This is fascinating:
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – A blitz of billboards and television commercials filled with grinning Palestinian children is trying to chip away at America’s negative image, telling Palestinians they have cleaner water and more classrooms thanks to U.S. generosity.
But the U.S. government’s campaign is off to a tough start: No Palestinian entertainer or athlete was willing to serve as its goodwill ambassador, reflecting widespread anti-American sentiment.
Well, that or fear for their lives. AP reporter Karen Laub goes on to focus on the justification for this Palestinian resentment of the U.S.:
The prevailing view is that the ad money is being wasted — and that attitudes won’t budge until Washington drops what Palestinians consider its pro-Israel bias and gets serious about Palestinian statehood.
then speculates:
Such attitudes might be reinforced if Mahmoud Abbas comes away empty-handed from a meeting with President Bush at the White House on Thursday.
While blaming it all on America, and failing to explain why the U.S. gives disproportionately to Israel (hint: shared democratic values), Laub conspicuously omits another factor — the vicious anti-American incitement that emerges regularly from Hamas et al. This, for example, was the scene in Gaza a short while ago:
and let’s not forget imam Ibrahim Mudayris on national Palestinian TV a couple weeks ago:
The day will come and we shall rule America, Britain, we shall rule the entire world..
Comments to AP: [email protected]
