QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The Jews came here to sweep away the presence our people to transfer our people.” (Ahmad Abdul-Rahman, cabinet secretary of the Palestinian Authority, in Oct 23 first morning news interview)

DETAIL AND HEADLINES

Top item in details from 7am news:

“President Yaser Arafat returned to his headquarters in Gaza yesterday from Cairo, and his excellency said the Israeli escalation against the sons of our people are a sinful plot. His excellency considered results of the Arab summit to be positive and important, especially the stances of the Arab states and their steadfastness-politically and financially– with our people’s struggle.

His Excellency (Arafat) said our people are turning their destiny to Jerusalem, our independent and eternal capital.”

SUMMARY

In its broadcasts of Oct 23, VOP escalated the tone of its rhetoric, highlighting the need to fight for Jerusalem while reminding listeners of “the original sin” Zionism as an expansionist movement aimed at throwing the Arabs off their land. The toughest remarks came from Ahmad Abdul-Rahman, one of Arafat’s two closest advisors who seemed to be echoing Arafat’s remarks of Oct 22 that Barak could “go to hell.” Abdul-Rahman, the PA cabinet secretary used the term “Jews” and insisted that their intention hadalways been to evict the Arabs. The “subtext” of this message is not repealing the “aggression of ’67” or even the “calamity of ’48” nor even the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Rather it is a reference to “arrival of the Zionists” that originally appears in the earliest 1964 version of the Palestinian Covenant. That document says that Jews who arrived “before the Zionist invasion” may stay in Palestine. Abdul-Rahman’s rhetoric is basically a recurrence of such dialectic. It is no accident. It follows and even upgrades Arafat’s speech at the Arab Summit that spoke of UN resolutions 191 and 184 calling for the resettlement of refugees and implementation of the 1947 partition lines.

In its early morning news, VOP highlighted the fighting in Beit Jallah as a dangerous escalation involving Israeli helicopters, featuring a report from its local reporter, Sayid Ayad, who head Israel had employed missiles, artillery, tanks and helicopters in its attack on the homes of Beit Jallah. Ayad said Israel had hit several homes, destroyed a fire engine and and almost hit a school.

VOP said the Palestinian Authority “welcomed” the decisions of the Arab summit in Cairo, stressing Tunisia’s decision to cut off official ties with Israel.

In its afternoon and evening broadcasts (Oct 22) the Voice of Palestine stressed that Israel was using internationally banned “dumdum”bullets. VOP placed great emphasis on Israel’s use of “live ammunition all the time,” going into great detail into the kinds of ammunition and casualties in a variety of localities: Jenin, Ramallah, Hebron and several smaller towns. This came well before the late evening fighting in Gilo/Beit Jallah.

SONG OF THE DAY

Ya al-Qudsi Arabi, Arabi. Ya al-Quds Sumudi Sumudi:
O Jerusalem is Arab, Arab
O Jerusalem my steadfastness, my steadfastness.

VOP has switched to a total package of martial music to introduce its news and feature programming-always using patriotic/Islamic songs that highlight the terms “Allahu Akbar” (God is Great: a phrase frequently employed as a battle cry for Islamic fighters.

The spirit of the songs is best summed up by a verse that repeats itself constantly during the daily programming:

“Namutu, Namutu Jamian
Wa-Yehi al-Watan”

It means: “We will die, we will die–all of us, and the homeland will live.”

INTERVIEW

Cabinet Secretary Ahmad Abdul-Rahman (in top-featured prime drive-time morning interview 7:10 AM): This government (Barak) sees it as its right to open fire on Palestinians, to kill Palestinians, to wound Palestinians. If one Palestinian throws a rock or a gasoline bomb-woe unto all the Palestinians and their houses, their lives and farms. We say the Israelis are to blame. The Israelis built the settlements. The Jews came here to sweep away the presence of our people, to build the movement to transfer our people, to expel our people. Well any people has the right to defend itself and to defend its land”.

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