Big Satan & Small Satan

Cartoon: Demonized Jew and American celebrate division of Sudan

by Itamar Marcus

The following cartoon appeared in the Jordanian daily Al-Dustur and was rebroadcast on official Palestinian Authority television. The text in the upper right says "Division of Sudan," and the distorted figures of the American and the Jew are shown toasting the division by drinking Sudanese oil. The text in both speech bubbles is "cheers."

[PA TV (Fatah), July 10, 2011]

As documented byPalestinian Media Watch, Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has expressed opposition to the division of Sudan in the past, and his close aide called the proposals for division an "Israeli conspiracy."

Abbas against division of Sudan:
In a letter to President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, who is accused of responsibility for the genocide in Darfur, Abbas stated that the Palestinian people and leadership "have complete faith in the wisdom of President Omar Al-Bashir" and that they "support the unity of the land of Sudan and its people."

Israeli conspiracy to divide Sudan:
PA official Abd Al-Rahman, Director General of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's office, accused Israel of being involved in a conspiracy to divide Sudan, saying that "there are other conspiracies which the occupation [Israel] plans so as to cause a decrease [in attention] to the Palestinian cause and to turn it into a secondary matter with no priority, such as... the division of Sudan."