Jibral Rajoub. Photo: Wikimedia commons.

A senior Palestinian Authority official didn’t mince words in an interview with an Arabic sports channel recently, telling his interviewer that “Palestine – from the river to the sea – is all occupied,” Palestinian Media Watch reports.

Jibril Rajoub, Member of Fatah Central Committee, Chairman of the Palestinian Football Association and head of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, was responding to a question about the Barcelona soccer team’s upcoming visit to Israel when he said: “They are coming to the occupied lands. All of Palestine – from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea – it’s all occupied.”

The full transcript is posted below (courtesy PMW):

TV host: “Mr. Jibril, does the visit of Barcelona’s [football] team include a visit to the occupied lands?”

Rajoub: “They are coming to the occupied lands. All of Palestine – from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea (i.e., all of Israel) – it’s all occupied.”

TV host: “I mean the Israeli occupied lands.”

Rajoub: “You mean [occupied in] 1948 (i.e., Israel’s establishment)?”

TV host: “Yes.”

Rajoub: “On August 3 [2013] they are coming to us. Where they go after that – I’m not responsible for them… There was a stupid Israeli attempt to do something (a sports activity) together. Of course, they try to use Barcelona as a fig leaf to hide their crimes against the Palestinian sports. ”

[Al-Kass Sports Channel (Qatar), June 2, 2013]