Where’s the Coverage? Palestinian Incitement Violates Oslo Accords

Israeli minister of intelligence and international affairs Yuval Steinitz wrote an Op-Ed published in the International New York Times on October 16 headlined, “How Palestinian Hate Prevents Peace.” (As of this writing, the column has not appeared in the widely-read flagship edition of The New York Times.) In the piece, Steinitz details:

…a few of the thousands of examples of Palestinian incitement against the Jewish state and the Jewish people. There are even numerous instances of the glorification of Hitler on the Facebook pages of some government-supported Palestinian schools and in children’s publications funded by the Palestinian Authority. Such messages, propagated daily in P.A. media and classrooms, are internalized by the population at large — and children in particular.

[…]

The Palestinian Authority’s television and radio stations, public schools, summer camps, children’s magazines and Web sites are being used to drive home four core messages. First, that the existence of a Jewish state (regardless of its borders) is illegitimate because there is no Jewish people and no Jewish history in this piece of land. Second, that Jews and Zionists are horrible creatures that corrupt those in their vicinity. Third, that Palestinians must continue to struggle until the inevitable replacement of Israel by an Arab-Palestinian state. And fourth, that all forms of resistance are honorable and valid, even if some forms of violence are not always expedient.

Steinitz also explains:

The fact that this anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic indoctrination persists, despite the much-touted relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, constitutes a huge obstacle on the road to peace. It should have disappeared 20 years ago, as a result of a clear Palestinian commitment to end all forms of incitement included in the Oslo Accords. And until it ends, the current round of talks cannot hope to reach a successful outcome.

Did you catch that? “A clear Palestinian commitment to end all forms of incitement included in the Oslo Accords.” Yes, the unceasing hatemongering sanctioned and promoted by the Palestinian Authority – not to mention Hamas, the terrorist group that runs Gaza – is not only immoral and counterproductive, it is a violation of the Oslo Accords. The 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, commonly referred to as Oslo II, reads:

CHAPTER 4 – COOPERATION

ARTICLE XXII

Relations between Israel and the Council

1. Israel and the Council shall seek to foster mutual understanding and tolerance and shall accordingly abstain from incitement, including hostile propaganda, against each other and, without derogating from the principle of freedom of expression, shall take legal measures to prevent such incitement by any organizations, groups or individuals within their jurisdiction.

2. Israel and the Council will ensure that their respective educational systems contribute to the peace between the Israeli and Palestinian peoples and to peace in the entire region, and will refrain from the introduction of any motifs that could adversely affect the process of reconciliation.

CAMERA has been covering incitement for years. Not so the mainstream media. “Where’s the Coverage?” has asked the press to report on this odious provocation repeatedly. We haven’t seen much response.

But even as the popular press harp on every porch that gets a new roof in a Jewish neighborhood in a Jerusalem suburb, they rarely if ever report that the vicious propaganda issuing from the Palestinian Authority is a bona fide violation of the Oslo Accords. Yes, journalists have incorrectly stated that “the United States, along with most of the world, considers these settlements illegal.” But as for the actual violation of a treaty, of which the United States is a guarantor…? Crickets.

So… Where’s the coverage?

The habitual vilification of Israel and Jews in official Palestinian media and promoted by P.A. leaders and agencies is documented by Palestinian Media Watch. The watchdog organization has a well-annotated text of Steinitz’ Op-Ed that is worth seeing. It includes a link to this video which shows the P.A. giving an award to a writer whose poem contains the line “Zion is Satan with a tail”: