June 16, 2005

Background Analysis-up front

There are several strong messages at the edges of the press reports in the Palestinian Authority (PA) which do not always find themselves in the headlines but which is becoming a constant presence in small headlines, additional comments and cartoons:

  • The regime of Mahmoud Abbas-Ahmad Qreia is in serious trouble because of the sharp increase in internal Palestinian violence. Press reports included a four-person murder (from one family in Gaza) and two brothers in Nablus in four days.
  • The Hamas organization is gaining credibility with American and British interlocutors-on the way to full recognition. [A Hamas spokesman again today said his organization had contacts with EU officials.]
  • Abbas himself is sometimes seen, but rarely felt.

For days and weeks, the Palestinian radio and television consumer hears only Qreia lambasting Israel, while Abbas is seen through a kind of diffused lens taking foreign trips. Palestinian leader Abbas’s presence-underscored by a television interview last week and major photo montage reviews of his meetings etc-is not really felt. For many days, one sees only canned pictures of Abbas who then has an angio-plasty operation [not announced ahead of time]. Then there is a sudden flurry of Abbas in an unscheduled PBC interview which is apparently not distributed in written form by Abbas’s own news service.

It is a strange set of phenomena especially in a regime which controls the press: an authoritarian regime with increasingly little authority-even in its own eyes.

There is almost a wistful regard of. Yasser Arafat. This comes both from Abbas and the people he is supposed to govern. Arafat is the source of legitimacy for Abbas, his successor, but he is also the missing symbol for the Palestinian people.

Abbas tells Israeli and Western observers that he wants a non-violent resolution of Palestinian claims against Israel, but his television service runs a photo-montage of Arafat extolling the Pan-Arab leadership of late Egyptian president Gamal Abdul-Nasser famous for fighting Israel and the West. The montage [see PBC below] features shots of Palestinian Fedayeen fighters attacking Israel, crawling under barbed wire etc.

The picture on the screen is violence, and the picture in our heads is a headless Palestinian leadership in search of a message.

When Abbas was prime minister in 2004, he claimed he got no support from Arafat who kept him [Abbas] off television.

But now that Abbas controls Palestinian television-and radio and newspapers-we still see and hear the message of violence, the periodic hate-sermons from the mosques. It could be that focusing on shootings from gangs in Gaza and Nablus is the way for Mahmoud Abbas again to blame someone else, but this time it cannot be Arafat.

PBC Television

Immediately after the nine o’clock morning news round-up (Thursday June 16) PBC ran a film montage tribute to two late Arab leaders: Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Gamal Abdul-Nasser.

The montage featured Arafat extolling the Egyptian leader who led the Arab world to war against Israel, and it was interspersed with film footage of Palestinian Fedayeen fighters infiltrating and attacking Israel.

Voice of Palestine Radio

PA State radio concentrated on the death of a Palestinian in Israeli custody in a Galilee police station (V.O.P. 4 p.m. Thursday) as well as Israeli orders to confiscate territory said to be owned by the Jahilin tribe of Bedouin east and north of Jerusalem.

V.O.P. and PBC also covered remarks by Dr. Abbas in conference in Qatar where he stressed that the Palestinians had made a “strategic choice” for peace which was being intentionally squelched by Israel

From Palestinian newspapers Al-Ayyam: This newspaper for second time this week reports that PA Prime Minister Qreia is threatening to resign if internal Palestinian violence cannot be controlled.

Al-Quds (lead item) GENERAL SULEIMAN AGREES WITH ISRAEL ON SENDING EGYPTIAN FORCES ALONG BORDER

Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda: Headline and picture similar to Al-Quds

More from Palestinian newspapers:

Due to problems on its web site, Al-Ayyam was unavailable on line for several days. Below is a recap of a few days of its main features

Al-Ayyam June 15, 2005-QREIA’: ‘WE SUPPORT DETERRENCE TO PUT AN END TO SECURITY CHAOS, AND WE WILL SUSPEND GOVERNMENT IF ANARCHY CONTINUES’ (underneath is a picture of Mahmoud Abbas visiting Bahrain) TOP-OF-PAGE-PICTURE: Picture shows girl in close-up held by other members of her family angry at being held at checkpoint before visit to relatives at Israeli prison

Other Feature: Ayyam reports on four killings in one family on main street in Gaza.

Al-Ayyam June 14, 2005— Saddam Hussein is the focus of the top-of-page picture and off-lede story on the front page: Saddam Hussein represents himself in front of court for second time. [Story raises possibility of illegal interrogation techniques, while also setting forth Saddam’s admission of mass murders in town north of Baghdad in 1982 after his motorcade was attacked. Note-This story was also featured in slightly less prominent form in other Palestinian papers-evidence of continuing Palestinian interest in the former Iraqi leader–MW] MAIN STORY: ABBAS HEAD MEETING OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF PLO IN RAMALLAH-PLO CALLS FOR WASHINGTON TO TRANSFORM ITS POSITIONS INTO ACTIONS AND FULL WITHDRAWAL FROM [GAZA] STRIP

Al-Ayyam June 13, 2005 (main story)
GAZA:DEATH SENTENCES CARRIED OUT AGAINST FOR CIVILIANS FOR MURDER, KIDNAPPING AND THEFT-In keeping with solidifying the rule of law and end to anarchy. [top of page picture shows policemen guarding Gaza police headquarters where executions took place without prior notice]

Report compiled by Michael Widlanski Associates.
Commissioned by the Center for Near East Policy Research.
[Permission to quote or reprint from article conditional on citing Michael Widlanski or Michael Widlanski Associates.]
Dr. Michael Widlanski is a specialist in Arab politics and communication whose doctorate dealt with the Palestinian broadcast media. He is a former reporter, correspondent and editor, respectively, at The New York Times, The Cox Newspapers-Atlanta Constitution, and The Jerusalem Post.

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