Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin May 13, 2008
'PA cozying up to America's enemies' Herb Keinon , The Jerusalem Post Apr. 16, 2008
President Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority is snugly in bed with the United States' worst enemies, according to a report presented in Washington on Tuesday by Palestinian Media Watch.
"There is ample evidence that the contacts between the Palestinian Authority and the enemies of the United States have the characteristics of relations between allies who share a common ideological bond," said the report, presented at a meeting of the House Foreign Affairs Committee by PMW's director Itamar Marcus and associate director Barbara Crook, days before Abbas goes to Washington for a meeting with US President George W. Bush.
Marcus was invited to the committee by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida) and Elliot Engel (D-NY).
"Hatred of the United States and disdain for its role of world leadership are the essence of this bond," the report reads. "If a Palestinian state were to be established before a qualitative shift in ideology, it is inevitable that the proposed state would join the alliance of enemies of the US and would strengthen those countries in undermining American goals for world peace."
Based on dozens of citations in the Palestinian media going back to 2005, predominantly articles and editorials in the PA newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, the report concludes that Abbas's PA is "allied with many states who see themselves as enemies of the US and whom the US sees as threatening US security and world peace.
Significantly, the affinity that is felt for such geographically distant non-Muslim countries - such as North Korea, Cuba, and Chavez's Venezuela - is precisely because these states publicly challenge and express loathing for the US."
The US was depicted by Fatah leaders, their controlled media and the PA education system with "disdain and loathing," the report contends, bringing numerous examples showing PA adoration and support for Saddam Hussein and the insurgency in Iraq, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Hizbullah.
The following are just a few examples:
A report in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida on January 4, 2007, stated: "Public figures and the [armed] factions in Yabad [west of Jenin] decided to name one of the schools in the municipality and its most important street after Saddam to immortalize his memory and to emphasize the values of Arabness and jihad, which he represented."
An article in the same paper on September 21, 2006, said, "The director of the General Assembly of Palestine's Workers, Hidar Ibrahim... demanded that the international community... put pressure on America to pull out his forces from Iraq and to cease its extortion against Syria, Sudan and Iran."
On September 10, 2007, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reported that Abbas praised North Korean leader Kim Jong-il "in honor of the day of the establishment of the republic. The president expressed in his letter his deep pride for the historic and strong relations that exist between Palestine and Democratic Korea."
Ros-Lehtinen said at the briefing that while Congress wanted to see peace, stability, and security prevail in the Middle East, "that goal remains elusive when Fatah continues to publish maps displaying a so-called State of Palestine that covers not only the West Bank and Gaza, but all of the land that constitutes the present State of Israel."
"My friends, how one nation depicts another people will often define the relations between them," she said.
Ros-Lehtinen said that "given the PA's repeated failure - in both word and deed - to verifiably halt all incendiary rhetoric emanating from its institutions, and to officially and publicly denounce such hate speech, the administration should stop unconditionally funding that body."
In Ramallah, a senior aid to Abbas dismissed the Palestinian Media Watch report as "nonsense," saying it was intended to incite the US against the PA leadership on the eve of Abbas's visit to Washington.
"The PA remains fully committed to the option of peace and the two-state solution," the aide told The Jerusalem Post. "Our relations with the US remain strong and we believe the Americans can continue to play a major role in the peace process."
Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report.
Palestinian Media Watch http://www.pmw.org.il/
Palestinian Media Watch
PMW report presented in US Congress
Strengthening America's Enemies:
The ideological allies of a future Palestinian state
by Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
President George Bush arrives this week in Israel to further his promotion of a Palestinian state. Last month PMW director Itamar Marcus was invited to the US Congress by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Rep. Elliot Engel of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to release a report documenting the dangers to US interests of a Palestinian state with ideological alliances to many US enemies. "Strengthening America's Enemies" The ideological allies of a future Palestinian state," now being released, concludes:
"There is overwhelming evidence that the contacts between the Palestinian Authority and the enemies of the United States are relations between allies who share a common ideological bond. Strikingly, hatred of the United States and disdain for the US role of world leadership are what unite them. Unless the Palestinian Authority demonstrates a major shift in ideology, a future Palestinian state will be firmly allied with North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Iran, Chavez's Venezuela, and Hezbollah, the forces that are seen as threats to the US and which are linked to world terror...There is no reason to believe that were a Palestinian Fatah state created, and its dependency on the US reduced, it would then choose to embrace the US. Indeed, in all likelihood the ties with the enemy states would intensify."
Executive Summary
At the Annapolis Conference, the US initiated a peace process with the goal of creating a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria (West Bank), headed by Mahmoud Abbas of the Fatah movement. This initiative is based on the assumption that the creation of a Fatah-based Palestinian state is in America's interest and will encourage long-term peace in the Middle East. This report examines the assumptions upon which the new peace initiative is based.
Methodology
This report examines the current ideology and political allies of the Fatah government as expressed by Fatah leaders and in the Arabic-language Palestinian Authority (PA) media. Documents examined include contacts and statements by the Fatah political, academic and religious leadership, reporting, editorials and education in the Fatah-controlled PA daily newspapers, PA television and PA schoolbooks. The goal is to determine the likelihood that a potential Palestinian state would be an ally or adversary of the United States, and would support the US goal and policy of promoting world security and peace.
Findings
This report reveals that the Palestinian Authority-Fatah government of Mahmoud Abbas is allied with many states who see themselves as enemies of the US and whom the US sees as threatening US security and world peace. Significantly, the affinity that is felt for such geographically distant non-Muslim countries, such as North Korea, Cuba, and Chavez's Venezuela is precisely because these states publicly challenge and express loathing for the US. The PA admires such organizations as Hezbullah, PA- Fatah heroes are master terrorists such as Imad Mughniyeh, killer of 241 American soldiers in Lebanon and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 are celebrated almost every annual anniversary with a political cartoon in the official PA daily (see Part 1).
The US, on the other hand, is depicted by Fatah leaders, their controlled media and PA education with disdain and loathing. Language such as, "the greatest Satan in the world, America" [PA TV, March 3, 2008], by a Fatah legislator is routine.
Conclusion - Palestinian State will continue alignment with enemies of the US
There is overwhelming evidence that the contacts between the Palestinian Authority and the enemies of the United States are relations between allies who share a common ideological bond. Strikingly, hatred of the United States and disdain for the US role of world leadership are what unite them. Unless the Palestinian Authority demonstrates a major shift in ideology, a future Palestinian state will be firmly allied with North Korea, Syria, Cuba, Iran, Chavez's Venezuela, and Hezbollah, the forces that are seen as threats to the US and which are linked to world terror.
[Click here to read the full 30 page report in PDF]
May 14th 2008 Bulletin
US, EU money promotes Palestinian ideology of world without Israel
By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook
Palestinian Authority (PA) infrastructures controlled by Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah continue to promote the ideology that "Palestine" will replace a destroyed Israel. US and EU money facilitates this.
1- The Palestinian Security Services Academy, a military branch of Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah government, prominently depicts as the center of its symbol the map of a "Palestine" state that erases all of Israel. This map is common in the Palestinian Authority and symbolizes the hope for the destruction of Israel. Voice of America reports that the academy is funded by "... Arab states and the European Union. The U.S. also has offered some indirect support." [ http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-01/2007-Palestinian-Police-Academy.cfm ]
2- The second example is of a "Sport and Cultural Club" built by USAID that prominently displays both the words "USAID" and the map of a "Palestine" state that erases all of Israel, encircled by the Palestinian flag.
As long as the US and the EU fund the PA while choosing to ignore or at times actually funding these PA-Fatah hate messages and symbols, the US and the EU are among the impediments to peace.
Palestinian Media Watch http://www.pmw.org.il/
Posted from PMW newsletters by R.P.BenDedek rpbendedek@hotmail.com
www.kingscalendar.com
