NPR‘s headline (3/30/18) employs the passive voice: 16 Palestinians killed by whom?
NPR, as FAIR has noted throughout the years (e.g., 8/14/01, 11/01, 2/5/02, 11/15/12, 10/10/14), takes a default pro-Israel line when reporting on the affairs of Israel/Palestine. Its correspondents almost always live in West Jerusalem or in Israel proper, are rarely Palestinian or Arab, and they work consistently to deflect blame for Israeli violence—either shifting blame onto Palestinian victims or dispersing it through false parity.
A segment from Friday (All Things Considered, 3/30/18) on Israel’s killing of Gaza protesters provides a case study in this process. NPR host Ari Shapiro set up the segment, an interview with reporter Daniel Estrin, by blaming the 17 dead and hundreds of injured Palestinians on “the militant group Hamas,” framing Israel as totally defensive. From the very first line, blame is deflected from the Israeli military:
Today saw some of the most violent clashes in years between Palestinian demonstrators and Israeli troops.
We do not have one party’s snipers opening fire on another, unarmed party; we have “violent clashes”—a term, as FAIR (8/12/17) has noted before, that implies symmetry of forces and is often used to launder responsibility. The whitewashing got worse from there:
Tens of thousands of people in Gaza answered the militant group Hamas’ call to protest.
Palestinians have no organic reasons for wanting to protest the occupation of their homes; the whole thing was a top-down decree from “the militant group” Hamas.
They threw rocks and firebombs near the border fence with Israel. On the other side, Israeli troops assembled.
This conveys the impression the Israeli military was just sitting around, minding its own business, when it was aggressively attacked by hundreds of Palestinians, then responded to this assault.
The “firebombs” claim is repeated later in the piece by Estrin himself: “Israel responded to Palestinians throwing rocks, firebombs, burning tires.” This isn’t qualified with “according to the IDF” or “the Israeli government”—even though as of now, there’s no independent evidence firebombs were used, much less used before any sniper fire from Israel.
The issue isn’t trivial: The matter of first blood when it comes to the Palestinian/Israeli “conflict” is a crucial one (FAIR.org, 12/8/17); framing Israel as always responding to threats, rather than inflicting aggressive violence on an occupied people, is a critical difference. And subtle framing devices like “clashes,” distorting timelines of who did what, or morphing IDF claims of “firebombs” into fact are how media keep this myth alive, and further delegitimize Palestinian resistance. (It should be borne in mind that opposition to occupation, even armed opposition, is a right guaranteed by international law.)
When FAIR pointed out to Estrin on Twitter that he had reported the “firebombs” as fact and not a claim by the IDF, he responded, “I reported the firebombs as an Israeli claim.” When FAIR showed evidence he and host Shapiro had done the opposite, Estrin deflected: “Be kind; it’s live radio.”
“Explain why this violence broke out today,” host Shapiro asked. It’s not a massacre or an attack or “firing on protesters,” as it is when official US enemies do it; it’s simply “violence breaking out.”
Estrin again took care to re-establish Hamas as the “driving force” and guilty party:
And it was billed as an independent Palestinian protest campaign. But actually Hamas, which controls Gaza, was a driving force.
This effectively militarized the whole of the protest, treating it not as an outpouring of popular grievances but as an operation quarterbacked by “a militant group.” This is where Estrin asserted the protesters used “firebombs” without attributing the claim to the Israeli attackers. Instead, he cited the IDF as a source on crowd size:
And according to the Israeli army, there were more than 30,000 Palestinians at six different spots along the border. Israel responded to Palestinians throwing rocks, firebombs, burning tires. Israel fired tear gas and live fire. It was the most violence in Gaza since the Gaza War in 2014.
A brief mention of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza was thrown in, but it is blamed on an “ongoing internal Palestinian political fight” that has made the situation “even worse.” Estrin then erroneously told listeners “Hamas took control of Gaza by force a decade ago,” when Hamas actually gained power in Gaza in 2006 through an internationally recognized election. In 2007, Hamas won a civil war with US-backed Fatah, the faction it had defeated in the election, but to say Hamas “took control of Gaza by force” falsely paints it as an usurping force with no legitimate authority.
Asked what will happen next, Estrin shrugged and says more of the same, and that is it.
