Covering Up for Arafat

By Dr. Michael Goldblatt

Like most major American daily newspapers, the Philadelphia
Inquirer featured prominent and detailed coverage of the recent American
raids on terrorist bases in Sudan and Afghanistan, and the world's reaction
to the raids. Part of the world, that is. For while the Inquirer reported
the reactions of many leaders and governments around the world, including
some Arab regimes, it refused to quote the numerous statements by
Palestinian Arab leaders denouncing America's action.
 
Beginning on Friday, August 21, the Inquirer provided its readers
with a full week of heavy coverage of the raids and their aftermath. On
four of those seven days, the story was on the front page, and twice it was
the main front page feature. Coverage of international reaction was
detailed. The Inquirer reported the reactions of Russia, Pakistan, Sudan,
and Afghanistan, as well as the Muslim-American community in Philadelphia.
 
 
There was plenty of coverage of the Arab world's response, too.
The Inquirer's Middle East correspondent, Barbara Demick, who is based in
Jerusalem, personally traveled to Cairo and filed two long dispatches,
which the Inquirer published on August 23 and 24, describing the Arab
world's reaction to the U.S. raids. Demick quoted comments by Egypt's
Foreign Minister; an Egyptian journalist; a Jordanian political scientist;
a former Egyptian diplomat; exiled Sudanese opposition figures living in
Egypt; Jordanian engineers who once worked at the Sudanese chemical plant
that the U.S. was bombed; an Egyptian math teacher; and Egyptian
cafe-goers. Demick emphasized that "on the official level, reaction has
been restrained, particularly in Jordan and Egypt, which are large
recipients of U.S. foreign aid."
 
In the territory ruled by the Palestinian Authority, which also
receives a generous helping of U.S. foreign aid, reaction has not
been restrained at all--yet Demick failed to report any Palestinian
Arab leaders' statements. She would not have had to travel very far
to do so. From her Jerusalem office, she could have traveled to PA
headquarters in Ramallah in about 15 minutes. Or she could have called
them on the phone. Or she could have checked any one of the numerous
internet news services that have reported
Palestinian Arab reactions, such as the Middle East Media and Research
Institute (MEMRI), which provided this information free of charge via e-mail
to any interested party:
 
Yasir Arafat's "Foreign Minister," Farouk Kaddoumi, said that "the
Palestinian people condemn this aggression and express solidarity with
their brethren, the peoples of Sudan and Afghanistan. The Palestinian
people stand by these peoples in their struggle to guard their independence
and sovereignty." (Al-Quds, Aug.23)
 
Fatah, which is the largest faction of the PLO and which Arafat personally
chairs, declared: "Fatah completely rejects organized terror launched by
the U.S. against Arab peoples America's state-sponsored terrorism against
oppressed Arab and Islamic nations is far more dangerous than the kind of
terrorism she professes to combat. It constitutes an American attempt to
hit at the development of these nations and curtail the progress they
make." (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 23)
 
The official Palestinian Authority newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, was
filled with attacks on the United States. Editor in chief Hafez Barghuthi
asserted: "When the Americans launch such acts of aggression, they are no
different than the perpetrators of the [African] bombings." (Al-Hayat
Al-Jadida;, Aug.22) Another article in the newspaper declared that the
American "aggression proved President Clinton was too weak to confront the
Jewish lobby that was annoying him with the Lewinsky affair." It said that
the Jewish lobby pressured Clinton "to sign the decision to attack Sudan as
well as bases in Afghanistan; Clinton could have ridden out his crisis, if
the Jews hadn't preserved Lewinsky's dress just in case, setting up that
Blonde Superman [Clinton]." (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug.23)
 
A columnist in the PA newspaper declared that the "real evil" was not the
terrorists who bombed the U.S. embassies in Africa, but rather "that real
evil was born the day Columbus discovered what he referred to as America...Like
any other terrorism, the American bombings were aimed at innocent civilians."
(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Aug. 23)
 
In the PA-ruled city of Nablus, protesters burned American flags. In
PA-ruled Rafiah, demonstrators denounced the U.S. and one of the speakers
at the rally, Fatah official Ziyad Al-Sarafandi said that protest was not
enough, and that Palestinian Arabs should "confront the interests of
America and its allies in the Arab Homeland." (Al-Quds, Aug. 24)
Needless to say, in a police state such as the Palestinian Authority, such
rallies cannot be held, and such statements cannot be made, unless the PA
leadership approves.
 
Why did Barbara Demick fail to quote any of these statements, when she
could have obtained them with a simple phone call or by pressing a few keys
on her computer? Why, in general, does the Philadelphia Inquirer rarely,
if ever, report news that makes Arafat or other Palestinian Arabs look bad?
Why do anti-American statements by Arafat and his aides never appear in
our newspapers? Why has there been a virtual media blackout on the issue
of Arafat sheltering at least 12 known murderers of American citizens--four
of whom are serving in Arafat's police force?
These are questions that demand answers.