Palestinian Politician and Poet Al-Mutawakil Taha on Israeli Culture

The following are excerpts from an interview with Palestinian poet Al-Mutawakil Taha, formerly Director-General of the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Culture:

Al-Mutawail Taha: Look at the culture – and I place the word "culture" in quotation marks – of the Israeli occupier. Look at the sources of the Jewish Intellectuals – from the Gentiles to the culture of "Sarah" (sic.) in Europe. You find that their culture is full of hatred, racism, fascism, and hostility. I'll give you a recent example. There was an interview with a Zionist poet called A.B. Yehoshua. This poet is a follower of Ben-Gurion, who refused to allow any Arab letters in the Israeli identity card, because he hated Arabs so much.

This A.B. Yehoshua said in his latest interview, published in the Al-Madar Center's bulletin: "I cannot bear to hear Arab names. I hate them. I hate their culture and I hate their very existence." This is a manifestation of the Zionist slogan – "a good Arab is a dead Arab."