If Israel broke the ‘truce’ with the Palestinians by one unprovoked act of aggression, the media would be heaving with righteous denunciations. Yet Israel is currently enduring a spate of murderous attacks following the easing of restrictions and the removal of checkpoints by the Israeli army after international pressure --with virtual silence from the media. WorldNet Daily reports:

‘A series of Palestinian attacks and attempted attacks over the past 48 hours have left two dead and several injured, as the violence here continues to reach the highest levels yet since the signing in February of a cease-fire agreement between Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Islamic Jihad terrorists opened fire today on an Israeli vehicle in the West Bank, killing Yevgeny Raider, 27-year, and wounding, Andre Zeidan, 16… Hours earlier, the Israeli Defense Forces thwarted a suicide bombing when soldiers caught a young woman Wafa Samir Ibrahim, aged 20, wearing explosives strapped to her underwear at a northern Gaza Strip crossing. Ibrahim had a permit that allowed her into Israeli territory for "humanitarian assistance." Yesterday, an Israeli soldier was killed and two others wounded when two Palestinian gunmen opened fire at an IDF post on the Egypt-Gaza border. Following that incident, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was arrested at a Gaza checkpoint with five pipe bombs. ‘The continued violence comes in spite of a cease-fire agreement announced in Egypt Feb. 8 by Sharon and Abbas. A list of Palestinian attacks and attempts just the past two weeks, obtained by WND, includes: 56 rockets and mortar shells fired at Jewish communities in Gaza, 48 shooting attacks at Israeli civilians and soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza, 26 Molotov cocktails thrown at Israelis, the arrests of five terrorists who planned suicide attacks in Jerusalem, and two attempted infiltrations and attacks against Gaza Jewish settlements. Security sources also report the continued smuggling of heavy weaponry from Egypt into Gaza's Rafah region. Since February, there have been approximately 30 incidents of Palestinian smuggling from Egypt's Sinai region, with weapons transported including approximately 1,000 rifles, dozens of RPG launchers, about 150 handguns, five anti-aircraft shoulder missiles and tens of thousands of bullets. A senior Israeli security source told WND: "The cease-fire is over. Officials are afraid to announce it, but look around, it's obvious."'

Now let’s look more closely at that attempted human bomb atrocity by Wafa Samir Ibrahim Al-Bas. She was entering Israel via one of the Gaza strip crossings because she was to receive medical treatment at the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. She showed her appreciation of this humanitarian gesture by donning a 10 kilograms (22 pounds) explosive suicide belt with the intention of blowing up the hospital that was to treat her -- and as the Jerusalem Post reported, wanted specifically to murder as many children as possible.

Now let us recall some of the crimes of Israel in the eyes of the British and European media. Israel oppresses the Palestinians by making it difficult for them at the checkpoints and crossings; Israel shows no compassion to the Palestinians; Israel is only attacked by the Palestinians because of the way it treats them. The human wrongs promoter Amnesty International, in its travesty of a report accused Israel of war crimes including ‘obstruction of medical assistance’.

Yet this woman was not only to be treated at an Israeli hospital but had been treated there before– as are countless numbers of other Palestinians, every day. This murderous act, in the very place that was to treat her, was her response. So much for murder being a response to ill-treatment. That and that alone is why Palestinians are held up and subjected to various apparent indignities at the checkpoints and the crossings – because sometimes they pretend to require humanitarian assistance in order to kill as many Jews as possible. In the circumstances, it is astounding that Israel routinely treats Palestinians from the territories in its hospitals. Any other country would regard them as enemy combatants. Israel sees them as human beings – and is then vilified by the British and European media and human wrongs industry as war criminals for its pains.

Furthermore Ha’aretz reports:

‘The Shin Bet received a tip that Fatah was planning to send Wafa Samir Ibrahim al-Biss, of the Jabalya refugee camp, on a suicide mission via one of the Gaza Strip crossings. Israel gave the Palestinian Authority and Chairman Mahmoud Abbas detailed information of the plan, Shin Bet sources said, but the PA did nothing.’

This is further evidence of Abbas’s complicity in the ongoing jihad. Yet this has not been reported in Britain. Indeed, hardly any of any of this escalating jihad has been reported – and when it has, it has been distorted. As the Middle East commentator Tom Gross observes:

‘Today Reuters reports the whole incident as "Israel says" - even though the would-be suicide bomber (Wafa al-Bas, 21) told the media herself in a jailhouse interview yesterday afternoon that the target was Beersheba hospital. The interview was broadcast on Israeli television news, but not on most international networks that were not interested in using the footage…

‘On air, most BBC world news bulletins today have begun their reports with the news that "Israel has arrested Palestinians" without mentioning that those arrested were members of Islamic Jihad linked to the murder of two Israelis in the last two days, and were in the process of planning future attacks. Online, the BBC separates its bomber story from its report of Israel's "crackdown" in the West Bank that followed it - as if Israeli security policy is unrelated to a continued terrorist threat. And the BBC glosses over the details of Islamic Jihad murders in the previous two days.

‘In the Financial Times, Harvey Morris, an experienced reporter in the region, leads his story with the shooting of an Israeli by Islamic Jihad, but mentions the attempted bombing so obliquely at the end that it almost disappears (and does not mention that the target was a hospital). Media outlets continue to describe the obligation for the Palestinian Authority to disarm terror groups as nothing more than an "Israeli demand". For example, the American UPI (United Press International) report on yesterday's Palestinian violence, says: "Ariel Sharon never seems to tire demanding a complete cessation of terrorism, violence and incitement, dismantling terrorist organizations and collecting their weapons."'

