Israel Matzav

Did the 'Palestinian Authority' fool the journalists or did the journalists play along with the 'Palestinian Authority'?

Khaled Abu Toameh reports on how the 'Palestinian Authority' lied to journalists regarding the situation in Jenin.

But while the international, and Israeli, media were breaking the "good news" about Jenin, the journalists failed to understand what was really going on in Jenin and its surrounding villages. Some journalists, in fact, chose to turn a blind eye to the grim reality on the ground.

The murder of Israeli Arab actor and film producer Julian Mar-Khamis in Jenin last year should have sounded an alarm bell among the media representatives. His killers have never been caught, sparking a wave of unconfirmed reports about the involvement of influential Fatah gangsters and Palestinian security officers in the case.

A Western journalist who wanted to do an investigative report into the case was warned by senior Palestinian security officers that she would be putting her life at risk if she insisted on carrying out this mission.

Last week, the truth about the situation in Jenin finally exploded in the faces of everyone: the local governor died of a fatal heart attack following an unsuccessful assassination attempt.

For the Palestinian Authority leadership, the assassination attempt was what lifted the veil: Palestinian leaders in Ramallah realized that they could no longer continue to hide the truth about what was really happening in Jenin.

Palestinian security forces have since arrested dozens of Fatah "outlaws" and police officers for various crimes -- including murder, extortion, abductions, sexual harassment and armed robberies.

Radi Asideh, the security commander of the Jenin area, admitted that it was the Palestinian security establishment that was responsible for the anarchy and lawlessness. "There is a defect inside the security establishment and officers were responsible for this," he revealed.

The biggest mistake, Asideh added, was that the Palestinian leadership had turned its back to the defect, allowing the situation to deteriorate at the expense of the people's security.

Palestinians say that anarchy and lawlessness are to be found also in other areas in the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority claims to have imposed law and order. And, they add, in most cases it is the Palestinian Authority's security forces that are responsible for the chaos and corruption.

It is more likely than not that most of the journalists were not fooled, but as Abu Toameh acknowledges is possible, they turned a blind eye to the reality of Jenin. Some of them may have done so out of fear for their lives, and some may have been fooled by their mandatory 'Palestinian' handlers. But many, many more come here with preconceived notions that require suspending all inquisitiveness and giving the 'Palestinian Authority' a pass. Until that changes (and that's unlikely in the foreseeable future), most of the reporting from Judea and Samaria will be biased and inaccurate.

Read the whole thing.

Labels: anti-Israel media bias, freedom of the press, Jenin, Khaled Abu Toameh

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:20 AM