, they dream about us in their sleep. How beautiful. They care about how we are oppressed by the evil Zionist Israelis, while in fact those evil Zionists Israelis are the ones giving us jobs. They are the ones giving us jobs while Lebanon bans us from all forms of jobs. When the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which occupies 78% of our homeland, prevents us from all kinds of jobs. The king of Jordan could come and present here and talk about peace and human rights, while Israeli politicians could get arrested for ariving at your airports. At the same time we see not a single European member of Parliament, not a single European politician, speaking about the oppression of the Palestinians at the hands of the Hashemite kingdom, or the Palestinian authorities. On the other hand, your money, your tax Euros, are financing the Palestinian police force, which oppresses us, tortures us, and puts us in disappearance. This happens while you guys are obviously care for us in good intentions, but your judgement is very cloudy. Unfortunately, most of you are seeking to destroy the very and only source of income and stability that we have, which is the Israeli-Jewish state. That state has offered us every hope there is in the last 70 years. We disagree with Israel on different issues, we have several issues with Israel. Israel is not an angel. Nor was Belgium an angel in Africa, nor was the United States an angel in Vietnam, nor was Jordan an angel as of today. You'll have to be fair and square to achieve justice. Justice is collective, you can't grant us justice by denying justice from our Jewish neighbors. They are our neighbors. Half a million Palestinians every single day cross the borders to work in Israeli settlements, in Israeli homes, in Israeli hospitals. They work there, achieving European standard payments, versus the non-payments of the Palestinian Authority. Oslo has brought us all everything that's evil, everything but happiness, and nothing but despair and disasters. At the same time, I can't see that the European parliament nor the European governments understand that they are an accomplice, knowingly or unknowingly, to our disasterous situation by being against the only source of hope that we have. Why are you denying me and my people the right to live normally, the right to find jobs, by supporting BDS? BDS means no jobs for us, no jobs for Israelis, and when the Israelis move out and their companies move out, do you sign our paychecks when we run out of jobs? No you don't, and let me tell you something, the only people who sign paychecks too are the Palestinian Authority corrupts and criminals, Abbas and others. You need to know, you are singing a very old tune, most of you... I understand most of you are good people, but you are playing an old video. This game is over. Oslo is dead. We are telling you it's time to accept change, and it's time to embrace our Jewish friends, neighbors, brothers and sisters. We are going that way. Most Palestinians cannot say publicly what I'm saying here. We want peace with Israel, we have had enough of this mythical lie of the conflict.“
This article was written with the assistance of Hen Papirman