SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS

In the lead-up to the Arab summit, there has once again been a strong escalation in strong rhetoric and atmospheric tension on the Voice of Palestine as shown in the broadcasts of October 20-21. Most of the news shows are taken up with announcements of deaths and casualties suffered at the hands of “occupation forces “committing evil crimes” (jara’im wihshiyya) followed by denouncements of Israel’s human rights violations, emphasizing that the UN had agreed to investigate.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Yasser Arafat, featured at 10:00 intro to the news: “By blood and by spirit we will redeem you O Palestine.” (The quotation in Arafat’s own voice was apparently taken from an old rally.)

The same slogan featured prominently in VOP’s coverage of mosque prayers on Friday Oct 20 as in its Hebron reporter’s coverage at 2PM of mosque demonstration: “The worhipers came out of the Nasr Mosque chanting ‘By blood and spirit we will redeem you O Palestine.”

FORGOTTEN FACE

One of the signs that VOP is toughening its line is the frequent quoting of the hard-line Farouk al-Qadoumi (nominally the PLO foreign minister) who on normal occasions is usually ignored by VOP. Qadoumi has been a vocal opponent of the Oslo Process and he is considered “pro-Syrian.” When he is featured on the news in a high-profile position, it is a definite signal from the PA leadership.

COVERAGE

The coverage of three major incidents shows the anti-Oslo trend:

1. The attempted destruction of a Jewish commuter bus in Gaza, with about 40 people on board. While Israeli media covered the incident and described the huge and sophisticated nature of the 11-pound satchel charge (which was fitted with metal ball-bearings and shrapnel-producing devices), the Voice of Palestine ignored the incident altogether, reporting only that “occupation soldiers fired at citizens.” It goes without saying that the VOP also did not feature any Palestinian Authority condemnation or disapproval of the incident. Israel Radio reported that the sophisticated bomb was, according to Israeli intelligence officials, constructed by top PA officers under the command of Gaza Security chief Muhammad Dahlan. Because of the heavy shielding around the bus, no one on board was seriously hurt.

2. The explosion at the PA’s Force 17 headquarters in Bethlehem was ignored for many hours. This may indicate the PA’s embarrassment over what may have been a “work-related” explosion caused by a premature detonation of a bomb that was being prepared or embarrassment over negligence at such a high-level PA installation. (Force 17is the elite PA unit which serves as a personal guard for Yasser Arafat.)

3. The several-hour-long incident near Nablus involving a group of settlers who were touring Biblical sites. Starting in the afternoon of October 19, the incident-which was on-going—was described as a settler attack on Palestinian citizens. By 10o’clock in the evening, the whole tone of VOP had changed. The news was preceded by a resurgence of martial music. The news opened with an official statement from “a security source,” who described “a group of armed settlers attacked the Askar (refugee) Camp.” There was no reference to the fact that most of the settlers were women and children and that most of the men, too, were unarmed and that they had arrived on a school bus.

OBJECT LESSON

An unusual but telling feature of the morning broadcast of October20 was the use of an pseudo-academic lecture (broken up by martial music) to highlight the comparison between Yasser Arafatand the lateGrand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini. Listeners weretoldhow Husseini opposed the Jews (al-Yahoud) in Jerusalem and how he stood up to then-world power Great Britain.

The announcer also featured the way the Palestinian masses (translation from Arabic jamahir) rejectedthe pleas of the moderate Iraqi Foreign Minister of the time Nuri al-Said to reject violence and strikes. (This may have been a veiled snub of the current position of Egyptian president Husni Mubarak).

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