America's Principles In Public Policy -> The Peace through Strength Institute
American Thinker
January 27, 2012
Leo Rennert
After a series of meetings between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Jordan, Palestinian President Mahdoud Abbas has called a time out so he can consult with the Arab League on next steps. In the meantime, the Washington Post is quick to report that the talks have been "foundering" and that diplomacy has reached a crisis stage. It also, predictably, blames mainly Israel for lack of progress, while uncritically purveying a slew of Palestinian propaganda lies ("Efforts under way to try to save Mideast negotiations - Israel, Palestinians at standstill over borders and security" by Joel Greenberg, Jan. 27, page A12).
The headline, of course, is misleading. There haven't been any "negotiations" that need saving. The Jordanian-sponsored meetings amounted to preliminary contacts to find a way toward negotiations -- so far without discernible success.
However flawed the headline may be, the article by Greenberg, the Post's Jerusalem correspondent, deviates even more from straight reporting, as he relies primarily on Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran Palestinian propagandist, for commentary about the current lull. Ashrawi, who served brilliantly in that capacity during the second intifada when Western reporters could rely on her for snappy sound bites, is not part of the Amman discussions. Reporting from Jerusalem, Greenberg goes out of his way to reach her by telephone from Ramallah to feast on her anti-Israel diatribes.
"There has been no progress whatsoever," she tells Greenberg. "There are no talks anymore. We don't want to be complicit in this game of deception. We see a public relations exercise, an attempt to create the impression that they want to talk while grabbing more land and destroying the substance of the talks. They just want talks for their own sake. This could go on forever while they go on building settlements and annexing Jerusalem and finally laying to rest the two-state solution."
To underscore her comments, Greenberg then paraphrases Ashrawi, telling readers that "the Palestinians have said that they will not resume negotiations unless Israel halts settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, activity they say is swallowing up land they seek for a future state."
There's no shortage of notable Israelis -- in and out of government -- who could easily cite chapter and verse to demolish these Palestinian canards. But Greenberg doesn't pick up the phone to get any substantive rebuttals to Ashrawi's propaganda. He just mentions very briefly in the last paragraph that Israel is "urging talks without preconditions to resolve all issues." Where is an Israeli counterpart to Ashrawi? Not in Greenberg's dispatch.
Greenberg simply lets Ashrawi's lies go unrebutted. He doesn't deign inform Post readers that Israel has not been "grabbing more land" and has not been "building settlements" in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Under Netanyahu and under Ehud Olmert before him, Israel has not added any settlements or expanded the contours of existing settlements.
Read this story at americanthinker.com ...
American Thinker
January 27, 2012
Leo Rennert
After a series of meetings between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Jordan, Palestinian President Mahdoud Abbas has called a time out so he can consult with the Arab League on next steps. In the meantime, the Washington Post is quick to report that the talks have been "foundering" and that diplomacy has reached a crisis stage. It also, predictably, blames mainly Israel for lack of progress, while uncritically purveying a slew of Palestinian propaganda lies ("Efforts under way to try to save Mideast negotiations - Israel, Palestinians at standstill over borders and security" by Joel Greenberg, Jan. 27, page A12).
The headline, of course, is misleading. There haven't been any "negotiations" that need saving. The Jordanian-sponsored meetings amounted to preliminary contacts to find a way toward negotiations -- so far without discernible success.
However flawed the headline may be, the article by Greenberg, the Post's Jerusalem correspondent, deviates even more from straight reporting, as he relies primarily on Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran Palestinian propagandist, for commentary about the current lull. Ashrawi, who served brilliantly in that capacity during the second intifada when Western reporters could rely on her for snappy sound bites, is not part of the Amman discussions. Reporting from Jerusalem, Greenberg goes out of his way to reach her by telephone from Ramallah to feast on her anti-Israel diatribes.
"There has been no progress whatsoever," she tells Greenberg. "There are no talks anymore. We don't want to be complicit in this game of deception. We see a public relations exercise, an attempt to create the impression that they want to talk while grabbing more land and destroying the substance of the talks. They just want talks for their own sake. This could go on forever while they go on building settlements and annexing Jerusalem and finally laying to rest the two-state solution."
To underscore her comments, Greenberg then paraphrases Ashrawi, telling readers that "the Palestinians have said that they will not resume negotiations unless Israel halts settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, activity they say is swallowing up land they seek for a future state."
There's no shortage of notable Israelis -- in and out of government -- who could easily cite chapter and verse to demolish these Palestinian canards. But Greenberg doesn't pick up the phone to get any substantive rebuttals to Ashrawi's propaganda. He just mentions very briefly in the last paragraph that Israel is "urging talks without preconditions to resolve all issues." Where is an Israeli counterpart to Ashrawi? Not in Greenberg's dispatch.
Greenberg simply lets Ashrawi's lies go unrebutted. He doesn't deign inform Post readers that Israel has not been "grabbing more land" and has not been "building settlements" in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Under Netanyahu and under Ehud Olmert before him, Israel has not added any settlements or expanded the contours of existing settlements.
Read this story at americanthinker.com ...
RSS Feed