It’s a brief report, but a highly revealing one: Hamas is at fault, the Palestinians threw “firebombs” first, then the Israeli army “assembled.” The illegitimate Hamas astroturfed the protest, the people are being exploited. Israel just killed those 17 protesters in self-defense.
You can contact NPR ombud Elizabeth Jensen via NPR’s contact form or via Twitter: @EJensenNYC. Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective.
N egating
P opular
R evolt
Actually, we have often labelled NPR
N ational
P alestinian
R adio
Read the article?
Thank you FAIR for, as always, throwing water in our faces and helping us to read the news more carefully.
If you talk to anyone familiar with how All Things Considered works, you’ll find out that unless it’s breaking news, it is seldom “live radio.” I have no way of knowing whether this segment was or was not live, but most of what you hear on that show is recorded in advance. In those cases, there is almost always an opportunity for corrections to be made or points to be clarified *before* the segment airs.
I really do thank you for pointing out this gastly bias by NPR in reporting this outrage by the IDF! I was listening to this very broadcast as it was being reported by NPR. I can remember as a teenager being chased by racist police on horse back under orders from the racist powers at city hall, and we had only rocks to toss back at them to show our frustration at the hate and selfishness imposed by them on our daily lives…What the IDF did(and continues to do daily) to these embattled people is nothing short of a damn disgrace! Justice is not the exclusive right of the the Israeli’s-but belongs to all human beings. If we as American’s really had honorable men and women at the highest levels of our Government, we would demand that Benjamin Netanyahu take full responsibility for this outrage and step down immediately! And, demand that the Israeli government compensate every Palestinian family (and others) affected by this crime…
“the Israeli government compensate every Palestinian family (and others) affected by this crime”
Which “crime” is that? Defending the sovereignty of the Jewish nation, and its people against those whose declared goal is to exterminate them both?
What sovereignty? Palestinians are not a foreign entity to the region. You sound like a pro-Israeli troll which flocks to every Israel article to muddle comments.
Israel is a sovereign nation. It has a barrier with Gaza. There are no Israelis in Gaza. Israel has the right to prevent Arabs from Gaza attempting to cross that barrier with the intent to murder Jews and exterminate the Jewish state .
Why would my comments be any more “muddling” than yours?
I don’t mean to disagree with the author, I also think the Israelis are in the wrong to use bullets against rocks.
Interestingly enough, when they reported later that same story included an interview with a palistinian teen who was trying to set some tires on fire “I was trying to commit suicide” which was an improvement.
But point taken, thank you.
The tendentious media coverage of the Arab -israeli conflict is just one aspect of the overarching Jewish controlled media and the insidious agenda that media promotes. Multiculturalism, mass third world immigration, miscegenation, feminism, homosexuality, gun control, etc are some of their other pet projects given a megaphone in Hollywood and New York city. For a meticulous survey of the most destructive political movements of the left and the Jewish prime movers behind them I would suggest reading culture of Critique by Dr Kevin MacDonald. For two organizations that are working to correct our immigration and foreign policies respectively visit the Council for the National Interest, councilforthenationalinterest.org and the American freedom party, theamericanfreedomparty.us. For alternative sources of fact and opinions that are not under Jewish controlled media visit unz.com and lewrockwell.com vdare.com nationalinterest.org paulcraigroberts.org solargeneral.org. thank you for your vigilance and your patriotism.
The tendentious media coverage of the Arab -israeli conflict is just one aspect of the overarching Jewish controlled media and the insidious agenda that media promotes. Multiculturalism, mass third world immigration, miscegenation, feminism, homosexuality, gun control, etc are some of their other pet projects given a megaphone in Hollywood and New York city. For a meticulous survey of the most destructive political movements of the left and the Jewish prime movers behind them I would suggest reading culture of Critique by Dr Kevin MacDonald. For two organizations that are working to correct our immigration and foreign policies respectively visit the Council for the National Interest, councilforthenationalinterest.org and the American freedom party, theamericanfreedomparty.us. For alternative sources of fact and opinions that are not under Jewish controlled media visit unz.com and lewrockwell.com vdare.com nationalinterest.org paulcraigroberts.org solargeneral.org. thank you for your vigilance and your patriotism.
