By Barry Rubin
While the Western mass media virtually always portrays the Palestinian Authority (PA )as moderate the PA simply doesn’t act that way. Its contrary behavior involves not keeping its commitments, daily incitement to kill Israelis and destroy Israel in its institutions, and refusal to negotiate seriously.
Above all, it means refusing to make peace in the context of a two-state solution. Among other things, it rejects the idea off a peace treaty ending the conflict–a pretty remarkable stance–or resettling its people within the state of Palestine but insisting many should go to Israel to live–a pretty remarkable stance for what’s supposed to be a nationalist movement.
But then there are the symbolic things that persuade Israelis not to trust the PA with their future fate, even if Israel must deal with the PA and even save it from being overthrown by Hamas.
To put it in one sentence; there is nothing the PA won’t do in terms of justifying the murder of Israelis as a heroic deed that should be considered. Here is a case so extreme—publicized by the praiseworthy Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) that it should reverberate internationally, making people understand the true reason why this conflict cannot be settled. Oh, and it immediately follows PMW’s revelation that the highest-ranking, PA-appointed Palestinian Muslim cleric called for genocide against the Jews.
Now, twice in one week, a PA television host praised Hakim Awad, the murderer of the Fogel family who, last March, carried out the bloody slaughter of an unarmed father, mother, and three children (11 years, 4 years, and 2 months, respectively) in their home. The program held him up as a good role model for Palestinians.
There are hundreds of such events–you can visit the PMW site to read about them and see them on video–yet the Western mass media, not to mention governments, never take this incitement seriously even though it violates many agreements made by the PA.
What do you think their effect is going to be? Despite the way the mass media often portrayed this killing—when they didn’t ignore it—the fact that the Fogels were settlers did not justify their murder. When you understand the official nature and intensity of PA and Fatah incitement to kill Israelis and destroy Israel, does Israel-Palestinian peace seem so easy to achieve or does it seem impossible until these attitudes, and the policy based on them, changes?
Pointing this out is not an attempt to score propaganda points. It is a factor in the political situation. If the role of this incitement to terror and demonization of Israelis—and there is nothing like it on the other side—isn’t understood then the continuation of violence and the absence of peace cannot be understood. What does it mean when Awad’s mother calls him a “legend”? Where did a 17-year-old get the idea that deliberately murdering babies would make him a great hero?
Here is the transcript of the segment, broadcast on official PA television, on January 19 and 21. Note that this actual propaganda in Arabic far outweighs the official renunciations of some terrorist murders in English directed exclusively at a Western audience. The other two men mentioned are also in prison for killing Israeli civilians:
PA TV host: “We have a call from the family of prisoner Hakim Awad.”
Mother of Hakim Awad: “I thank you for connecting me with my son, because I and all of the family are prevented for security reasons [from visiting him].
Host: “Go ahead, sister, we can convey your voice.”
Mother of Hakim Awad: “My greetings to dear Hakim, the apple of my eye, from the village of Awarta, 17 years old, who carried out the operation in Itamar (i.e., killing of 5 Fogel family members), sentenced to 5 life sentences and another 5 years, in prison.”
Aunt of Hakim Awad: “I’m the sister of prisoner Hassan Awad and of Salah Awad; [I am] Um Habib, from the village of Awarta. My warm greetings to all the great heroic prisoners, to my brother Hassan Awad, head of the village council; to my brother Salah Awad, the heroic prisoner journalist; to the heroic, resolute prisoner, the lion, Yazid Awad, my nephew; and to my nephew Hakim Awad, the hero, the legend.”
Host: “We [PA TV], for our part, also convey our greetings to them.”
Aunt of Hakim Awad: “I dedicate this song to Hassan Awad, Yazid Awad, Hakim Awad, and Salah Awad, in prison:
‘My brother, in solitary confinement, your voice calls to me
You dare not throw down the rifle
That is what the homeland asked of me
In your eyes, we are all self-sacrificing fighters.
