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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 19 - 25 October 2000 Issue No. 504
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Palestine International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Simply unbelievable
Among the most arresting aspects of the press coverage of recent developments in occupied Palestinian land is the sharp divergence between the international media, on one hand, and the American media, on the other. American papers invariably carry articles underpinned by the old myth that Israel is a tiny, vulnerable country surrounded by a sea of hostile Arabs. The same is true of American TV programmes, which invariably seek to transmit this message to their viewers.
This is strange, to say the least; I cannot understand how anyone could claim, with a straight face, that children and young men totally deprived of weapons could possibly pose a threat of any sort to a country armed to the teeth, and whose lethal arsenal includes missiles, tanks and helicopter gunships, not to mention the machine-guns so casually turned against the "stone-throwers." Israel, furthermore, does not hesitate to use these weapons in massacring Palestinian children.
At a time when European societies have liberated themselves from the myth that Israel's fate hangs in the balance, then, and when European papers boldly challenge Israel's biased version of events, we find Hillary Clinton pontificating at pro-Israel demonstrations and Congressmen demanding that US President Clinton place the blame squarely on the Palestinians' shoulders. I wonder: how can an entire society remain hostage to a blatant lie?
Based on an interview by Mohamed Salmawy.© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