I NEVER KNEW THAT THE P IN N P R STOOD FOR PROSTITUTE…
I’d love to add a stone to you fair comments, but i’m enable to find any informations about how palestinians were distanced from the israeli army. All informations i’ve been able to read is “alongside the border”.
But how far is that? it gives the impression that the 2 sides were face to face.
But you don’t need 100 sharpshooters to shoot at blank point do you?
So my point is :
even if they burnt tires (i don’t see how dangerous is that except if they throw them) and even if they have thrown firebombs (which is left to prove), do the gazeans should send some athletes to the Olympic Games?? if they can send firebombs and tyres hundreds meters away threatening the israeli army, they should to well with javelins and hammers….
The threat was the attempt to damage the border fence, penetrate it, and move into sovereign Israeli territory. There were also documented attempts to plant IED’s as firebombs at the fence, which had killed Israelis only recently.
“…and move into sovereign Israeli territory.”
Uh, huh.
And once there, then what?
Build settlements?
Murder Israelis.
William thinks Palestinians don’t are some foreign entity. They are not. “Israel’s sovereignty” is no more than Palestinian sovereignty.
There is no, never has been, any such thing as “sovereign Palestinians”. They are the majority population in Jordan, which was established in 80% of “historic” Mandatory Palestine, in 1922. They are governed by their own Authority in Gaza, and the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria. But except for the 20% of Israeli citizens that are Arabs, they are foreign entities as far as Israel is concerned..
You must have failed the hasbara test haven’t you?
Adam’s piece is how NPR works hard to whitewash Israel actions.
Biaising their reports to give the feeling of parity, and/or only self-defense;
Not hesitating to integrate actions that even the IDF or Israel Goverment didn’t mention (yet).
And how do you try to do your damage control job???
With more unclaimed rationales : IEDs
“NPR works hard to whitewash Israel actions.”
Really?
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=4&x_outlet=28
Israel’s actions were those of self-defence. Placing explosives at the border fence to kill Israelis are “IED”‘s.
“The purpose of the march was not—as Sanders and others who have accepted Hamas’s propaganda claim—a march for “a better future.” It was explicitly a march to demand the so-called “right of return” for descendants of the 1948 Palestinian refugees into Israel. As such, it is a call for war without end since no Israeli government of any political stripe could ever concede this claim, which would effectively end the Jewish state…..Nor was the march non-violent. The border was charged by large numbers of people armed with Molotov cocktails and rocks. Their purpose was to breach the barrier that protects Israeli citizens. Under the circumstances, it was the responsibility of the IDF to repel their efforts. Israeli fire appears to have killed 15 Palestinians, although at least 10 of them were known Hamas fighters. Even Hamas admits that some of those killed were from its “military” wing.”
https://worldisraelnews.com/the-gaza-march-and-the-worthlessness-of-international-opinion/?utm_source=MadMimi&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Gazans+Renew+Violence+on+Israeli+Border%2C+Imam+Shot+Dead+at+Entrance+to+Mosque%3B+What+Israelis+Love+Most+About+Passover&utm_campaign=20180403_m144815929_Gazans+Renew+Violence+on+Israeli+Border%2C+Imam+Shot+Dead+at+Entrance+to+Mosque%3B+What+Israelis+Love+Most+About+Passover&utm_term=_0D_0A_09_09_09_09_09_09_09_09_09_09Read+Now_0D_0A_09_09_09_09_09_09_09_09_09
““A short while ago, a number of explosive devices were detonated on the security fence along the northern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported,” the IDF Spokespersons Unit said on Twitter….In February, two Israeli soldiers were seriously wounded, and two others moderately and lightly wounded, when a planted device was detonated on the border fence of southern Gaza.”
https://www.jns.org/explosives-target-idf-soldiers-along-gaza-border-fence/
“A short while ago, a number of explosive devices were detonated on the security fence along the northern Gaza Strip.”
that right ! and they didn’t need thousands civilians by the border to do that did they?
The only propagandist here is you.
“The border was charged by large numbers of people armed with Molotov cocktails and rocks. Their purpose was to breach the barrier that protects Israeli citizens.”