I convey greetings to the sound of the bullets of Ahmad Sa’adat and Hakim Awad.’”
Host: “Thank you for being with us, the family of prisoners Hassan and Salah Awad of Awarta.”
http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=6245
Exposing them as you and Ynet does is the proper media. Expose everything they do, and say.
Do you think John Baird and Jim Flaherty don’t watch?
persist in clinging to a two-state solution at all?
because thinkers like barry rubin do, that’s why.
Since when do desperate refugees in need of international assistance have their own TV stations?
The Methodist and Presbyterian churches in America are constantly debating the boycotting of companies that do business with Israel. This goes along with these denominations’ concern for Isreal’s bad treatment of the Palestinians. So if these so called moral leaders condemn Israel, how can we expect anyone including the media to go against the flow and condemn the Palestinians for their brutality and savagery.
Well, actually, we hope they think for themselves perhaps to the discredit of their “moral” leaders.
Hey Barry,
I have been living in Israel for 6 months now, I live in Herzlia, but work in Tel Aviv. I follow your input here regularly. I drive by where you work everyday.
I am interested in your book. It seems a good primer on learning more about the complicated history of Israel. Would it be possible for me to stop in some day and buy it direct from you?
Mike
“The trouble with the Palestinian Authority (PA) is that while in the Western mass media it is virtually always portrayed as moderate the PA simply doesn’t act that way”
No, that’s not true because that’s actually what makes the PA so appealing to many left wing types. If I want you dead but I am too much of a cowherd to kill you, then convincing you to put your fate in the hands of those who want to destroy you is really a decent alternative.
Calling Arabs “Palestinians” with all the phony history and propaganda that goes with it is a consequence of the invention of the “Palestine Liberation Organization” by Gamal Nasser, ruler of Egypt, and the Soviet Union. both haters of Jews. in 1964 in Cairo. The name “Judea” was changed to “Palestine” by the Roman Emperor Hadrian in 135 A.D., after he had defeated the last Jewish rebellion under Bar Kochba. Hadrian wanted to eradicate all memory of Judea and the Jews, and he outlawed Judaism. From the time, the name “Palestine” was synonymous with “land of the Jews” or “the Holy Land” (since Jesus was a Jew), and “Palestinian” with “Jew.” That is why Great Britain after World War I was awarded the “Palestine Mandate” to be the the “homeland of the Jews.”
The invention of Arabs as “Palestinians” is yet another attack on Israel. These Arabs do not deserve yet another state, as in the “two-state” solution. Their goal is the destruction of Israel, their motive is religious, since they hate Jews.
In attempted discussions on comment threads, the Western apologists for these murderers ALWAYS call PMW and MEMRI as fakes. Always.
It’s easy in their minds to ignore such facts when denial is used. The mainstream media has done its job well, because it’s now well-known that the PA/Hamas/neighboring Arab states can do no wrong. Every discussion turns to Israel being 100% responsible for the murders of its citizens, every other problem in the area, and never a word of criticism against these barbarians. Moreover, it matters not what atrocities happen elsewhere, they always are irrelevant compared to the so-called plight of the Palestinians.
Facts mean nothing. It’s hopeless to present them. Denial, deflection, and if that doesn’t work, insults are the only three tools they use. The same arguments must be debunked repetitively ad nauseum.
The world truly is upside down. The hatred against Israel is so entrenched among Western apologists for terror, that there is no discussion any more.
The bright side is that these people (if you can call them that) have only a limited life span, and eventually they die off. Not within their lifetimes can most be redeemed, and thankfully their lies die out with each of them.
That leaves us with our responsibility to talk to young people. We must ensure that they enter the adult world with a solid sense of decency, right and wrong, that murders of innocent civilians is abhorrent. It should not need to be argued about, but that is the state of humanity these days.
Columbia and Brandeis are clamoring to get the Awad family on their faculty as Middle East experts. I wouldnt be surprised if they were feted by Tom Friedman and Roger Cohen of the Anti-Israel Times