Doc's Talk: "Borders can be redrawn with one political decision, but hatred is embedded"

Friday, May 14, 2010

"Borders can be redrawn with one political decision, but hatred is embedded"

PMW director Itamar Marcus interviewed by OpEdNews.com
describes the ideology and goals of PMW and the urgent need for Palestinian peace education

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=2247

Talking with Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch
By Joan Brunwasser

My guest today is Itamar Marcus, founder and director of Palestinian Media Watch. Welcome to OpEdNews, Itamar. Please tell our readers what Palestinian Media Watch is and why you felt compelled to create it.

PMW was established 14 years ago. Since then, we have been reading the three daily Palestinian newspapers, watching and video-recording Palestinian Authority official TV and studying all their schoolbooks. Our goal is to get an accurate picture of the internal Arabic-language Palestinian world and especially what Palestinian leadership is saying to their children. We feel that if there is to be peace, it has to start with children and has to be founded on peace education. Therefore, what children are being taught in schools and what they are learning from music videos and children's media are a better indicator of the real beliefs and goals of the leaders, and will also determine if we have peace in the next generation.

Our conclusion, unfortunately, has been that there are two different worlds: the English-language world for foreign consumption and the Arabic-language world for internal consumption, and there is often no resemblance between the two.

How different is that from what goes on in Israel? You enjoy real freedom of the press and freedom of expression in Israel. So, Arabs, and especially Palestinians, are often vociferously attacked in the Israeli media, aren't they?

Arabs and Palestinians are never attacked in Israel for what they are. In fact, in Israel, it is against the law to incite. Palestinians are verbally attacked for terror promotion and terror support. After the terror attack in 2008, in which 8 Israeli teenagers were murdered by a Palestinian terrorist who murdered them while they were studying in a high school library, the New York Times reported that 84% of Palestinians supported the attack and killings. This is the kind of thing that makes Israelis angry and critical of Palestinians. The Palestinians have named summer camps and soccer tournaments for kids after Palestinian suicide terrorists. This likewise brings anger and condemnation.

Did something specific happen fourteen years ago to impel you to create PMW?

Israel and the Palestinians were at the beginning of a peace process but, instead of bringing peace, under the new Arafat-led Palestinian Authority, terror was worse than ever before. There had never been a suicide bomber in Israel until Yasser Arafat was allowed into the region. We felt it was necessary to see if the peace Arafat was promoting in English was also being promoted in Arabic. Unfortunately, we found that the worst of our suspicions and fears had been correct. In Arabic, Palestinians were being fed systematic anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hate propaganda. The goodwill that had been built between Israelis and Palestinians for many years was being undermined by this continuous demonization under the new Palestinian Authority.

So, who reads PMW? Aren't you preaching to the choir (those who support Israel)? And doesn't everyone else just look at PMW as another propaganda tool for Israel?

Just the opposite. PMW is not seen as propaganda because the only opinion we express is the need for peace education. Aside from that we just let the Palestinians speak for themselves.

When we exposed, for example, that the Palestinian Authority had been using music videos on TV to indoctrinate its children to aspire to die as child martyrs; that they would go to child martyr heaven with Ferris wheels and where children play with kites, everyone left and right was horrified. And PMW did not have to express any opinions. We just showed the PA TV videos at a hearing in the Senate. Hillary Clinton called them "child abuse." Not only wasn't it propaganda, but the main beneficiaries of PMW were Palestinian children, because two of the worst Palestinian Authority propaganda videos promoting the glory of death as martyrs were taken off PA TV the next day.

PMW is doing a service to anyone interested in peace.

In a sermon on official Palestinian Authority TV in January this year, the cleric preached:

"The Jews, the enemies of Allah and of His Messenger, enemies of humanity in general, and of Palestinians in particular... The Jews are the Jews. Even if donkeys would cease to bray, dogs cease to bark, wolves cease to howl and snakes to bite, the Jews would not cease to harbor hatred towards Muslims...
The Prophet says: 'You shall fight the Jews and kill them.'"
[PA TV (Fatah), Jan. 29, 2010]

How can any reasonable person not condemn and not fight to eliminate that hate speech? How can any reasonable person not understand that Palestinian hate speech that calls for murder in the name of a religion will destroy the chance for peace?

There are Palestinians and Muslims who have spoken at conferences after I have spoken, who make a point of condemning the material I have shown and the hate propaganda that the Palestinians expose their society and children to.

