Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| NY Times and LA Times coverage of the conflict |
|---|
| Anonymous |
| 10/19/00 at 00:55:40 |
| Tuesday, October 17, 2000 New York Times and Los Angeles Times coverage of the conflict in the Occupied Territories from 9/28/2000 to 10/15/2000: By Milad Ali Ershaghi [milad@naftinc.com] 1. Palestinians murdered at Sabra and Shatilla: The following table summarizes the number of Palestinians the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times reported were killed at Sabra and Shatilla in 1982 by Christian militiamen taking direct orders from then Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon: 09/29/2000 NYT "hundreds" 10/01/2000 LAT "thousands" 10/02/2000 NYT "hundreds" 10/02/2000 LAT "hundreds" 10/14/2000 NYT "hundreds" The real death count, however, is 2750 according to the International Red Cross and over 3000 according to other estimates. Question: Why is it that the NYT and LAT reported figures ten times lower than the actual statistic? Where do they get their information from, and why aren't they using internationally accepted data? Also, why did the LAT change from "hundreds" on 10/1/2000 to "thousands" on 10/2/2000 and 10/14/2000? What kinds of pressures could have caused this change? 2. Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount: In the first week of conflict, neither the NYT nor the LAT reported the number of IDF troops that accompanied Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount. But then on 10/7/2000, the NYT finally reported that "hundreds of Israeli officers" showed up. The problem with this report, however, is that one thousand troops showed up, not "hundreds". Question: Why in the first week did neither paper report the number of troops that accompanied Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount? And why, when it finally reported a statistic, did the NYT report "hundreds" instead of "one thousand"? Where, again, is the NYT getting its information, and why isn't it using accurate data? One thing that didn't get due coverage was the fact that Ariel Sharon and his entourage of IDF troops weren't alone in their visit to the Temple Mount; fans and supporters of Sharon actually showed up to cheer him on. An excerpt from a 9/29/2000 LAT article follows: In the waiting crowd below Temple Mount, Jews who came to support Sharon chanted: This is Jewish land! Get out!" And some hailed Sharon: "King of Israel!" Question: Why is the LAT the only paper that covered this, and why was its coverage so limited? Couldn't this coupled with false statistics about the number of troops that accompanied Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount have led readers to believe that Ariel Sharon did in fact come as "a messenger of peace"? As for the numerous Israeli officials who stressed their conviction that Ariel Sharon's visit was not a provocation, note the following excerpt from a 10/2/2000 NYT article: Today, ... a senior Israeli official said, "It's clear to everyone that it's the Sharon show that created the original damage. It's unfortunate, though, that the NYT didn't release the name of this "senior Israeli official". Because if it did, the Israeli government would have had a hard time defending their official position that the Palestinians alone were to blame for the escalating violence. 3. The IDF's use of live ammunition and rubber bullets: The NYT reported on 9/30/2000 that the Israeli police denied that live bullets had been used. They claimed that only nonlethal forms of ammunition were used such as tear gas and rubber bullets. The next day, however, both the NYT and the LAT reported that live ammunition was used. This lie about the use of live ammunition demonstrated how the Israeli police could not be considered as a trustworthy source of information. It's also interesting to note how IDF troops defined the term "nonlethal" in relation to rubber bullets they used against Palestinian civilians. According to a 10/4/2000 NYT article, they claimed they were officially instructed to shoot rubber bullets "from at least 100 feet away and only at the feet and legs." In the same article, however, the heads of two hospitals in Jerusalem revealed that Israeli troops were violating the rules of engagement they were supposed to adhere to: Dr. Khaled Qurie, the director of the Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, reviewed the cases of 35 Palestinians who had been admitted there and was surprised at "the high number of upper body injuries - abdomen, chest, neck and head." Michael Cook, chief executive of St. John's Eye Hospital in Jerusalem, noted that 18 Palestinians had been treated for getting shot in the eye with rubber projectiles. He added that most of the damaged eyes were left sightless. What should be clear, then, is that the Israeli police lied when they said that they didn't use live ammunition against Palestinian civilians, and when they did utilize their so-called "nonlethal" rubber bullets in ways contrary to their "rules", their weapons could no longer be described as "nonlethal". 4. Muhammad Al-Durrah caught up in the "crossfire": The NYT reported twice, on 10/2/2000 and 10/7/2000, and the LAT reported once, on 10/1/2000, that Muhammad Al-Durrah died in the "crossfire". In a way, this suggests that neither paper could be sure whether Israeli or Palestinian bullets killed Muhammad. But when evidence was produced to prove that the killing was deliberate, the NYT did not report anything further on the matter and led its readers to believe that he died in the "crossfire"; end of story. The LAT, however, was more balanced in its coverage. The following are excerpts from LAT articles related to the shooting: A 12-year-old Palestinian boy, Rami Durra, was among the dead in Gaza. He and his father, apparently caught in the cross-fire, could be seen crouched behind a concrete block, flat against a wall. “Don’t shoot!” the father, Jamal, screamed as he tried to shield the boy, according to the witnesses. But Rami was killed, and Jamal then slumped over, wounded. Bassam Bilbeisi, an ambulance driver who tried to rescue the pair, also was shot to death. LAT, 10/1/2000 An Israeli military commander said the shooting was under investigation and that it was not yet clear whose bullets felled the boy, who was buried early Sunday without an autopsy, in the Palestinian tradition. “First of all, I am very, very sorry from the depth of my heart,” Maj. Gen Yom-tov Samia, head of military forces in the southern region that includes Gaza, told Israeli radio. But, he added, he was sure Rami and his father, Jamal, “were there not just by accident.” He said the pair were part of a crowd throwing rocks and firebombs and, as such, were at risk... From a hospital bed in Gaza City where he lay critically wounded with eight bullet holes in his body, Jamal Durra gave a different account. He said he and his boy stumbled into the firefight on their way home from a used-car lot and had nowhere else to go. They were pinned down for 45 minutes, he said, during which time he could clearly see the man – an Israeli soldier – firing directly at them. LAT, 10/2/2000 Meanwhile, the Israeli army said a 12-year-old boy killed at Netzarim on Saturday was apparently hit by Israeli gunfire. The death, caught on camera, shocked viewers around the world. Israel's Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen Moshe Yaalon expressed "deep sorrow" and said the sniper had apparently mistaken the child for a gunman. LAT, 10/3/2000 The boy's death was "heartbreaking," Yaalon said. But he added that Mohammad was a stone-thrower who should not have been in such a hot spot. In the boy's home in the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza, his mother, Amal, said Mohammad and his father stumbled into the killing zone by accident. She had kept her son out of school that morning to prevent him from being caught up in the rioting. The father, Jamal, was wounded in the cross-fire. LAT, 10/4/2000 Note that when sufficient evidence had been produced to prove that Muhammad Al-Durra's death was not an accident, Israeli authorities still wouldn't accept the blame. For example, Major General Yom-tov Samia, head of military forces in the southern region that includes Gaza, told Israeli radio that he was "very, very sorry from the depth of [his] heart (about the death of Muhammad Al-Durrah)" but added that he was sure that Rami and his father "were there not just by accident (and were part of a crowd throwing rocks and firebombs)." The next day, Israel's Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen Moshe Yaalon expressed "deep sorrow" and said the sniper had apparently mistaken the child for a gunman, while all of us who watched the video clip know for a fact that Muhammad not could have possibly been mistaken as such. The following day, Yaalon said that the boy's death was "heartbreaking," but added that Mohammad was a stone-thrower who should not have been in such a hot spot. It's just unfortunate that at such a sad moment, these Israeli generals couldn't find it within themselves to refrain from lying. In any event, none of these fake apologies explain why the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance driver who came to Muhammad Al-Durra's aid was murdered in cold blood. 5. Voices of reconciliation: In the Israeli town of Tiberias, crowds chanting "Death to the Arabs!" set fire to a mosque. LAT, 10/9/2000 The troubles began shortly after evening religious services for Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, when Jews swept through Arab neighborhoods shouting, "Death to Arabs!" hurling stones through windows and attacking Arabs. Arabs who live here, and hold Israeli citizenship, turned to the Israeli police. But when they arrived, the Arabs said, the police also turned on the Arabs, leading to a confrontation in which two Arab youths were killed... On Sunday, for reasons that were unclear, the police apparently let the protesters through. "It did not occur to us that the police would get to the scene, see what was happening and side with the thugs who were attacking our homes and beating people randomly," said Jalal Hassan, 39. "It was a message from the Israeli state to all of us: 'You are not really citizens. You do not belong here." NYT, 10/10/2000 By Monday night, Jewish mobs were hurling fire and rocks at Arab targets across the country, setting up roadblocks and chanting, "Death to the Arabs!" About 500 Jews tried to storm mosques in Tiberias before Israeli police dispersed them with tear gas. In Tel Aviv, another mob of 500 Jews surrounded a restaurant where they believed Arabs were working and set the building on fire, along with a store and three apartments where Palestinian workers had slept. LAT, 10/10/2000 Their sons and sons-in-law came running and faced off with the Jewish mob that was shouting, "Death to the Arabs!" - "Stop. We're Jews. Aren't you ashamed?" the Atzmons yelled. - "You should be ashamed," the rock- throwers shot back. "If you are Jewish and live with Arabs, you deserve this!" they yelled as police finally arrived to disperse the crowd. LAT, 10/11/2000 Israeli youths marched through Jerusalem chanting, "Death to the Arabs!" NYT, 10/13/2000 "Zionism Shall Triumph," read the slogan on a stylized Israeli flag printed in newspapers. "We have only had our country for 50 years, and I am not willing to give away an inch of it," said Lia Finkelberg, 22, a Russian immigrant. LAT, 10/14/2000 The last excerpt really puts everything into perspective. |
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