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August 7, 2009

New York Times covers up fierce anti-Israel radicalism at 'moderate' Fatah party convention

By Leo Rennert

In its Aug. 7 edition, the New York Times runs an article by Jerusalem correspondent Isabel Kershner about the Fatah party conference that is a textbook example of keeping a lid on how Mahmoud Abbas's political movement has veered toward undying hostility toward Israel ("Fatah Delays Elections, But Extends Conference" page A7).

Kershner devotes the first nine paragraphs of her 13-paragraph story to acrimonious disagreements over voting procedures and other disputes between the party's old and new guards.

This allows her to downplay and defang the real news of the conference -- blaming Israel for Arafat's death and the presence of a terrorist killer -- at the bottom of her article.  And even then, she goes to extreme lengths to avoid mentioning what really happened in these two instances and why they are more significant than intra-party disagreements.

To wit:

1.  In her 10th paragraph, Kershner writes that there was "consensus" about "the notion" that Israel was responsible for the death of Arafat" and that Fatah officials "would continue to investigate the circumstances of his death, and suspicions that Israel poisoned him."

 Kershner's report doesn't begin to tell the tale.  There was far more than "consensus" about a "notion" that Israel might have killed Arafat.  The delegates unanimously adopted a formal resolution that orders an investigation to be headed by Arafat's nephew into the circumstances of how Israel assassinated Arafat.  And the investigation is to be conducted with the a priori conclusion that Israel did it!

 But you wouldn't know any of this by reading the Times.

2.  In her 11th paragraph, Kershner briefly mentions that among the delegates were "Sari Nusseibeth, an intellectual from Jerusalem who has championed non-violence and Khaled Abu-Asba, who took part in a notorious attack in 1978 in which an Israeli bus was hijacked and about about three dozen Israeli civilians were killed."

Again, this doesn't come close to informing Times readers about the real import of the presence at the conference of this terrorist killer.  Abu-Asba's presence at the conference wasn't on a par with the presence of Nusseibi.  Abu-Asba received thunderous applause when he was extolled as a great Palestinian hero for participating in the murder of 37 Israeli civilians, including 12 children.  Nusseibi got no such reception. 

And who glorified what came to be known as the Coastal Road Massacre -- the worst terror attack in Israel's history?  None other than Ahmed Qurei, a former Paletinian prime minister and chief peace negotiator during Olmert's tenure.  Along with his fulsome introduction of Abu-Asba, Qurei extolled as a "heroic martyr" the leader of the terrorist team -- a Palestinian icon -- Dalal Mughrabi.  Said Qurei:  "All the sisters here are Dalal's sisters."

But you wouldn't know any of this by reading the Times.

Kershner's carefully sanitized reportage ensures that Fatah doesn't get soiled by the conference's vicious anti-Israel proceedings.  What she hides from her readership is that, given these anti-Israel outpourings at the Fatah convention, there is no real peace partner on the Paletinian side.  Is Abbas again going to tab Qurei as his prime negotiator if and when peace negotiations are resumed between Israel and the Palestinians?

 When Fatah leaders -- and their followers -- go to great lengths to glorify terrorist murders and assume as a given that Israel assassinated Arafat, who is there left on the Palestinian side to take the critically necessary steps to achieve a two-state solution?
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