Will the Real Abu-Mazen Please Stand Up?
By Michael Widlanski Haaretz 19 December 2004
[Appeared in Hebrew edition.
www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo=516202&contrassID=2&subC
ontrassID=3&sbSubContrassID=0 ]

Does the Palestinian Arab press know something that the Israeli press does
not know?

Even as the Hebrew press headlined the remarks of Mahmoud Abbas (nickname
Abu-Mazen) calling for an end to the "Intifada," the Arab press - especially
the Palestinian press - ignored the "news" item.

When "Haaretz" wrote in its lead headline (Dec. 15, 2004) "Abu Mazen: The
Use of Weapons in the Current Intifada has hurt us and has to stop," Radio
"Sawt Filasteen"- "Voice of Palestine"-- the official mouthpiece of the
Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO), kept completely quiet. When "Yediot" and "Maariv"
extensively covered and featured the remarks of Abu-Mazen (which were made
to "Al-Sharq al-Awsat," an Arab newspaper published in London), official
Palestinian television and the daily newspapers ignored the event.

So what does this mean? Who got it right - the Israeli Hebrew press or the
Palestinian Arab press?

It seems that the Arab press was right, if only for professional
journalistic reasons.

After all, PLO Chairman Abu Mazen has said exactly the same thing or almost
exactly the same thing several times before. In March 2003, he said the same
thing to the same Arab newspaper in London when he was Prime
Minister-presumptive of the PNA. He said almost identical things to the
Jordanian newspaper "Al-Ra'i" in September 2003, and I have personally
heard him say similar things on several Arab television stations in Lebanon
and the Gulf. Indeed, Dr. Abbas made very similar remarks at the Aqaba
Summit on June 4, 2003, and then he quickly "explained" his remarks in a
susbsequent "special press conference" held for the Arab press.

One therefore has to ask what is the real importance of the remarks of Dr.
Abbas (Abu-Mazen).

First, we must stress that the Arab press's disregard of the "moderate"
remarks of the current PLO Chairman concerning the "current Intifada" are
not part of a desire to ignore Abu-Mazen, the successor to Yasser Arafat.
Quite the contrary! On the same morning (Dec. 15, 2004), Radio Voice of
Palestine opened its broadcasts with extensive quotations from the new PLO
Chairman who was touring Gulf countries. In fact, the radio -as well as
official PA television - quoted Abu-Mazen's strong opposition to any kind of
limitations of the Palestinian "right of return." The Palestinian media
asserted that Abu-Mazen said - and with him the entire PLO/PA leadership -
that they would not tolerate leaving any Palestinian refugees inside Arab
countries.

It appears, then, that a careful examination of Abu-Mazen's remarks to the
Arab newspaper in London - as well as other recent remarks - shows that
Abu-Mazen does not oppose violence against Israelis from a moral or
ideological perspective. Rather, he opposes some violence only from a
"pragmatic" or "utilitarian" perspective. And then only for a short time.

Dr. Abbas believes that the Palestinian-Israeli War of Attrition has done
more harm than good to the Palestinians. In other words, Abu-Mazen opposes
using bullets and bombs against Israeli civilians inside "The Green Line."
And he opposes this use of ammunition for reasons of "profit and loss."

In the current interview in "Al-Sharq al-Awsat" as in earlier interviews
Abu-Mazen has been very consistent on several points.
1. The "Intifada" is a legitimate form of "resistance to occupation,"
and it should continue, but without bombs and bullets;
2. Abu Mazen supports attacking soldiers and settlers everywhere;
3. Dr. Abbas opposes for the time being attacks on Israeli civilians
inside Israel because it such attacks are "counterproductive to Palestinian
interests."

On the same morning that the Israeli press praised Abu-Mazen for his
"moderation," the senior anchorman of Voice of Palestine, Nizar al-Ghul
called the attack on the Israeli border checkpoint in Gaza a "resistance
operation." The radio anchorman also proudly claimed that the "resistance
operation" was carried out by the FATAH (headed by Arafat and Abbas) and
the HAMAS (the Islamic Resistance Movement) with whom Abbas has been
negotiating.

Is this the real meaning of "Palestinian unity" so sought by Abu-Mazen?

The Voice of Palestine radio anchorman's remarks on the "resistance
operation" were the lead-in to the morning headlines. The day earlier, Voice
of Palestine and PA Television called the tunnel bombers "mustash-hedeen"-
"heroic martyrs" in Arabic.

It appears possible that Dr. Abbas (who got his Ph.d from the Soviet
"Patrice Lumumba University" on the subject of "Relations between Zionism
and Nazism") is not only the formal successor to Yasser Arafat but a willing
and eager student anxious to apply Arafat's methods of sending multiple
messages to multiple (and sometimes gullible) audiences in different
locations and in different languages.

Dr. Abbas, who wears a suit rather than the military uniform of Arafat, has
a more refined and subtle style than his mentor, but it seems likely that
their ideological content is similar, if not identical.

We will surprise ourselves a lot less if we study the words and methods of
the new Palestinian leadership. Perhaps, we might even discover that when it
comes to the "right of return" of Palestinian refugees living in Arab
countries for 50 years that Abu-Mazen and Abu 'Ala (Ahmad Qreia) may
actually have a tougher line than the Egyptian-born Arafat.
----
Dr. Michael Widlanski, who teaches Political Communication at the Hebrew
University's Rothberg School, has researched the Palestinian media for
nearly a decade.