Public Condemnation; Private Glee

Executive Summary

Palestinian press treatment of the Islamic suicide attacks on New York and Washington on September 11 was a prime example of the power the Palestinian Authority wields over newspapers and media. Both PA-owned as well as privately-owned newspapers were careful not to praise the attacks attributed to Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden. At the same time, Palestinian columnists and news reports expressed empathy with Islamic anger against the United States and were venomous toward Washington’s efforts to call to account Bin Laden and his allies for the attacks. The newspapers also condemned the U.S. retaliation against Afghanistan and predicted that any war against terrorism would be futile. To Palestinians, the message was clear: Bin Laden’s goals can be supported without direct reference to the September attacks.

The Report

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat laid down strict guidelines for press coverage of Bin Laden’s attacks on the United States. The directives banned any coverage of the widespread demonstrations in support of Bin Laden in such cities as Gaza City, Nablus and Rafah. But the newspapers were encouraged to be venomous toward the United States and the West in an effort to provide a framework of empathy for Bin Laden’s attacks.

At first, PA newspapers prominently displayed the condemnation over the September 11 attacks by Arafat and several leading officials. This included Arafat’s donation of blood in Gaza for the victims in the United States, Still, the condemnation was selective and included only those Palestinians who focus on the West, such as PA International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath, PA Information Minister Yasser Abbed Rabbo and Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi, who is Arafat’s unofficial spokeswoman in the West. Aides to Arafat who dealt with such allies as Iran, Iraq and Syria were silent.

At the same time, the PA press avoided virtually all coverage of the demonstrations in support of Bin Laden in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The demonstrations took place hours after Islamic suicide attackers destroyed New York’s World Trade Center and a wing of the Pentagon in Washington. At first, the PA allowed the pro-Bin Laden rallies as long as foreign journalists were banned from recording the enthusiasm expressed over the killing of 6,000 a.m.ericans. But as the demonstrations were being reported in the West and spread throughout the PA areas, Arafat ordered his security forces to stop the rallies.

PA Censors Reports on Anti-U.S. Protests

In Gaza City, the efforts to stop the demonstration by supporters of the Arafat-led Fatah movement and Islamic opposition members were bloody. Three Palestinian students were killed and a dozen were injured on October 8. Demonstrators accused Palestinian officers under the command of Brig. Gen. Ghazi Jabali of shooting at protesters. At first, the PA turned silent and then referred to the police officers as “masked gunmen.” The reason for the pro-Bin Laden demonstrations was censored. Instead, the Palestinian press referred heavily to the “unfortunate events in Gaza.” The nature of the pro-Bin Laden rally was not mentioned.

The leading force in shaping the Palestinian message was the Ramallah-based Al Hayat Al Jedida, which is owned by the PA. The newspaper — with the smallest circulation of the three Palestinian dailies but receiving the largest official subsidy — viewed the Gaza City shootout as a threat to Palestinian unity rather than a call to support Bin Laden. The newspaper on October 10 provided extensive coverage of the calls to stop internecine strife and heal the rift within society.

“Numerous appeals were voiced by the leadership yesterday, including nationalist and Islamic forces and human rights roup, to immediately stop the calls that were voiced in the unfortunate events in Gaza, in which citizens fell victim and many were wounded, and to ban the internal fighting in light of the difficult conditions that are taking place at this time,” Al Hayat Al Jedida said on October 10.

At the same time, the PA press was ordered to stress that regardless of the attacks on the United States and Palestinian support for Bin Laden, the Palestinian people remained the chief victims of terrorism. The message was relayed by Arafat to all Palestinian newspapers on October 10. Arafat said he condemned “terrorist acts against the American people when the Palestinian people fall victims to terrorism and occupation.”

Bin Laden Obtains Understanding

The political editor of Arafat’s Wafa news service, elaborated. The editor, who represents Arafat’s thinking, warned Palestinians to refrain from public support of Bin Laden. The Palestinians were urged not to be swept away by the support expressed by Bin Laden in the video broadcast on the Qatari-owned A-Jazeera satellite channel, popular in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The editorial warned that words “have a greater lethality than weapons” and whipped the Palestinian populace into a frenzy.

