wid/media line analysis: AS BUSH OFFERS STATEHOOD, PALESTINIAN MEDIA SLAP
U.S. AND HUG HAMAS, WHILE ARAFAT TOUGHENS STANCE
By Michael Widlanski (The Media Line)
Sunday, June 16, 2002 9:37 AM
During the week that the Bush Administration reportedly prepared a proposal
for a temporary version of a Palestinian state, the Palestinian leadership
and its state-controlled media offered their own response that included:
*--A cooperative public relations effort with the Islamic terror
organizations HAMAS and Islamic Jihad;
*--An intense media attack on the United States, branding it the
"blood-thirsty" supporter of Israeli "racism" and "fascism;"
*--And a rejection of any compromise on the issue of Palestinian refugee
resettlement in Israel-known as 'the right of return", even in exchange for
Shimon Peres's personal offer of a full withdrawal and dismantling of
Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.
"The bloody hands of America are responsible for killing us," said HAMAS
representative Dr. Muhammad Abu-Samra, appearing on Palestinian State
Television June 12.
The appearance of a senior HAMAS representative as an honored guest
commentator on the Palestinian Authority's flagship tv show from Gaza was a
clear sign that Yasser Arafat was reaching out to the Islamic terror
organizations.
"America puts tools into the hands of the Israelis to use for our
destruction," declared the bearded Abu-Samra, the HAMAS representative, on
the show "Raghm al-Hisaar": "In Spite of the Siege."
The show's host was deferential to the HAMAS representative, never
contradicting him, and frequently agreeing with his often violently
anti-American comments.
Another broadcast signal of HAMAS-PA cooperation was the frequent repetition
of calls for "national dialogue" between the Arafat-led forces and the
Islamic front organizations. These calls were backed up by officials
Palestinian statements in Arabic supporting attacks on Israeli soldiers and
Israeli "settlers" in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza.
Official English versions of the Palestinian statements on the official
Palestinian news service, WAFA, deliberately passed on an incorrect
translation of the Arabic in order to give the impression that Arafat was
condemning attacks on Israeli civilians.
In fact, Arafat's media made it clear in Arabic that the PA supported
"resistance" but opposed attacking Israeli civilians inside Israel, for the
moment, because it "put a tool into the hands of the Israeli government" to
hurt Palestinian interests.
The anti-American tone of the Palestinian State television broadcasts were
even repeated by Arafat himself and his top advisors as they reiterated that
American tanks, jet fighters and helicopters were "committing war crimes"
against the Palestinian people.
Their comments and sentiments were carried by Voice of Palestine (VOP) State
radio and the state-supported West Bank newspapers, although a four-day
Israeli siege of Ramallah curbed radio broadcasts and newspaper production
(even internet editions) for several days.
The Palestinian view that America wants to destroy the Palestinians or that
the Bush Administration is really just a rubber stamp for "Israeli war
crimes" was depicted strikingly in a full-color cartoon in Friday's
Jerusalem daily, Al-Quds.
"DESRUCTION OF THE (PALESTINIAN) AUTHORITY" read a document featured in the
cartoon, which was sealed with a huge rubber stamp with the word "YES"
featuring a red-white-and-blue Uncle Sam and the signature of "George Bush."
The Palestinian Authority's own daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida was even more
ghoulish and garish.
"BORN TO KILL" was written in English on the helmet of an (apparently)
cannibalistic Israeli soldier. The huge salivating soldier, a Star of David
also festooned on his helmet, was depicted holding a tiny Palestinian child
in his hand.
In the full-color cartoon, which ran June 6, the gigantic Israeli soldier
was shown about to eat the Palestinian child atop a star-spangled and
red-white-blue table cloth dripping with blood.
Another cartoon in the same newspaper on June 8 shows Yasser Arafat making
fun of the Bush Administration for trying to tell Arafat how to reform his
security services even as the Bush Administration fails to get its own
intelligence apparatus in order.
"Hello, Mr. Bush," says Arafat on the phone to President George Bush
(depicted wearing a star-spangled Uncle Sam hat), "would you like me to send
you something, perhaps a general or a colonel or an advisor?"
Another cartoon in the PA's newspaper today (June 14) shows the word "USA"
spelled out using an emaciated and plucked eagle with a broken olive branch
in its mouth.
"We welcome death in defense of our holy land," proclaimed Yasser Arafat in
remarks quoted by his Voice of Palestine (VOP) radio in reports from June
7-June 9.
The Palestinian leader staked out a very tough bargaining position,
rejecting all talks until Israel had made a complete withdrawal from the
West Bank and Gaza Strip. Arafat also rejected the proposal floated by
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres that the Palestinians pull back their
demand for a complete "right of return" in exchange for a withdrawal of
Israeli settlements.
Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh told the Palestinian media that the
"right of return"-that Palestinian refugees and their children could
resettle in Israel-was not negotiable.
This tough Palestinian position was repeated today (June 14) in the
PA-supported Jerusalem Times.
"The settlements are considered illegal and an act of colonization that
should be removed without any conditions or rewards," said Marwan
Abdul-Hamid, deputy head of the PA's Refugee Affairs Department
Abdul-Hamid stated.
The PA official specifically rejected the American and Israeli ideas that
the Palestinians compromise their demand for full "right of
return"-resettling anyone classified as a Palestinian refugee from 1948 (or
his/her children) in "their original homes" inside what is today Israel.
Such a demand, almost all Israelis agree, means nothing less than the
complete destruction of Israel.
© 2002 Michael Widlanski
Michael Widlanski is senior analyst at The Media Line and lecturer at The
Rothberg School of the Hebrew University. Fuller versions of his articles
are available at www.themedialine.org
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