Last November, Palestinians erected “the State Monument” in Bethlehem, a rock carving that shows the state of Palestine covering the entire state of Israel, representing the complete elimination of the Jewish state. It was unveiled to celebrate the U.N.’s voting on Palestine’s status as a “non-member state.” However, last week, the Palestinian Authority decided to hide the statue from President Obama when he visited the city. According to Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the local Palestinian daily paper (via Palestinian Media Watch):
Residents were surprised to find that a model of the map of Palestine engraved with details about the Nakba (“Catastrophe” i.e., Israel’s creation) and an olive tree were removed from the Al-Karkafa Square, to be replaced by a model of what was described as a peace dove. This enraged many people who gathered there.
Two days later, senior Palestinian minister Abd Al-Fattah Hamail denied that the surprise move was caused by the president’s visit. The square was merely being redone, he claimed, and the monument would soon return to beside the dove. He asserted that “the map engraved on the monument is the map of Palestine, which represents national symbolism and is implanted in the hearts of all Palestinians.”