Here, the editor referred to the damage of the pro-Bin Laden riots. He said young Palestinians in Gaza city had engaged in “activities full of hostility, arsons and various attacks that do not suit our tradition and what we are going through from the killing terrorism, hunger and tearing of limbs. What took place in the Gaza Strip, the clashes with our national police, disturbs us. And it does not matter who is the source or who started it or who attacked, who shot or who threw a firebomb.”

At the same time, the Wafa editor expressed understanding with the enthusiasm showed by Palestinians over Bin Laden. Bin Laden’s target, the United States, was deemed as a supporter of Israel and an oppressor of Palestinians. At the same time, the PA news service urged Palestinians to be wary of Bin Laden’s goals.

“Osama Bin Laden threw into the air expressions that the Palestinian people were forced to absorb,” Wafa said. “The Palestinian people do not support terrorism and operates within the upgrading against the occupation. Nobody can criticize or condemn us because our true targets are against occupation troops and settlements and against all that which is opposed by international law — not against citizens. It seems that some people are itching to threaten the United States that oppresses us. This is something else. Bin Laden’s words went to the heart of the frustration by Palestinians and the oppression they suffer and the treatment they receive from the United States. But we have to understand that this is a framework that will turn us into frustrated people. We have to change the conception toward us. We are not enemies of the United States and the West. The most dangerous thing about Bin Laden is his attempt to turn the war as a conflict against Muslims, Christians and Jews and thus sacrifice the Palestinian conflict and damage the legitimate Palestinian rising.”

Palestinian legislator Ashrawi, who is also spokeswoman for the Cairo-based Arab League, reiterated this theme. She also dismissed Bin Laden’s right to speak for the Palestinian people. But in remarks reported by Al Hayat Al Jadida, Ashrawi linked terrorism in the Middle East to U.S. support for Israel. “Washington will act according to its interests and its solidarity with Israel until it becomes clear to the U.S. that Israel is the source of instability in the region, something which is costly to the Palestinian people and the greater Arab world,” she said.

Israel Was Behind the Anti-U.S. Riots

When the pro-Bin Laden riots died down, the Palestinian press turned to condemnation of the U.S.-led war against Afghanistan. Now, those killed by Palestinian police were no longer termed “wild youngsters.” They were termed “martyrs,” a term used for Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks and regarded as heroes. At the same time, Palestinian newspapers reported Arafat’s assertion that an Israeli agent was arrested for organizing the pro-Bin Laden demonstrations. Arafat said the Israeli agent gave 8-10 Palestinians gifts and cameras to record the demonstrations. There was no confirmation of this charge from any other source.

Al Hayat Al Jedida ran a cartoon on October 11 that showed Uncle Sam, or the United States, carrying a missile. Behind Uncle Sam was Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, his hands full of blood. The cartoon is entitled: “Washington intends to attack other countries.” An accompanying article compared the Palestinian victims of the war with Israel to the Afghan victims in the U.S. offensive.

The dailies were also full of reports that reflected Palestinian anger toward Washington. Palestinian newspapers published a poll by Bir Zeit University that 90 percent of Palestinians believed that Washington support of Israel was the source of hostility toward the United States. Most of those polled expressed hatred toward Washington’s policy or the United States. The October poll reported that more than 72 percent oppose Arab or Palestinian participation in the U.S.-led war against terrorism.

The Futility of a U.S. Counter-Strike

The Jerusalem-based Al Quds daily took a different approach on October 11. The newspaper tried to demonstrate the futility of the U.S. war against Bin Laden. A cartoon showed a fat U.S. general asking a junior officer: “Check how much damage was achieved by 90 missiles.” The soldier replied: “The damage is 90 missiles, commander.”

Al Hayat Al Jedida relayed a similar message on October 15. It showed President George Bush telling Americans: “We will fight terror.” The second image shows telling Bush: “And we will win.” The third image shows a forlorn Bush on top of an Afghan mountain, remarking “Wow, I have no idea how.” The newspaper featured an accompanying article that termed the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan as “a war of terror against terror, a confrontation between terrorists. And here [in the PA], the angel of death is still among us. The [Israeli] government of murder continues to kill and has exacted several times the number of people that fell in the two two towers and those that fell in Afghanistan.”

The Ramallah-based Al Ayyam continued with this theme in a cartoon on October 19. The drawing showed a huge bat with bared teeth threatening Ramallah. On the wings of the bat is written “Terrorism.” But the “o” in “terrorism” contained a star of David.

