Baby Steps
Palestinians walk a fine line between hardliners and supporters of peace.
MATTHEW GUTMAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Tel Aviv
0
ne of the central points of
the road map peace plan is
for the Palestinians to cease
anti-Israel incitement and
move to a public discourse that favors
reconciliation.
Some might say that a recent poll of
Palestinian refugees, indicating that
few would want to implement a "right
of return" to their former homes
inside Israel, does just that — promot-
ing reconciliation by helping to defuse
discuss the survey results, wiping not
just metaphorical but actual egg off his
face.
"They ran in here, smashing every-
thing. They broke all of our furniture,
the windows, throwing eggs and phys-
ically attacking us," one of the center's
researchers said. "It was horrifying."
For advocates of reform, the inci-
dent served as a nasty reminder of how
difficult — and potentially bloody —
it will be to change the Palestinian cul-
ture of violence and rejectionism.
This is hardly the first such incident
that reform-minded Palestinians have
encountered: Last October, following
Yasser Arafat and
his statement that the
one of the most controver-
Prime
Minister
Palestinians would have
sial issues separating the
Mahmoud Abbas at a
to compromise on the
two sides. But that might
June news conference.
right of return, Sari
have been precisely the
Nusseibeh received death
problem.
threats. Leaflets attrib-
About 200 rioters
uted to Fatah, the ruling
stormed the Palestinian
Palestinian political party,
Center for Policy and
circulated in Ramallah
Survey Research on Sunday
condemning to death all
as the center was about to
those who would compromise on the
publish a poll indicating that the over-
right of return.
whelming majority of refugees pre-
Most Israelis see the right of return
ferred to receive monetary compensa-
as
a veiled demand to dismantle the
tion or settle in other areas, rather
Jewish state through demography.
than return to their former homes.
Nusseibeh, president of eastern
In the end, center director Khalil
Jerusalem's Al Quds University and at
Shikaki — himself a refugee — can-
the time the top Palestinian Authority
celled the news conference called to
7/18
2003
20
representative in Jerusalem, publicly
downplays the threats. In private,
however, he acknowledges that a
sniper's bullet could cut him down at
any time.
Changing Culture
Still, since the road map was launched
last month, many in the Palestinian
media are trying to change the politi-
cal culture to foster a gentler image of
Israel. Even Israeli officials say they see
the beginnings of moderation in the
Palestinian media, which are heavily
influenced by the governing
Palestinian Authority.
"We are trying to support the
hudna," Gaza television host Hazem
Abu Shanab said, using an Arabic
word for the temporary cease-fire
Palestinian terror groups declared a
few weeks ago. "Much of our efforts
are now concentrated in selling the
hudna to the people."
According to Abu Shanab, televi-
sion programs have adopted new ter-
minology and increasingly are geared
to presenting "the Israelis as partially
responsive to peace." Palestinian media
officials also are trying to filter out
"Israeli. statements about violence, pos-
sible reinvasions and aggression," Abu
Shanab said.
Israeli troops left the Gaza Strip
three weeks ago and Bethlehem two
weeks ago in the initial stages of the
road map. But Israel has refused to
withdraw troops from other
Palestinian cities in the West Bank
until it is confident that the
Palestinian Authority will crack down
on terrorist groups operating there.
In Bethlehem, Nasser Laham, who
owns the influential local cable station
"Bethlehem TV," increasingly relies on
local Palestinian reporters rather than
the Persian Gulf satellite conglomer-
ates, finding them more sensitive to
local issues and generally less prone to
incitement. "We are also trying to
concentrate on the future and not the
past," he said, presenting viewers with
images of "a quieter, more comfortable
future."
Most importantly, Laham said,
Bethlehem TV is working to counter
the clout of local clans and small
neighborhood groups, fostering "a
greater, unified Palestinian structure,
one with a single Palestinian policing
force."
Laham, who comes from a family of
refugees — his cousin is an adminis-
trator of the Dehaishe refugee camp
— believes Israel and a future
Palestinian state can coexist peacefully.
An avid reader of Israeli newspapers,
his office is plastered with pictures
clipped from the mass circulation
dailies, Yediot Achronot and Ma'ariv.
Paramount right now is the need to
wean Palestinian viewers and readers
from what was, until a few weeks ago,
a steady diet of "martyrs," gore and
"Israeli atrocities." The Palestinians
have grown so addicted to the violent
images screened nightly that "we have
Israel Insight
TEE ISSUE
Both houses of Congress are delib-
erating this summer on the annual
economic and military aid package
to Israel, which has been declining
in recent years. There are, however,
two areas of the U.S.-Israel relation-
ship that are growing — coopera-
tive development of defensive capa-
bilities and the fight against inter-
national terrorism.
BEAD TEE ISSUE
AIPAC, the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, is reporting that
U.S. Defense Department spending
for fiscal year 2004 is slated to
include funding for a number of
joint -U.S.-Israeli military projects.
The Arrow anti-balli s tic missile
defense program should receive $64
million. The Mobile Tactical High
Energy Laser and the Litening
Targeting Pod are to be funded at
$39 million and $37 million,
respectively. Regarding international
terrorism, there are several levels of
Israeli and U.S. cooperation,
including intelligence, military and
diplomatic.
— Allan Gale, Jewish Conurzuni
Council of Metropolitan Detroit