AP Better Than AFP on 20 Years Since Oslo

Last week we noted AFP’s egregious omission of any mention of Palestinian suicide bombings and rocket attacks in its coverage marking 20 years since the signing of the Oslo accords. The AFP’s entirely one-sided reporting in which Palestinians had zero role in the breakdown of talks stands in stark contrast to the AP’s more balanced story.

Though Karin Laub’s article, “20 years on, Oslo Accords promise rings hollow,” focuses largely on settlements, it also manages to refer to Palestinian violence.

She writes:

Many Israel, scarred by Palestinian suicide bombings and rocket fire from Gaza, are skeptical of the other sides’ intentions and believe the politically divided Palestinians cannot carry out a peace deal, even if one is reached. . . .

Over the past 20 years, both sides have traded blame over the failures. . .

Israelis say Palestinians have used violence to try to extract concessions.

AP’s references to Palestinian suicide bombings and rockets is only noteworthy due the AFP’s skewed “reporting.” Maybe if the AFP found a reporter whose other job isn’t working for a Palestinian Authority newspaper, it too could get the job done.

Update: Since major media outlets have given such scant attention to the Israeli perspective on 20 years since Oslo, readers might want to check out BESA’s “Twenty Years to Oslo” by Prof. Efraim Inbar. He writes:

The Oslo process – started between Israel and the Palestinians 20 years ago – clearly failed to bring a resolution to the conflict, and did not result in a peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians. The nearly 1,500 Israeli casualties and many more thousands of wounded during this period by Palestinian terrorist and rocket attacks testify to this failure. Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s land-for-security formula did not work. Moreover, the Palestinian Authority (PA), established within the framework of the Oslo process, now rules in the West Bank and promotes anti-Israel hatred through its education system and controlled media. Furthermore, Hamas, an Islamist organization dedicated to destroy the Jewish state, rules Gaza, continuing the armed struggle against Israel.

The current peace negotiations are unlikely to change the status quo. The chances that they will lead to the establishment of a stable, unified, and peaceful Palestinian state are nil. The differences in positions, particularly on refugees and Jerusalem, are unbridgeable. Moreover, the PA has displayed considerable difficulties in state building, and the resulting entity borders on a failed state. It failed to meet the essential test of statehood, monopoly over the use of force, and subsequently lost control over part of its territory, Gaza. It is hard to imagine the PA surviving without the infusion of billions of dollars of international aid. The PA mirrors the deep socio-economic and political crisis of several Arab states . . .