For years, when Yasser Arafat and Fatah were running the PA, they could do no wrong in the BBC’s eyes. Now the BBC writes how terrible things have been since Arafat and his cronies to return from Tunisia:
In 1994, when Yasser Arafat returned in triumph to the Gaza Strip after decades in exile, the PLO, with Fatah at its head, was on the road to national redemption. But as they returned, Arafat’s men appeared to forget that there were other Palestinians already in the Palestinian territory.
Men and women who had already fought their own first intifada paid a heavy sacrifice in blood, and forced Israel to take them seriously. Move aside, the newcomers seemed to say. We are in charge now. Leave it to us.
For Gazans and West Bankers – secular and religious activists alike – this was galling. When the newcomers began to flaunt their new-found wealth, building ostentatious villas in one of the poorest places on earth, disillusion quickly set in.
We’re certainly not responsible for Fatah’s p.r. But we have to wonder what’s really motivating the Beeb? Cozying up to a new regime? CNN took that path to nowhere. Securing Alan Johnston’s release? The National Union of Journalists’ boycott of Israel has accomplished nothing as the correspondent is a pawn of Palestinian power games. Maybe this has something to do with Ahmed Yousef‘s prolific writing? Hmmmmm.
