News organizations are dedicating huge amounts of resources to reporting on the prospective rebooting of the peace process, with the focus on jump-starting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations geared towards achieving a two-state solution to end the conflict.
Yet, a newly published report by the United States government alleging that the Palestinian Authority targeted – and in some cases tortured – participants of the 2019 “Peace to Prosperity” economic workshop in Bahrain has been almost entirely ignored.
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Media Get Behind Idea of Two-States Leading to Democracy for Palestinians
By contrast, media outlets were consumed by the recent decision of the Middle East Quartet – comprised of representatives from the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations – to convene for the first time since 2018 in order to discuss ways to renew “meaningful negotiations” between Israel and the Palestinians.
Related Reading: Does Land For Peace Work?
Concurrently, it was widely reported that the White House intends to begin ramping up economic assistance to the PA; this, after former president Donald Trump cut off nearly all aid to Ramallah due to its obstructionism and out-of-hand rejection of the then-administration’s peace proposal.
Now, though, the US Agency for International Development and the State Department have sent notifications to Congress of plans to deliver approximately $125 million in funding to the Palestinians. The State Department has also earmarked an additional $40 million to enhance Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation initiatives in the West Bank.
The importance of the matter was made stark last week when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi that Israelis and Palestinians should enjoy “equal measures” of freedom, security, prosperity and democracy.
While governments and international bodies are entitled to revisit, reconsider and revise their policies vis–vis Israel, news outlets have a responsibility to provide their readers with necessary background information about Jerusalem’s ostensible peace partner.
Media Misses: PA Pay For Slay, Torture, and Incitement
What has garnered little press outside of Israel is that the Palestinian Authority may be diverting funds intended for humanitarian purposes to pay “salaries” to jailed terrorists and to the family members of those killed while attempting to perpetrate attacks on Israelis.
On March 18, the US State Department acknowledged that the PA had not “terminated payments for acts of terrorism,” a revelation that calls into question the legality of sending US taxpayer dollars to Ramallah. In fact, the 2018 Taylor Force Act restricts, with few exceptions, sending aid to the PA so long as it continues to incentivize violence against Israelis.
Related Reading: Palestinian Terror Payments: Pay For Slay
Moreover, the United States charged in its 2020 Country Report on Human Rights Practices, published on March 31, that, “In 2019 there were reports Palestinian security forces arrested, intimidated and tortured Palestinians following their participation in an international conference in Bahrain.”
The report also noted that the “PA Ministry of Education has named at least 31 schools after terrorists and an additional three schools after Nazi collaborators, while at least 41 school names honor ‘martyrs.'” This, even though the terms of the Oslo Accords require the Palestinian Authority to refrain from glorifying murderers.
‘Apartheid’: Why an Uncritical Press is So Dangerous
The media’s fixation on alleged Israeli abuses has seemingly provided cover, if not the pretext, for individuals to spread lies and advance libelous claims. Case in point: During a recent webinar co-hosted by the American Muslims for Palestine and IfNotNow organizations, both viewed by many as radically anti-Israel, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) claimed that a growing number of US lawmakers are turning against the Jewish state:
Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to have 12 members of Congress refer to Israeli occupation as colonialism, so I have no doubt that the needle on Palestinian human rights is moving.
Tlaib also suggested that Israel practices an “apartheid system.”
The apparent growing acceptance by influential public figures of this patently false narrative has, in turn, provided fuel to the BDS movement, whose proponents support a one-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which, in practice, would ultimately lead to the end of Jewish self-determination.
Indeed, the media has played a central role in manipulating or omitting facts that would otherwise provide balance and thus stem the unwarranted anti-Israel tide.
As such, perhaps the fairest course of action would be for news organizations to start detailing the Palestinian Authority’s repeated gross violations of its obligations, including accusations of torturing its own people. Not to mention the PA’s distributing of “stipends” to killers who have committed crimes against humanity.
Featured Image: Israeli and Palestinian flags via Shutterstock.
