Thursday 20 November 2014

Palestinian Authority media: Israel’s lackey in times of crisis



Palestinian youths hold up pictures of al-Aqsa Mosque and Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal, during a rally in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip November 18, 2014. AFP/Said Khatib
Published Wednesday, November 19, 2014Al-Akhbar
When young Palestinian Yousef al-Ramouni was lynched by Israeli settlers, the Palestinian Authority remained silent. However, it rushed to condemn the [resistance] operation in Jerusalem yesterday. The Palestinian news agency, WAFA, and Palestine TV followed suit in their coverage of events.
Gaza – As usual, the Palestinian Authority (PA) was not perturbed by thelynching of Ramouni in Jerusalem at the hands of [Israeli] settlers [on Sunday]. However, a flood of reactions were expressed over the five Zionists killed in the attack by martyrs Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal in a synagogue in occupied Jerusalem on Monday.
These sentiments were taken up by the PA's media, as the official news agency WAFA repudiated the martyrs and only gave them a cursory mention. "Five Israelis were killed in a stabbing in Jerusalem and the assailants are dead," it reported.
The martyrs were further marginalized when WAFA declared itself a “peace-dove,” implying that it could moralize on what is right and what is wrong. "The Presidency condemned the killing of civilians regardless of the party committing the attacks," it continued. "It also condemned the killing of Israeli civilians in the West Jerusalem synagogue attack."
WAFA presented pre-packaged Zionist talking points to legitimize the killing of Palestinians after the "aggression" by the two martyrs against "innocent worshippers, armed only with their Torahs," terms used in line with the agency's editorial policy.
On the other hand, WAFA mentioned the reasons behind the attack to be on the safe side. "[The Presidency] called for the immediate cessation of the storming of the al-Aqsa Mosque compound by extremist Jewish settler groups as well as an end to provocations of settlers and incitement of some Israeli ministers," it said.
A striking gesture, however, was in WAFA's adoption of the Zionist division of Jerusalem into East and West. It made up a new justification to condemn the operation, saying it took place in "West Jerusalem," which is on the Israeli side and hence prohibited to Palestinians.
Palestine Television, on the other hand, is still in a stupor. Despite the tensions in Jerusalem, it preferred to showcase the heroics of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. 
A few hours after the resistance operation, it broadcast a live program on the president's “quixotic” victories against the enemy, alluding to the future of the "two-state solution." Meanwhile, Jerusalem simmers with anger.


Local media flocked to transform the images of the two martyrs into lucrative commercial material, rebroadcasting pictures of their undressed bodies used in Israeli media. Local station Dunia al-Watan provided a free service to the Zionist enemy by promoting degrading nude images of the martyrs. Several social media users were infuriated by the transmission of such images, and digitally covered bodies of the two martyrs with the Palestinian flag.
The most flagrant offense was by one of the most popular local newspapers, named after al-Quds [Jerusalem]. It allowed Israeli narratives to infiltrate its front page, publishing a malignant "plea" by a Zionist called Moshe Simkhovitch.
"I address you hoping you would put a limit to the intensity of conflict in Jerusalem and allow wise Palestinians and Israelis a chance to say their word. I warn you from falling into the trap of the conspiracy against you," he wrote.
Amid this exasperating coverage of the Jerusalem events, it seems most Palestinian media organizations are nothing but an additional obstacle to Jerusalem’s liberation.
(Al-Akhbar)
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.

قضية ساخنة _ عمليات القدس والمواقف الاقليمية والغربية المتخاذلة | الكوثر 

تحت الضوء _ معركة القدس بين الفلسطينيين وكيان الاحتلال 

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