Backlash Against Giuliani

Nowhere was there a greater expression of Palestinian venom against the United States than in the episode of New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s rejection of a Saudi gift of $10 million. In October, Giuliani dismissed a donation by Saudi Prince Walid Bin Talal, terming it “blood money.” The Palestinian press joined with its counterparts in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Gulf countries in terming the attitude of the American as the root cause of all evil. Here, Giuliani was described as a Zionist supporter who allowed Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert complete access to City Hall and was even deemed a deputy mayor.

The Palestinian charge was led by Al Hayat Al Jadida editor Hafez Barghouthi wrote. Barghouthi poured his wrath on Giuliani, terming him a fraud and hater. “New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani became obsessed by his hatred of Arabs even before the terrorist attacks on New York,” the flamboyant editor wrote on October 17. “He hides his first name, chosen for him by his Italian father, so as not to remind the Jewish voters of the infamous Rudolph Hitler. This is why he prefers to shorten it to Rudy.”

Barghouthi defended the Saudi refusal to cooperate with the U.S. war against terrorism. The editor said the Saudi kingdom is defending its rights by refusing to help in the effort against Bin Laden. Barghouthi did not refer to the connection between Riyad and Bin Laden.

“There is an intense offensive against Saudi Arabia because it is not automatically signing up for the American war; on the contrary, it has many legitimate reservations regarding Western policy towards the Arabs,” Barghouthi wrote. “Anyone following the Israeli and American columnists smells a media trap aimed at accusing the Saudi kingdom of terrorism, and even of harboring terrorists. [This is] not because it is true, but because Saudi Arabia is fighting alone on several fronts to protect the uniqueness of Saudi policy. It will not enter into another’s war when it does not know where that war is headed; it fights terrorism in its own way and protects the interests of itself and its citizens.”

Allies of Giuliani were not ignored. This included New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who welcomed the decision by the New York City mayor and criticized Saudi Arabia.

“Friedman says that the United States is not responsible for what he calls the widespread ‘frustration’ among young Saudis that makes them support Bin Laden,” Adli Sadeq writes in Al Hayat Al Jedida on October 17. “He contends that it is not Washington that maintains an autocratic regime, and denies young people their political rights. He chides the Arab countries for their failure to [deal with] the challenges of development, and says that North Korea’s average per capita income in 1950 was similar to that of Arab countries, but that today Korea has left the Arab states far behind. According to him, the United States is not responsible for this.”

“Thomas Friedman is a liar and a fraud,” Adli Sadeq continued. “The United States is the enemy of the democratic aspirations of the Arab peoples; it is the friend and protector of dictatorships and autocracies; it is the number one schemer against development in the Arab world. With regard to the media attack on Saudi Arabia, I maintain that Riyad is doing the right thing. Refraining from joining the Americans. is counted in the tally of the Saudi government’s good deeds.”

The Palestinian reservations regarding Bin Laden did not include the use of Islamic suicide attacks against Israel, the United States and its allies. Palestinian newspapers praised the use of suicide bombers, particularly against Israel. But the newspapers quoted Islamic clerics as promising Islamic suicide attackers heaven with scores of virgins to service them.

“The Americans and the eunuchs at their sides [i.e. the rulers of Arab and Islamic countries] think that if they kill us, they will win,” Dr. Yunis Al-Astal, a lecturer in the Islamic Law Department at Gaza Islamic University, wrote in the Hamas weekly Al Risala on October 11. “They do not know that with their weapons they only expedite our arrival in Paradise. We yearn to reach paradise; it is our abode, and in it are ‘the black-eyed,’ confined to pavilions, and also there are [women] with downcast eyes whose chastity has not been violated before us by either man or jinn. In contrast, the value of this world in which we live, which they [the U.S. and its Arab allies] think that they have attained, is in our eyes not worth the wing of a mosquito.”

The Islamic Jihad’s weekly, Al Istiqlal, focused on the merits of suicide attacks in the wake of the destruction of the World Trade Center. The newspaper on October 4 published announcements of the death of suicide bombers that resembled wedding announcements. Indeed, Islamic newspapers as well as some secular publications in the Palestinian press regard the suicide bomber as marrying a “black-eyed virgin” in heaven.

“With great pride, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad marries the member of its military wing, the martyr and hero Yasser Al-Adhami, to ‘the black-eyed,'” Al Istiqlal writes.

Palestinian Media Watch and MEMRI provided some of the translations for the above report.