AP Road Map Update
An earlier entry pointed out a double standard in Associated Press reporting on violations of the road map peace plan. The AP was quick to point out that proposed Israeli building in Maaleh Adumim would be a violation of the peace plan, but didn’t even mention the plan when reporting on a Palestinian rocket being fired into Israel — a clear road map violation.
A new AP report about PA reluctance to disarm Hamas shows that while the wire service is moving in the right direction, the double standard remains.
The journalist does (eventually) note that the PA is required to disarm Hamas under the road map:
In the first stage of the three-phase road map peace plan, Palestinians must dismantle militant groups and Israel must freeze construction in Jewish settlements. Neither side has done so. …
“According to the road map, all terrorists must disarm and all terrorist groups must be dismantled and Hamas is a terrorist group and so they must disarm whether or not they join the political process,” said Paul Patin, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.
It’s interesting, though, that in this story about a Palestinian violation of the road map, the journalist points out both the Palestinian and the Israeli violation of the peace plan.
This wouldn’t be a problem if it was a consistent AP practice. But in AP stories which focus on Israeli building (for example, the AP reports linked to in our earlier entry), both sides’ violations are not highlighted — only Israeli ones.
(In fact, one AP report on Palestinian arms smuggling — a road map violation — didn’t mention the road map at all, except when discussing Israeli building.)
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