How many israeli soldiers hit by stones and Molotov cocktail?? 0
How many proof they want to breach the barrier? 0
Large Number? propaganda ! Evidences show the exact opposite. Most stayed way further at the tents.
the farmer killed while working in his field was trying to breach the border and wanted to plant IED on the fence? and the one who was praying? and the young shot in the back while retreating with an inflame tire?
“Israeli fire appears to have killed 15 Palestinians, although at least 10 of them were known Hamas fighters. Even Hamas admits that some of those killed were from its “military” wing.””
As you admit yourself SOME not ALL ! Adding to that, you implicitly say they can’t wear off their hamas outfits, and be there like simple civilians right?
With this logic you implicitly validate the terrorists knives attacks targeting civilians in israel because everyone has been in the army and still be reservist. Thus according to your logic it’s legitimate to say “there no such a civilian in Israel only present or future soldiers”. do you realize that?
And even there with your propaganda, you’re late, very late.
The army went to the next stage already : •The Israeli military said its troops had used “riot dispersal means and firing towards main instigators.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/30/israeli-forces-kill-12-palestinians-in-gaza-border-protests-gaza-medics.html
Get that? being in such protest is a crime and being main instigator of such protests is a capital crime punished by death ! with Israel being the judge, the jury and the executioner !
Would you have validate the same if it was German Red Army shooting “en masse” if “East Berliners protesters” went close the Berlin Wall in the 80’s? and if they came from the other side of the fence? shooting western German? after all they had the right to protect their border right?
“Manelis said that in the course of Friday, the IDF documented three attempts to place improvised explosive devices along the fence and five attempts to break through the fence with wire cutters, as well as multiple cases of people throwing burning tires at the fence….Some video evidence has called into question the army’s claims that everyone shot represented a clear threat, notably in the case of Abd el-Fatah Abd a-Nabi, who appeared to have been targeted while running a significant distance from the fence, holding a tire.
Manelis would not discuss the specifics of that case, but noted that the video in question was edited and did not show the period immediately before a-Nabi was shot.
Asked about that video and others that appeared to show people being shot while relatively far away from the fence, the spokesperson cast doubt on the veracity of some of them and said that the army would conduct its own internal investigations of each shooting.
“Some things look bad on film, and it’s possible there were mistakes,” he said…Of the 16 killed, 11 appeared to have been affiliated with terror organizations, he noted, mostly Hamas, but also Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Islamic Jihad, and a salafist group. The army’s identification of these operatives is largely supported by acknowledgements by the terrorist organizations themselves, and by photographs of the men either in uniform or receiving military-style funerals, although a small number could not be immediately substantiated…But a sizeable portion of the protesters, most of them young men and some young women, came closer to the security fence — within a few dozen meters — lighting fires or using slingshots to hurl rocks at Israeli troops on the other side.
A smaller number went right up to the fence. Footage released by the military and some videos circulating on social media showed mostly young men throwing Molotov cocktails or burning tires at the metal barrier.
According to Manelis, terror groups also tried to take advantage of the chaos to plant improvised explosive devices along the fence in three cases.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/what-we-know-and-dont-about-fridays-gaza-protests/
“the farmer killed while working in his field was trying to breach the border and wanted to plant IED on the fence?”
He was in the clearly demarcated “no-go zone”, established in 2005. It is impossible to judge the intent of someone entering that zone.
“they can’t wear off their hamas outfits, and be there like simple civilians right?”
There were 30,000 “simple civilians” there who were not killed or injured. The majority of those that were, were affiliated with terrorist organizations. Just coincidence, no doubt.
” being in such protest is a crime and being main instigator of such protests is a capital crime punished by death ! ”
Nonsense! You purposely omitted the quote in your link just preceding what you posted:
“hundreds of Palestinian youths ignored calls from the organisers and the Israeli military to stay away from the frontier, where Israeli soldiers across the border kept watch from dirt mound embankments….Live fire was used only against people trying to sabotage the border security fence and at least two of the dead were Hamas operatives, an Israeli military official said.”
On the one hand, you suggest that the IDF lies and that its soldiers fire at innocent “protesters” and “demonstrators” with the goal of killing innocent Arabs. But then you cannot explain why only 18 people were killed (and hundreds injured) out of 30,000 people present, and most of those were “militants”.
” “East Berliners protesters” were trying to flee to the West not kill East Germans, and exterminate their country.
