I was struck, twice, by an odd notion I heard on WBUR during stories on Israel. First, yesterday evening, Robert Siegel, interviewing Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev, asked, rhetorically, whether President Abbas could really be expected to negotiate with Israel while Israel was conducting offensive operations in Gaza. I heard a similar remark this morning: someone (I can’t recall who) pointing out that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was in the region to try to get the parties to start talking again, and noting how difficult this would be in light of the Israeli attack.
Why is it that President Abbas can’t be expected to negotiate while the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip is under Israeli attack, while Israel is expected to negotiate, and is in fact willing to negotiate, while Sderot and now Ashkelon are subject to rocket fire?
I can’t decide whether the answer is anti-Arab racism (Palestinians are crazy, passionate people who like to shoot guns in the air and can’t possibly be expected to restrain themselves or permit their leaders to negotiate while Israel is sullying their honor by invading Gaza) or the usual anti-Israel bias (it’s fair to ask Israel to bear burdens such as daily rocket attacks that we ourselves would be unwilling to bear, and to claim to support Israel’s right to defend herself while also protesting if Israel does the job too well or if there are too many civilian casualties).
Either way, I think the press coverage of this issue, which implies that the Palestinian Authority shouldn’t have to negotiate with Israel until Israel stops attacking Hamas (regardless whether Hamas stops attacking Israel) is not helping to move the ball forward.
TedF
I’d be sure to make a distinction between WBUR and NPR. Both the examples you cite are of NPR reports. WBUR is a local public radio station that subscribes to NPR’s programming and, in my opinion, has proven itself eminently fair and reasoned in its reporting on Jewish-related matters. That’s just my opinion, though, and I’m certainly no expert on parsing these kinds of sensitive geo-political issues.
I take your point about the distinction between NPR and WBUR, though I’m not sure I agree with your characterization of WBUR’s coverage.
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p>TedF
I’ve long felt that the coverage has been disproporationately critical of Israel. Whether Israel is responding to suicide bombings or rocket attacks, NPR, in particular, always seems to downplay that part of the equation and make it sound as though Israel is engaging in brutal and repressive behavior for no apparent reason. I didn’t hear this particular report, but it certainly sounds as though it fits the pattern.