hidden history and not ' hasbara ' - a fair and good report

The  complicity  of western media  in Israeli hasbara is  a powerful factor in the  continuation of the Palestine problem for all this time.  A more honest and objective  media  could easily shame and force Israel towards a just settlement of what is the most dangerous flash point in the world. One that has caused and  continues to cause more wars than any other cause.


Moreover, the more Hamas signaled that it might accept a two-state solution along the 1967 borders—a position viewed as legitimate by most of the world’s governments—the more Sharon and Olmert would find themselves pressured to negotiate with the Palestinian government. One cabinet minister from the Labor Party, Olmert’s main coalition partner, explained the prime minister’s attitude to negotiations this way (Jerusalem Post, 6/23/06): 

Sure, Olmert will have talks with Abu Mazen [i.e., Abbas]. But those talks won’t lead anywhere because we have no interest in their successful consummation. We can then turn to our friends in the U.S. and Europe and say, “You see, we tried, unsuccessfully; we now have no choice but to go to realignment.”

So in the run-up to the elections, the Israelis honed a simple public-relations strategy. As described by one Israeli official (Forward, 2/3/06), “the Israeli diplomatic corps worldwide has been instructed to confront notions that Hamas might be an acceptable interlocutor by reminding the international community that Hamas is a terrorist organization sworn to the destruction of Israel.” 







As a marketing catch-phrase, the “sworn to Israel’s destruction” formula was a smashing success. Since July 2005, the Associated Press, probably the leading source of Middle East news for American newspaper readers, has run scores of dispatches describing Hamas as “sworn to the destruction of Israel” (8/13/05, 12/7/05, 12/16/05, 3/12/06) or “sworn to the destruction of the Jewish state” (2/24/06, 3/5/06, 4/9/06) or “sworn to destroy Israel” (1/15/06, among half a dozen others) or “sworn to the Jewish state’s destruction” (7/3/06) or “sworn to the destruction of [Olmert’s] country” (5/26/06), or—most popular—“sworn to Israel’s destruction” (12/27/05, as well as dispatches filed on more than 60 other dates).

Between December 24 and February 28, the New York Times published six news stories and an editorial describing Hamas variously as “a Palestinian party sworn to Israel’s destruction” (1/27/06), a “militant Islamic party sworn to the destruction of Israel” (1/26/06), “an armed group, sworn to the destruction of Israel” (1/25/06) or “an organization that revels in terrorism and is sworn to destroy Israel” (editorial, 1/27/06). The same formulation was used in news articles by the Minneapolis Star Tribune (8/14/05), L.A. Times(1/26/06), Boston Globe (1/27/06), USA Today (2/20/06), Philadelphia Inquirer (2/23/06) andChristian Science Monitor (3/6/06). 

On television, the refrain was the same. “Hamas, the group sworn to Israel’s destruction, won a landslide victory,”CNN’s Carol Lin announced (1/28/06). CBS’s Bob Shieffer (1/27/06), interviewing George W. Bush, observed that “of all things, the party that has sworn to destroy Israel wins a majority of the seats in the Palestinian parliament.” “Sworn to the destruction of Israel, terrorism has been their weapon” was how NBC’s Martin Fletcher (1/24/06) described Hamas. And ABC’s Charles Gibson (1/26/06) put it like this: “This is a group that is sworn to the destruction of Israel, will not recognize Israel, says they will not talk to Israel, and says it will not disarm.” 

Journalists who cover the Middle East know very well that, for good or ill, the international media have always played a major part in the region’s conflicts. States and armies use the media, not only for public relations, but to broadcast diplomatic signals that they hope will catch the attention of world leaders—or at least world audiences. When signals are heard, they can be reciprocated—and at times they can lead to breakthroughs. Stances can shift, ideologies can thaw, hardliners can be isolated, positions can be moderated.

When signals are ignored, however, the only possible result is further war; offers are abandoned and the prospect of change disappears. Journalists who choose to suppress these messages—preferring to take the “guidance” of official sources who point insistently to the other side’s warlike “vows,” “pledges” and “oaths”—can then take empty satisfaction from seeing to it that no pledges will be broken.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2974