“you cannot explain why only 18 people were killed (and hundreds injured) out of 30,000 people present,” : hundreds yes nice way to minimize the casualty figures in people’s brain.. 1400 injured.. it’s makes around 5% according to your own figures.
1400 mostly shots in the legs, some with explosive bullets which are forbidden by international standards.
“I can’t explain?” oh yes i can : It’s deliberate policy aiming at maiming the protesters for life ! wheelchairs for everybody. you focuse on the 18 killed to minimize the facts again, but some things are worst than death and you know it. So !! 5% !! can you explain barely one out of 20 can you explain the figure? or are you going to quote your DM “no innocent in gaza!”?
“Nonsense! You purposely omitted the quote in your link just preceding what you posted” : the nonsense is on your side !! i thought i heard thousands times from your ilks that Israel had completly retreated for gaza and gave the gazeans their “sovereignity” back !! Sovereign piece of land but having to keep following Israel orders right??
for all the rest of your post (and your posts here), you actually prove nothing at all. you keep saying “it’s have yet to be proved!! this are edited, lies, and such” and all you come up with is israeli army spokeperson and his ilks.
In another word, the palestinians says it “it’s a lie”,
Israel says it “that’s gospel”
I’m waiting for your Manelis to prove what he says, showing us the unedited videos!!
come on i’m sure you can do better
Yes, it was the same biased report on Monday NPR’s Morning Edition. The entire report might as well be written by the Israeli “Defense” Force! And this perennial one-sided reporting is another example of the “Corporate-bin-Laden” news.
NPR is a tax supported propaganda outlet for the US government which, in turn is controlled by Israel through AIPAC
How forgetful folks here are :^( NPR used to be fair minded until McDonald’s heiress gave million$ to NPR, on the condition that Israel Jews are never criticized.
The NYT (“Israeli Military Kills 15 Palestinians…”) actually did an unusually good job covering this, far better than NPR. Various stories I read through provided no independent confirmation of the molotov cocktail claim. It does look like stone throwing did occur, but its extent remains quite unclear. And it should have been made immensely clear by all news sources that the Israeli military guarding the fence were never in any substantive danger, and none were injured. The degree of violence by each side (almost entirely Israeli) and degree of serious danger (almost entirely Palestinian) are basic questions that any coverage should have included.
Zionism at its best
This is hogwash.
Hamas, interestingly supported by their rivals, the P.A., called for “protests” which included pushing burning tires towards the border fence, slingshots, trying to rush and damage the border fence with the aim of placing IED’s or violating Israeli sovereignty.
Of those killed in those attempts, 10 were identified by Hamas as their “operatives”.
“Palestinians have no organic reasons for wanting to protest the occupation of their homes;”
There is not one single Israeli in all of Gaza. What “occupation of their homes”?
“the whole thing was a top-down decree from “the militant group” Hamas.”
Indeed it was, with participants bused to the area.
“This conveys the impression the Israeli military was just sitting around, minding its own business, when it was aggressively attacked by hundreds of Palestinians, then responded to this assault.”
EXACTLY what happened.
Also:
http://hamodia.com/2018/04/03/gaza-rioters-new-secret-weapon-mirrors-says-report/
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/243982
Hamas initiated this March of Return stating:
“The Palestinians are determined to return to their lands and homeland, Haya said, during a tour of tents set up by the protesters near the border with Israel. The Palestinians refer to the tents as the “Tents of Return.”
“Our people will not be intimidated by the Israeli threats,”
When does Tel Aviv pay you? Hopefully it’s every two weeks and they provide you 401k.
M<y opinions are my own. And it is a pleasure to counter yours with facts, for free.
Hells Bells Adam. Everybody knows that the entire U.S. mainstream media is nothing more than a propaganda machine for Israel, and that includes NPR. Don’t bother us with common place stories. Go out and do some reading and research and write something of interest that we don’t already know. Jeez! No wonder that so many people complain about the bias of the mainstream press.
The killing started a few hours before the demonstration when a Palestinian farmer was killed and one wounded by a tank shell(!) for “acting suspiciously” near the border.
Who are you going to believe? What is the truth?
“A Palestinian farmer has been killed by Israeli artillery fire near Khan Yunis in Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said.
