August 17, 2005 United Nations Bankrolled Latest Anti-Israel Propaganda

A special representative of the United Nations Development Program in the Gaza Strip, Timothy Rothermel, told Fox News that his office provided financial support for the production of materials that make up the Palestinian Authority’s propaganda campaign, timed to coincide with the Gaza pullout. The Palestinian Authority’s withdrawal committee developed and produced the posters and other items using U.N. money, Mr. Rothermel said.

Mr. Rothermel, in the Fox News interview, argued that the slogan, which predicts an Israeli disengagement from the West Bank and, presumably, East Jerusalem, is a message that is “consistent with the relevant U.N. resolutions and Security Council resolutions about the status of Palestine.”

A former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Dore Gold, said the funding of the propaganda campaign is “simply outrageous.”

“The West Bank is disputed territory under U.N. Security Council Resolution 242. The U.N. has no business getting involved in sloganeering to call on the Palestinians to also take tomorrow the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” Mr. Gold told Fox News.

The Palestinian Authority’s top leaders have echoed the slogan in recent public comments. “The process of national struggle will continue until we reach Jerusalem and celebrate there and in the West Bank,” its prime minister, Ahmed Qurei, said. according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.

Source:  Gershman, Jacob. New York Sun, August 17, 2005.