US media more exited about peace talks than Israelis and Palestinians themselves
Posted: September 2nd, 2010 | Author: noam | Filed
under: In the News, The Right, The Settlements, media, the US and us |
Tags: abu mazen, binyamin netanyahu, ehud barak, maariv, media, new yor times,
new york post, peace process, salaam fayad, settlements, yedioth ahronoth | No
Comments »
Take a look at today’s front pages shown here. The one
on the Left
is Yedioth Ahronoth’s, Israel’s leading tabloid. On the right is the
American NY Post.
Yedioth’s top story reads “wave of terrorism”, referring to the two
shooting attacks carried out by Hamas militants against settlers in the
last 48 hours. On the bottom and on the right side of the page there are
health, sports and other magazine stories. The only reference to the
peace process is the quote in small print, on the top of the page. It
reads: “Netanyahu: I came for an historic compromise.”
The place, the size and the coloring of Netanyahu’s words put his
speech in its proper context. But if you get your news from the Post
(and let’s hope you don’t), you might actually believe history can be
made here.
is Maariv, another Israeli tabloid: the front page combines the
story of the West Bank attacks and their aftermath, the attempts by
settlers to renew construction in the territories and the diplomatic
process. The talks themselves don’t get the top story, not even a
central image, like they do in the New York Times, shown below. Again,
the US papers seem to give the talks a greater importance than the
Israeli media. Bizarre, to say the least.
As part of a research for a story I’m working on, I recently went
through the archives of Maariv and Yedioth from 1993-1994, the years the
Oslo accord was negotiated and signed. Entire papers, not just the
front pages, dealt with the talks. The same goes for the days of the
Camp David summit in 2000. Today on the other hand, nobody in the Middle
East really cares about the diplomatic process, and I actually wonder
how many even know we might be “one year from a final agreement,” as the
White House puts it.
It’s easy to tell when things get serious. The settlers make a good
litmus test for the intentions of the Israeli leadership. They have good
ties with the Israeli administration and army. When the settlers sense
danger, they let it show. And while they went after Sharon and Rabin
with everything they got, they are awfully quiet now. There wasn’t even a
single major protest against Netanyahu, The NRP is still in the
government, and the right flank of the Likud has never been more silent.
The Israeli tabloids – like all tabloids – reflect their society’s
mood: This is clearly not a country on the verge of its most important
decision in decades.
The NY Times editorial declared
that with optimism and conviction, the talks might lead to an agreement
and the administration asked the parties not to give in to cynicism.
But the diplomatic process is not a sports competition, and pep talks
can’t help when the gap between the parties is too big.
The Palestinian leadership has lost most of its credibility and
legitimacy with its own people, and the bleeding gets worse with every
picture of Abu-Mazen shaking hands with Netanyahu. Hamas has just given
us the first taste
of what leaving it out of the process means. Even so, the positions of
PM Fayad and President Abbas are incredibly far from those of Barak and
Netanyahu. The Israeli leadership – and to be honest, the Israeli public
as well – cannot give the Palestinians the minimum they can settle
with. Under these circumstances, even if an agreement is reached, it
won’t mean a thing.
As I’ve written before, the current stage in the conflict is not just about
peace.
It’s about ending the occupation and getting the Palestinians their
rights. Some people in the American administration understood that, but
for their own reasons, they decided to pursue the failed policies of the
past two decades. I have a lot of criticism for the way the Israeli
media covers the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but this time they got it
right: for now, this round of talks is a farce.
—————————-
I will be working and writing from New York in the next three months.
http://www.promisedlandblog.com/?p=3404&cpage=1#comment-10931
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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