According to eyewitnesses, the victim, identified by the ministry as 31-year-old Omar Samour, was on his land near the border when the incident occurred on Friday, AFP news agency reported.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli army of the strike.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/palestinian-farmer-killed-israeli-strike-gaza-180330053808314.html
“Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian farmer in the bordering Gazan city of Khan Younis, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said on Saturday.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said the farmer, identified as Mohammed Atta Abdel Mawla, 59, was shot five times by Israeli forces. He was rushed to hospital where his condition deteriorated and he died due to his wounds late afternoon.
A spokesperson for the Israeli army claimed Israeli soldiers shot at Abdel Mawla when he allegedly entered a “forbidden zone” near Gaza’s border with Israel.”
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/3/3/palestinian-farmer-in-gaza-killed-by-israeli-army
“A Palestinian farmer was killed Saturday by Israeli army fire near the Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
An IDF spokeswoman said soldiers opened fire at a Palestinian man who had entered a “banned zone” near Gaza’s border with Israel, but gave no further details.
The Gaza Health ministry identified the farmer as 59-year-old Mohammed Abu Jumaa.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinians-say-gaza-farmer-killed-by-israeli-army-fire/
And finally:
https://mobile.reuters.com/video/2018/03/30/gaza-farmer-killed-by-israeli-tank-shell?videoId=413335206&videoChannel=117460
What apparently is true is that, as a result of a long history of Palestinian efforts (occasionally successful) to murder Israelis, a “no-go” buffer zone of 100meters (now 300 meters) was established by the IDF in 2005 along Israel’s border with Gaza. There is an equally long history of Arabs who have tested Israel’s resolve about protecting its citizens through that buffer zone, (some innocently, or in error), and have lost their lives doing so. Israeli soldiers cannot be expected to determine the motives of those approaching the border across clearly demarcated no-go areas. Hence, “acting suspiciously”.
I certainly won’t believe you that’s for sure.
Feel free to point out anything you consider untrue, and refute it with your own FACTUAL evidence.
Tried to post comments.
These Idiots want you to type your name and email each post.
That’s Stupid.
That’s why I Subscribed, so it would pop up each time I commented. Last wasted time on this format.
Tried to post comments.
These Idiots want you to type your name and email each post.
That’s Stupid.
That’s why I Subscribed, so it would pop up each time I commented. Last wasted time on this format.
“We have to murder them because we think they want to murder us!” Israel apologists, listen to yourselves!
“We have to murder them because we think they want to murder us!” Israel apologists, listen to yourselves!
What I find particularly egregious is that the “winners” of WWII decided to give Jews a “homeland,” without regard to the fact that there were already people living in this “homeland,” who considered it their “homeland.”
It looked to me as if there was no respect for either group. It looked like the Arabs, with their greater numbers and their loud saber-rattling, would come out the winners, and the Western powers would be able to say, “Too bad; we tried.”
But, surprise, after having suffered for so many years, and having come to the conclusion that NO ONE could be trusted to help Jews (remember the Exodus?), the Jews/Israelis were more tenacious than anyone would have expected. Like someone who has been bullied all his/her life, the Israelis/Jews said “Never again!” and they meant it. They knew that to lose this battle was to go back to being victims once more.
So, I understand the desperation of Israelis. But I also understand the desperation of the Arab/Palestinian residents of the former Palestine. They had been sold out and lost their land and their autonomy to boot.
The crime here was committed by the western powers at the end of WWII. Perhaps a portion of Germany should have been set aside for the Jews. It would have been more just had those who cooperated in the extermination of the Jews been forced to provide land for a Jewish state.
I am Jewish, and part of my family was exterminated, yet I believe that Israelis should have been the last people on earth to treat the Palestinians the way they have – and on the other hand, we know that those who have been abused tend to become abusers.
The whole western world is guilty. I have no answers, except that we need to listen to one another and figure out how all people can live in harmony and security. It sounds impossible, but I believe it is possible with patience and compassion.
What I find particularly egregious is that the “winners” of WWII decided to give Jews a “homeland,” without regard to the fact that there were already people living in this “homeland,” who considered it their “homeland.”
It looked to me as if there was no respect for either group. It looked like the Arabs, with their greater numbers and their loud saber-rattling, would come out the winners, and the Western powers would be able to say, “Too bad; we tried.”
