Inquirer Turns Blind Eye to PLO's Map of Israel as "Palestine"

 
by Michael Goldblatt 

		If a picture is worth a thousand words, then the Philadelphia Inquirer 's
 recent handling of a picture of PLO policemen may say a great deal about the
the Inquirer's attitude toward Israel.

	The photograph in question appeared on page 2 of the Inquirer on January 25.
 It was a close-up of two heavily-armed PLO policemen, one of whom was
holding a flower (a carnation).  The caption read:  "Palestinian policemen
who protect Yasir Arafat wait in Hebron, where he visited yesterday.  The
carnation is in memory of 29 Muslim worshipers killed by a Jewish gunman at
the Tomb of the Patriarchs in 1994."  

	The carnation that was held by one of the policemen was almost impossible to
see, because it blended in with dense shrubbery in the background.  Somehow
the editors of the Inquirer managed to see it, and include the reference to
the 1994 killings.  

	Yet the Inquirer staff for some reason had trouble seeing a much more
visible symbol in the photograph.  The policeman closer to the camera had on
his upper arm a large official emblem of the PLO police force--featuring a
very clear map of all of Israel.  Not just Judea-Samaria and Gaza--but all of
Israel.

	Although you would never know it from reading the Inquirer, the PLO still
 regularly uses as its traditional symbol a map of all of Israel, labeled
"Palestine."   Not only does it appear on the arm-patches of the PLO police,
but it is also blazoned across the PLO's official letterhead and appears
routinely on PLO documents. 

	Ironically, when PLO representative Hassan abd al-Rahman testified before
the House International Relations Committee last year, he submitted a written
copy of his testimony on official PLO letterhead, featuring the Israel-as-
"Palestine" map.  Talk about chutzpah: at a hearing where Members of Congress
were trying to determine if the PLO really wants to live in peace with
Israel, Rahman distributed a document showing that the PLO still  hopes for
Israel's eventual destruction.  Unfortunately, the Inquirer failed to report
on Rahman's action.

	The Washington Post, however, has noticed the significance of the PLO's
letterhead.  A few years back, when the PLO asked to be admitted as the
"State of Palestine" to the World Health Organization, it submitted its
application with the Israel-as-"Palestine" map as its official seal.  The
Post  has never been particularly friendly to Israel--to put it mildly--but
it could not refrain from pointing out:  "The new state that the PLO is
asking W.H.O. to admit does not exist in a territorial or political medium,
and it wipes out symbolically an already existing member state."

	More than three years after the PLO signed the Oslo accords, pledging peace
with Israel, the uniforms of the PLO police are still decorated with the
traditional PLO map that defines all of Israel as "Palestine."  Shouldn't
that discrepancy be regarded by the Inquirer as worthy of comment?  Why is it
that when the editors of the Inquirer look at a photograph, they only see the
part that makes Israelis look bad, but are blind to the part that raises
questions about the PLO's intentions?

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