Media coverage of the Palestinian attack on the Karni Crossing features a new twist on an old distortion. The LA Times writes:
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is loosely affiliated with Abbas’ Fatah movement, said that more than 200 pounds of explosives were detonated.
Although Mahmoud Abbas has replaced Yasser Arafat as Fatah leader, even during Arafat’s lifetime senior Palestinians acknowledged quite frankly that the Al-Aqsa Brigade-Fatah link was anything but “loose.”
Unfortunately, the mishandled reporting from the Karni Crossing wasn’t limited to the LA Times. Coverage in Reuters , Chicago Tribune, BBC, AFP, AP, CBC, The Independent, and the Daily Telegraph also misrepresented the direct and ongoing bond between the Al-Aqsa Brigade and Fatah. As we previously stated:
This is not merely a semantic matter. The close ties that bond the Fatah-led PA to terrorist groups are the fundamental problem that prevents progress toward peaceful reconciliation.