But, surprise, after having suffered for so many years, and having come to the conclusion that NO ONE could be trusted to help Jews (remember the Exodus?), the Jews/Israelis were more tenacious than anyone would have expected. Like someone who has been bullied all his/her life, the Israelis/Jews said “Never again!” and they meant it. They knew that to lose this battle was to go back to being victims once more.
So, I understand the desperation of Israelis. But I also understand the desperation of the Arab/Palestinian residents of the former Palestine. They had been sold out and lost their land and their autonomy to boot.
The crime here was committed by the western powers at the end of WWII. Perhaps a portion of Germany should have been set aside for the Jews. It would have been more just had those who cooperated in the extermination of the Jews been forced to provide land for a Jewish state.
I am Jewish, and part of my family was exterminated, yet I believe that Israelis should have been the last people on earth to treat the Palestinians the way they have – and on the other hand, we know that those who have been abused tend to become abusers.
The whole western world is guilty. I have no answers, except that we need to listen to one another and figure out how all people can live in harmony and security. It sounds impossible, but I believe it is possible with patience and compassion.
NPR=National Propaganda Radio. the more you listen the less you know!
* “The Zionist version of the Palestinian exodus is a myth manufactured after the cataclysm took place. If the Zionists could show that the refugees had really fled without cause, at the express instructions of their own politicians, they would greatly erode the world’s sympathy for their plight — and, in consequence, the pressure on themselves to allow them to return. Thus in public speeches and scholarly-looking pamphlets they peddled this myth the world over. It was not until 1959 that the Palestinian scholar Walid Khalidi, exposed it for what it is. His painstaking researches were independently corroborated by an Irish scholar, Erskine Childers, two years later. Together, they demonstrated that the myth was not just a gross misrepresentation of accepted or even plausible facts; the very ‘facts’ themselves had been invented. Orders for the evacuation of the civilian population had not simply been issued, the Zionists said, they had been broadcast over Arab radio stations. One had come from the Mufti himself. This was the cornerstone of the Zionist case. Yet when these two scholars took the trouble to examine the record — to go through the specially opened archives of Arab governments, contemporary Arabic newspapers and the radio monitoring reports of both the BBC and the CIA — they found that no such orders had been issued, let alone broadcast, and that when challenged to produce chapter-and-verse evidence, the date and origin of just one such order, the Zionists, with all the apparatus of the State of Israel now at their disposal, were quite unable to do so. They found, on the contrary, that Arab and Palestinian authorities had repeatedly called on the people to stay put and the Arab radio services had consistently belittled the true extent of Zionist atrocities.”
—David Hirst, The Gun and the Olive Branch, Faber, 1977, pp. 136-7.
* “The Zionist version of the Palestinian exodus is a myth manufactured after the cataclysm took place. If the Zionists could show that the refugees had really fled without cause, at the express instructions of their own politicians, they would greatly erode the world’s sympathy for their plight — and, in consequence, the pressure on themselves to allow them to return. Thus in public speeches and scholarly-looking pamphlets they peddled this myth the world over. It was not until 1959 that the Palestinian scholar Walid Khalidi, exposed it for what it is. His painstaking researches were independently corroborated by an Irish scholar, Erskine Childers, two years later. Together, they demonstrated that the myth was not just a gross misrepresentation of accepted or even plausible facts; the very ‘facts’ themselves had been invented. Orders for the evacuation of the civilian population had not simply been issued, the Zionists said, they had been broadcast over Arab radio stations. One had come from the Mufti himself. This was the cornerstone of the Zionist case. Yet when these two scholars took the trouble to examine the record — to go through the specially opened archives of Arab governments, contemporary Arabic newspapers and the radio monitoring reports of both the BBC and the CIA — they found that no such orders had been issued, let alone broadcast, and that when challenged to produce chapter-and-verse evidence, the date and origin of just one such order, the Zionists, with all the apparatus of the State of Israel now at their disposal, were quite unable to do so. They found, on the contrary, that Arab and Palestinian authorities had repeatedly called on the people to stay put and the Arab radio services had consistently belittled the true extent of Zionist atrocities.”
—David Hirst, The Gun and the Olive Branch, Faber, 1977, pp. 136-7.