Source of publication: Details. Photo: Emil Salman

Former Jordanian Minister of Culture Salah Jarrar has proposed a "settlement plan" for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In this plan, he apparently outlined his own vision of existing reality. Jarrar called on all Jews to return to their homes in their former countries of residence, and all Palestinians to return to their homes, for which they, of course, have kept the keys since 1948.

Israelis were naturally outraged by the Jordanian minister's demand to "return Palestine to the Palestinians" and for Jews to return home (meaning to Chernivtsi and Marrakech, then?) However, the wave of indignation that swept through social media demonstrates how unfamiliar the Israeli reader is with Arab-Palestinian realities, and with the fact that a completely different narrative prevails in the Arab world compared to what Jews or even the entire Western world are accustomed to.

Let us summarize here in several points the views that are indeed widespread in the Palestinian and Arab world. The majority of Arabs "know"—including from their history books, school textbooks, and television programs—that:

1. Modern Jews are NOT the "Bnei Israel" (Children of Israel) mentioned in the Quran. Modern Jews are newcomers from Arab countries (in other words, traitors) and European colonizers who came to Palestine to occupy Arab homes and exploit Arab resources with particular cynicism.

2. Zionism is NOT a legitimate term denoting the 2000-year-old aspiration of Jews to return to the Promised Land from the Diaspora. Zionism is a terrible slur, as it is synonymous with fascism and racism, used by hostile murderers whose sole purpose is to expel Arabs from their lands and establish illegal settlements. Tel Aviv, by the way, is also considered an illegal settlement, as it stands on the site of an Arab village. The fact that Arab villages in a certain historical period generally bore Old Hebrew or Roman names of ancient Jewish settlements is dismissed as unreliable and provocative.

3. The Temple of Solomon never existed. It is a Zionist invention, as is their insolent renaming of the "Buraq Wall" to the Wailing Wall.

4. There is no Jewish history.

5. There is no Jewish nation. It is an invented nation. Incidentally, Shlomo Sand's book "The Invention of the Jewish People" is eagerly read and widely quoted by Arabs.

6. The Holocaust did not happen either.

7. At the same time, Palestinians stage children's plays depicting Zionist soldiers burning Palestinian children alive in ovens. Thus, Holocaust motifs are utilized despite the claim that it never occurred and was invented by Zionists to persuade gullible Europeans to grant them Palestine.

8. Why would gullible Europeans do this? Naturally, to maintain their influence in the Middle East after leaving their colonies. To this day, phrases such as "the Zionist entity is a cancer on the heart of the Arab Homeland" circulate widely in both literature and the media.

9. History is being rewritten. A new book, titled "Palestine: A 4,000-Year History," published by a reputable English academic press, describes the entire history of Mesopotamia, Canaan, Babylon, Assyria, etc. Jews are not mentioned once! Yet, Palestinians are mentioned as early as the Canaanite era... This approach is not new. Even 18 years ago, all Palestinian historical programs and historians spoke of one thing—the depth of the long-standing connection between the Palestinian people and Palestine.

All these points (and there are in fact many more) constitute the components of the Arab-Palestinian narrative. This is the history known in the Arab world. For the Arab world, it serves as the foundation and ultimate truth.

Any evidence of a Jewish presence on this land is dismissed by the Arab side as nonsense.

There is no point in seeking who is right or wrong, wise or foolish. The situation is extremely clear. One must know how to counter narratives, recognizing that this is standard propaganda. The Palestinians execute this virtuously. The Jews are also capable of it in some respects. The question is not who is more convincing, but how to ensure that others want to listen to our voice rather than theirs. This is where the true art lies.