Nor is this violence the only matter of pressing concern in the Middle East over which media silence is having a lethally distorting effect on public opinion. As Tom Gross also observes, opposition to the disengagement is being presented as emanating solely from religious zealot settlers, ignoring the fact that opposition is coming from a far wider range of opinion including many on the left of Israeli politics. Gross provides some examples of this cross section:

‘Former Labor Party Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, currently not a Knesset Member but leader of the left-wing Yahad/Meretz Party:

"If the disengagement does not lead to an immediate permanent status arrangement, it will bring a catastrophe upon both Israelis and Palestinians... It is liable to bring a renewal of violence [that] is liable to bring down the moderate Palestinian leadership... There is a concrete danger that following the disengagement, the violence will greatly increase in [Judea and Samaria] in order to achieve the same thing [i.e., withdrawal] as was achieved in Gaza... A retreat from Gaza with nothing in return and with no agreement will strengthen Hamas."

Former Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, who is on the left-wing of the Labor Party:

"A unilateral retreat perpetuates Israel's image as a country that runs away under pressure... In Fatah and Hamas, they will assume that they must prepare for their third intifada - this time in [Judea and Samaria / the West Bank]... If we continue these unilateral steps, we will find ourselves establishing an enemy Palestinian state."

Former General Security Service chief Ami Ayalon:

"The captain of the disengagement can be compared to the captain of a ship who takes it from port to a very stormy sea, without knowing at all where he wants to lead it. And possibly even worse: He knows where he wants to lead it, but is hiding the information from his crew... Retreat without getting anything in return is liable to be interpreted by some of the Palestinians as surrender. The plan is likely to strengthen extremist forces in the Palestinians society... There is a high chance that shortly after the disengagement, the violence will be renewed. 2006 is liable to be a year of another round of violence."

Former Air Force Commander Gen. Eitan Ben-Eliyahu:

"There is no chance that the disengagement will guarantee long-term stability. The plan as it stands can only lead to a renewal of terrorism... If there is no quick progress from the disengagement to a comprehensive retreat, [this will lead to] the one-state solution - bringing to an end of the Zionist dream, and the Jewish State will be lost."

Former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Gen. Uzi Dayan:

"Retreat from Nisanit, Dugit and Elei Sinai is a double mistake: Security-wise, it unnecessarily brings the Kassam rocket threat closer to Ashkelon, and diplomatically, it creates a dangerous precedent of unilateral withdrawal to the 1967 lines, which strengthens the PA demands to return to the June 4, 1967 lines."

Former IDF Chief of Intelligence Gen. Shlomo Gazit:

"It is reasonable to assume that within a short time, we will face mortar shelling and Kassams from [Samaria and Judea]. These rockets and shells will hit Kfar Saba and maybe even reach Netanya."

Former Mossad head Ephraim HaLevy:

"After the disengagement, Israel will face a diplomatic crisis the likes of which we have not known for years."
Former Mossad head Shabtai Shavit:

"The disengagement plan sabotages itself, creating a situation of instability. The plan does not create the necessary minimum of balance that would enable long-term coexistence... Immediately after the disengagement, Israel will find itself on a crash path with the United States."

The media’s failure to report this wide spectrum against disengagement has the effect of minimising the extraordinary risks being taken by this enterprise, the true nature and extent therefore of the controversy and the full significance of this event.

Nor is it reporting the implosion of Abbas’s regime itself under attack from the gunmen he has so obdurately refused to disarm. David Bedein paints a picture of growing anarchy and chaos as Abbas steadily loses control:

‘These days, militants from Abbas’s own party threaten the chairman, his aides and virtually anybody who fails to cooperate. In muted but clear tones, the PA newspapers report daily the attacks by Fatah, often bolstered by security officers, against PA officials, their families and security installations. PA officials have been fleeing or plan to leave the West Bank for Jordan and other Arab states. The most popular Palestinian daily, Al Quds [1], has been jammed with ads by travel agencies, a remarkable development considering the poverty of most Palestinians, their lack of passports and other restrictions. The ads are for the Palestinian elite, who are looking to escape the dangers of living in Palestinian cities. Indeed, the assessment by many is that the PA could collapse by late 2005 as the split within the ruling Fatah movement widens. PA security services have been unable to stem the increasing violence in the streets of Palestinian cities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Fatah factions have been engaged in gun battles in Ramallah, the center of Palestinian government, while police have largely stood by or even joined in…

‘The PA has acknowledged that many police and security officers spend their time playing criminals rather than cops. The official PA media have reported the involvement of security officers in gun battles in Ramallah on June 12. The media also reported the killing of three people in the Gaza Strip on the same day. On June 11, about 40 gunmen attacked PA security headquarters in Gaza City and waged a three-hour gun battle with officers in the facility. Later, Fatah operatives opened fire near the home of a senior Palestinian commander, Brig. Gen. Rashid Abu Shback. Moreover, several explosions in bomb-making laboratories were reported in the Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis. In the Jabalya refugee camp, a PA police officer was abducted. The media did not report the arrest or prosecution of suspects.’

Needless to say, the Palestinians are blaming Israel for their own mayhem. It cannot be long before their parrots in the British media do so too.

Posted by melanie at June 21, 2005