A senior BBC correspondent in the Gaza Strip is quoted as telling a Hamas gathering that journalists and media organizations  are "waging the campaign shoulder—to—shoulder together with the Palestinian people."  According to the Jerusalem Post:

The alleged remarks, by BBC Arabic Service correspondent Faid Abu Shimalla, were reported on the Hamas Web site, which said they were made at "an impressive and well—attended ceremony" earlier this month to honor some 140 Palestinian, Arab, Islamic, and international journalists and attended by Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

A BBC spokesman last night confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that Shimalla has been the Gaza Strip correspondent of the BBC Arabic Service for the past five years, but he said the BBC was unable to locate the Web site and could not comment further.

The comments will probably be removed from the Hamas website, once the political implications of their coming to the attention of a Western audiences become clear to Hamas leadership. In the past, Arabic language statements regarding Israel, Jews, and the West by notables such as Yassir Arafat, other political figures, and leading Islamic clerics have often contained violent language, at odds with English—language statements, intended to present a veneer of reasonableness.

The same Hamas webpage also contained statements by a Hamas official acknowledging the role of journalists in support of their cause.

At the ceremony, Hamas official Ismail Abu Shanab said journalists should be honored for "the special role they have played through their cameras, pens, and skills, as well as through their rare courage and daring which they have demonstrated by their joining the nation struggling fiercely against the enemy."

He praised their "accurate depiction of the terrorism employed by the Zionist enemy and its vile crimes, as well as the outstanding courageous portrayal of our children and martyrs."

Speaking on behalf of the journalists, Shimalla, who is described as a correspondent of the BBC, thanked the Hamas movement for holding the event, "despite the pace of current events and the sensitive circumstances applying to journalists and media organizations, which are waging the campaign shoulder—to—shoulder together with the Palestinian people."

Hat tip to Instapundit
Posted by Thomas  06 20 04