AFP: From ‘Cycle of Violence’ to ‘Colonies’
From “cycle of violence” to “colonies,” AFP’s language today sounds like its from an Arab propaganda outfit as opposed to an (ostensibly) mainstream media outlet.
One report filed from Gaza City today, entitled “Palestinian factions agree to stop attacks from Gaza,” states:
Two weeks since Israeli troops left the Gaza Strip, the cycle of violence began when Hamas blamed Israel for a deadly blast at a rally in northern Gaza and fired a salvo of rockets into the Jewish state.
Ah, the old anonymous, non-human “cycle of violence” is again at fault, a stand in for assigning blame where it really belongs. And, it’s so much easier to pull the “cycle of violence” card, which is always used to cover up Palestinian belligerence, when you conveniently forget to inform readers that even the Palestinian Authority says that Hamas–not Israel–is responsible for the deadly blast. (The PA is ahead of the AFP on this one?!)
And then there was this in the article by Sylvia Lanteaume reporting from Washington:
Bush has applauded the “courage” of Sharon for pushing on with the Gaza pullout, but has shown impatience with the Israeli decision to confiscate Palestinian territory in the West Bank to expand colonies.
The last time we heard settlements described as “colonies” in the mainstream media (MSM) was an Op-Ed full of errors and distortions in the New York Times by PLO legal advisor Michael Tarazi who argued for the elimination of Israel. The term “colony,” a modern curse word implying an alien community established in foreign territory by an imperial power, applies neither historically, legally, nor logically to the Israeli presence. But AFP’s Lanteaume, just like PA’s Tarazi, is unfettered by the facts.
Finally, the West Bank land is “Palestinian”? According to the Quartet’s “road map,” the status of that disputed land is left open until final status negotiations. Thus, Lanteaume’s “reporting” reflects her wishful thinking more than anything else.
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