International Political Will

Another day, another dose of more unbelievable hypocrisy and biased reporting from our so-called “free press” (and allegedly “liberal” if you listen to the conservatives whine and complain). Our own media propagates more of the “he started it” mentality that keeps the Israeli-Palestinian peace process mired in a kindergarten playground fight.

The headlines and story leads frame the slant, disposing of any objectivity from the first word:

Rockets hit Israel, which says truce broken

AP - Palestinian militants on Tuesday fired three homemade rockets into southern Israel, the first such attack since a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza militants took effect last week.

Israel condemned the attack as a “gross violation” of the truce, but did not say whether it would retaliate…

Mortar Fire From Gaza Violates Truce

New York Times - Palestinian militants fired three homemade rockets into southern Israel on Tuesday, threatening to unravel a cease-fire days after it began, and Israel responded by closing vital border crossings into Gaza.

Despite what it called a ”gross violation” of the truce, Israel refrained from military action and said it would send an envoy soon to Egypt to work on the next stage of a broader cease-fire agreement: a prisoner swap that would bring home an Israeli soldier held by Hamas for more than two years…

Gaza Militants Fire Rockets Into Israel, Straining 6-Day-Old Truce

Voice of America - Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip have fired three rockets into southern Israel, wounding two people and straining a six-day old truce in the region…

Gaza rockets strain Israel-Hamas truce

Christian Science Monitor - In the first test of a five-day-old Gaza cease-fire, Palestinian militants fired rockets into southern Israel just hours after Israeli and Egyptian leaders met at this Red Sea resort to discuss possibly deepening the truce with a new round of talks on a prisoner exchange with Hamas…

Hamas: We want truce, despite rocket attacks

CNN - Hamas leaders in Gaza are still committed to a cease-fire agreement with Israel despite numerous rocket and mortar strikes Tuesday, a Hamas spokesman said.

The Israeli military has not responded, but a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the attacks could jeopardize the fragile truce, which took effect Thursday.

“It is clear that these rocket attacks present a grave violation of the understandings achieved by Egypt to achieve calm in the south,” Mark Regev said…

It goes on and on, and the point of these articles is clear:

Palestinian militants fired rockets into Israel.

Palestinians broke the truce.

Israel is showing restraint by not retaliating, even though it has the moral high ground.

Before you jump to the conclusions and assumptions that the “liberal” media wants you think, consider the whole story (one that is not reported to such an extent and is usually buried).

Well before any rockets were fired, hours before any blood-thirsty Palestinian Arab Muslims went around trying to harm poor, innocent Israelis, Israel raided the West Bank town of Nablus and killed two Palestinians.

But this action by Israel didn’t “violate” or “strain” the truce. According to Reuters, the Israeli raid merely “could test the fragile cease-fire.”

Just like the Israeli terrorist (oops, I mean “settler”) who fired a rocket from a seminary in an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank, the language of the reporting tells the story. Of course, when a settler fires a rocket at Palestinians, it goes unreported for two weeks and even then is underreported, using benign language that is only reserved for Israelis.

Part of the problem with the “cease-fire” that went into effect last Thursday is that it divided the Palestinians even further. Technically, the cease-fire only covered Gaza, leaving Israel free to continue attacking Palestinians in the West Bank knowing it doesn’t have to worry about rockets coming from Gaza.

First Israel physically split the two regions, forbidding free movement and reserving any connecting roads for Israeli citizens only. Then Israel (with US support) politically split the two territories by aiding the defeated Fatah movement after Hamas won free and fair elections.

Now Israel has managed to split a people. Palestinians suffer collective punishment, yet they are forced to negotiate separate peace agreements, effectively neutralizing any Palestinian nationalism or resistance. Divide and conquer, at its best.

In the face of hypocrisy in actions, policies, and even language - and after more than 40 years of illegal occupation, war, and political genocide - the security of both ordinary Israelis and ordinary Palestinians is still in doubt. To what end is this pointless policy hoping to reach?

While Israelis and Palestinians try to devise better ways to kill each other, the American media is acting as propaganda puppets. The so-called “liberal” media is reinforcing the age-old “chicken or the egg” issue, thereby denying citizens in a democracy the necessary information to make sound judgments, decisions, and the ability to formulate intelligent foreign policy.

Instead we’re left with a tit-for-tat debate in which he who shouts first and loudest wins.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS