Summary and Analysis

Behind the headlines and the rhetoric, it appears that VOP is working hard to keep the martial spirit alive among Palestinians whose commitment to fight may be sagging. For the last two weeks, there has been an attempt to inflate casualty figures and to keep alive week-old stories of martyrs and wounded, recycling the material through several days of news cycles.

It is also apparent in the last two weeks, but particularly since Nov. 30, that VOP has further exaggerated its rhetoric and introduced items of very questionable authenticity in an effort to rekindle mass activities, for example:

• Broadcasting shortly before mosque prayers on Friday December 2 that Israel was using dogs against Palestinians, including an attempt to introduce dogs into the holy shrines of the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif;
• Reports about attacks on women prisoners;
• Deliberately exaggerated accounts of atrocities and attempted massacres, replete with gory bodily descriptions.

VOP has at the same time been very conscious of the growing economic and physical strains of the conflict. It has not reported what the Israeli media are reporting-that the Barak Government has decided to allow the entry into Israel of 16,000 Palestinian workers daily. It may be that VOP has better information than the Israeli media about Barak Government policies (which has happened more than once), but it also may be that such a report would go against the grain of VOP policy: to show the Palestinians as victims of continuing Israeli aggression on both the military and economic fronts.

VOP reported that PA Health Minister Dr. Riyad al-Zaanoun said there were officially 269 martyrs in Al-Aqsa Intifada along with the addition of another 50 who had not yet been officially registered for various reasons. He told a press conference that there were 6,869 wounded Palestinians as of last night in Gaza, with another 4,760 in Jerusalem and the West Bank. (Ed. Note: the figures were a bit contradictory because PA narrator Samir Interr, who seemed to get mixed up in the middle of the casualty count, also read a second casualty figure of 4,615 for Gaza, leaving a discrepancy. Interr also quoted a figure of 5,890 Palestinians wounded by gas, and it was not clear if this was part of the previous total or another new category. He made it clear that there were 1,604 casualties “inside the Green Line.” This in itself is symbolically very interesting because it again shows that the PA has come to regard Israeli Arabs as part of its community.)

The VOP went to great lengths in its morning news round-up to underscore Yasser Arafat’s denial of any secret contacts with Israel (a story that has been widely circulated among the Israeli media). Arafat’s own denial was supported by a detailed accounting of his recent itinerary and a specific quotation from him that his last meeting with any Israeli official was the prominent meeting with Shimon Peres several weeks ago.

Quote of the Day

“Of the casualties, 40 percent were under the age of 18, and 60 percent were over the age of 18. Head wounds were 18 percent. Stomach wounds were 20 percent. Chest wounds 20 percent. And in the four limbs 44 percent.” (PA narrator Samir Interr, citing PA Health Ministry summary of the Al Aqsa/Independence Intifada [tr: Intiadat al-Aqsa wa Intifadat al-Istiqlal])

Quotes from Interview with Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Yasser Arafat:

“The reality is that there are no secret talks with Israel. All these reports are unfounded.

Question: What are our conditions for talks with Israel?

Answer: First of all agreements exist, and these agreements bind Israel. The interim stage of talks is over, and we are now in the stage of final status, which Israel has evaded with its confrontations. The Arab, international and Palestinian positions cling to international legitimacy..But we are dealing with Israeli obstinacy.And that has plunged the region into the throes of instability. The present Israeli government has struck at all the agreements. The return to peace is dependent on Israel executing its agreements, on international legitimacy and the equation of land for peace. The thing that can accomplish this is the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

Morning Headlines

• “Heavy Israeli artillery attacks on populated areas of Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Jenin and Bethlehem;
• Settlers concentrated in the colony of Giloh firing their weapons on citizens in ‘Aida Camp and Beit Jallah, and three citizens were wounded as a result of the evil shelling;
• The martyring yesterday of Awad Salah Silmi, 27 years old, from the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza. Citizens found the martyr’s body ripped apart, smeared and cast behind the cement factory near the Mintaar Crossing Point in Gaza;
• Settlers and occupation soldiers continued attacks without reason at various points in Gaza and near Qalqilya, wounding five citizens;
• Israeli forces moved tanks and artillery at Kufr Dik and Burqeen near Sulfit;
• President Yasser Arafat denies any diplomatic meetings with Israel;
• Occupation soldiers from what is known as ‘the border patrol’ invaded the Shatta Prison last night to attack women prisoners and to transfer several of them. In a message sent by the prisoners to the Palestinian News Service, they said the occupation forces had used all kinds of chemical means against them, also striking them with clubs;
• This is only part of the escalations taken by Israeli prison authorities during the blessed month of Ramadan.”

Notable and Noteworthy

“What the ‘Independence Intifada’ has made it clear is that there can be no peace with the settlements…” (PA morning news show host, Samir Interr)

One must listen carefully to what Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said yesterday when he explained the decision to recall Ambassador Mohammed Bassyouni. This is an “Egyptian decision” by direct instruction of President Mubarak, and there is no point in trying to intervene in an “Egyptian decision,” nor will pressure to change it help, neither from the Israelis nor from the Americans. Indeed Mubarak has already received approval from the American Congress for increased financial aid to Egypt, the ultimate “sign of recognition” for his staunch remaining on the side of peace.

The next sentence by Amr Moussa, who chooses every word very carefully, is no less important: We are recalling our ambassador in response to Israel’s excessive use of force against the Palestinians, but no hasty conclusion should be drawn from this that we are preparing for war or withdrawing from the peace process.

Israel knows that Bassyouni will not return. The ambassador’s bureau on Basel Street in Tel Aviv will be closed for months to come. But Moussa spoke out to calm the worried voices among us, in regard, for example, to Egypt’s military arming. We, emphasized Moussa, are not making the sounds of war. War is no longer in our lexicon.

In the absence of an ambassador, the direct telephone lines between Cairo and Gaza as well as to Ramallah will be in operation. Barak is invited to call Mubarak, though the process will be more complicated and slower than in the past. If Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami calls his Egyptian colleague, he will also receive a response.

More than 20 years following the peace agreement, Egypt does not yet know how to read Israel. And the same is true the other way around. The only one who managed to get to know Israel well was Bassyouni, a graduate of Egyptian intelligence, who worked around the clock here. But it is Mubarak who makes the decisions, not him.

Four Israel prime ministers began their term of office with a working visit to Mubarak: Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu and Barak. Despite this, not one of them was able to totally grasp the “role of Egypt.” Mubarak is the undisputed leader of the Arab world, surrounded by leaders of the next generation, who are weak and preoccupied with problems of survival. Israel has tried to get around Mubarak or decrease his role, while he gave every leader a chance, but kicked up a fuss when he found out that they were operating behind his back or hiding political moves from him.

But it is possible that the recall of Bassyouni, who was the link between the heads of the Israeli government and the presidential palace in Egypt, will open direct channels between Cairo and Jerusalem. Arafat received a “bonus” from Mubarak, and now it will be easier for Mubarak to get him back to the peace process.