Why are you in Washington right now? (The interview followed PMW's release of its new report in Congress: From Terrorists to Role Models - The Institutionalization of Incitement)

The purpose of the DC trip now is to heighten awareness that as we start peace talks again, with the active participation of the US government, the issue of peace education must not be left behind. It is too important to leave it for the end. Every day that goes by will make it harder to undo the damage.

Have you found American government officials and the media generally open to PMW's message? How about elsewhere in the world - what kind of press response do you get?

We find government officials, Congress and MPs around the world very appreciative to receive the material on a regular basis. People whose job it is to know what is really going on in the international arena are happy to have this material. People are tired of opinions being expressed by "experts" and they welcome the opportunity to receive information that enables them to form opinions on their own with objective data.

In the last year, we have presented to the Foreign Affairs Committees of Congress and of Holland, and to MPs from Italy, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, and others. Media likewise is very favorable because we hand over material and let the media see, hear, and pass it on in a way that others can make their own opinions.

Can you tell us the story behind the link to the television show you sent me?

We often observe hate promotion from both the PA and Hamas. This is one example of a skit that was performed before a live audience at the Islamic University in Gaza and wasbroadcast on Hamas TV . The segment featured actors playing a Jewish father and son dressed in traditional Hasidic Jewish garb.

The skit opens as the father instructs:
Father: "We Jews hate the Muslims, we want to kill the Muslims, we Jews want to drink blood of Muslims and Arabs."
[Turns to the audience:] "Are you Muslims and Arabs?"
[The audience responds in the affirmative.]
"I hate you, to please God..."
Father: "Shimon, look, my son, I want to teach you a few things. You have to hate the Muslims... You have to drink the blood of the Muslims..."
Father: "You must stand next to me and pray, my son."
Son: "Okay, one moment and I'm coming."
Father: "Where are you going, my son?"
Son: "I am going to wash." [as Muslims do before prayer]
Father: "You're going to do WHAT?"
Son: "To wash [with water]. You said you want us to pray."
Father: "Muslims [do that], not us... We have to wash our hands with the blood of Muslims."
[Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas) April 3, 2009]

Demonization of Jews and of Israel is very common in the PA. Israel has been accused by a senior official of the PA of spreading AIDS intentionally among Palestinians, of trying to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque by injecting acid into the foundations, of doing 5,000 medical experiments a year on Palestinian prisoners, and much more. This demonization and the hatred it creates become the justification for terror.

I understand that this demonization also goes on in schools and can be found in children's textbooks. So, how does one ever have a hope of overcoming all that hate and propaganda in order to build bridges toward peace?

It cannot be overcome without a total change in direction. That is why it is so urgent that we start now. Borders can be redrawn with one political decision, but hatred is embedded. It can only be changed if there is a courageous Palestinian leader who will receive world support only if he replaces the hate promotion with peace education. If this happens it can be turned around. It will take time and that is all the more reason to start ASAP.

Given what you see and do on a daily basis, do you have to drag yourself out of bed every morning? Does it leave you completely pessimistic about chances for peace?

Actually, I have hope for a very specific reason. The Palestinians did not always hate Israelis, they were taught to hate. As recently as 1996 through 1999, following 28 years of Israeli administration of the West Bank and Gaza, the most important Palestinian pollster checked Palestinian attitudes on how they rated "democracy and human rights" in the Palestinian Authority, France, the US and Israel.

It turned out that, after 28 years of daily contact between Israelis and Palestinians, Israel received the best rating in the world with 78% of Palestinians giving Israel a "positive" rating in democracy and human rights. The US had only 65%, France 55% and the PA had 50% of Palestinians giving them positive ratings. The poll was done three more times in the next three years and Israel was always seen as the best in the world by Palestinians, with 77%, 75% and 65% giving Israel positive ratings in democracy and human rights.

So, open borders and contact between the Israelis and Palestinians created healthy attitudes and respect. It was the terror and hate education of the PA that ruined the trust. My hope is that peace education can turn back the clock. The same way the Palestinian Authority poisoned their people with hate education, they can rectify the situation with peace education.

That's why I see PMW's role as central to the peace process. When the Palestinian Authority decides to change its message and turn to peace, we will be the first to know it and the first to publicize it.

Well, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me, Itamar. Good luck with your work with Palestinian Media Watch. If you can be optimistic about the prospects for peace, then we can, too.
[http://www.opednews.com/articles/Talking-with-Itamar-Marcus-by-Joan-Brunwasser-100507-213.html, May 7, 2010]

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk