BBC correspondent Barbara Plett describes Yassir Arafat’s departure from Ramallah:
But where were the people, I wondered, the mass demonstrations of solidarity, the frantic expressions of concern? Was this another story we Western journalists were getting wrong, bombarding the world with news of what we think is an historic event, while the locals get on with their lives?
Yet when the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry… without warning.
Read on (or listen to it, 5:30 into the show) as the ostensibly neutral BBC reporter describes why she identifies so closely and emotionally with Arafat. How very similar to Fayad Abu Shamala, the BBC correspondent in Gaza, who announced at a Hamas rally on May 6, 2001:
“Journalists and media organizations [are] waging the campaign shoulder-to-shoulder together with the Palestinian people.”
So now, Palestinians are apathetic (at most) about Arafat, after all the damage he’s caused them, but the foreign reporters — like Plett — are all choked up! Says Plett: ‘Mr Arafat’s life has been one of sheer dedication and resilience.’
As Miriam Shaviv says, ‘This piece is just about all you need to know about the BBC’s coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.’
