Palestinian photographers covering UN envoy Tony Blair’s visit to Nablus give new meaning to photo-opportunism. The Independent explains:
Mr Blair’s appearance before Nablus’s small but proactive Palestinian press corps yesterday was preceded by a lengthy argument between the city’s photographers over the ideal background against which to portray him.
Pictures of both Yasser Arafat and his successor Mahmoud Abbas were eventually hoisted on to the red curtain behind the podium. A suggestion by one pressman that a third portrait of the de facto Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, be added, was not taken up, sparing the envoy undoubted embarrassment.
Here’s one AP photo that hit the wires:
With the background of portraits of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, right, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Middle East Quartet envoy and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks at a press conference during his visit to the West Bank city of Nablus, Thursday Feb. 7, 2008. Israeli ground forces backed by warplanes exchanged fire with Hamas gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing a teacher and six militants in escalating violence that is hobbling peace efforts.
(AP Photo/Nasser Ishtayeh)
Good thing they didn’t pose Blair in front of the city’s ubiquitous martyr posters.
