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New Palestinian TV - To Broadcast What?

[Hudson Institute-New York] Khaled Abu Toameh - American and European taxpayers are now being asked to fund a new satellite TV station that will broadcast from Ramallah in the West Bank and serve as a mouthpiece for PA head Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. But Fatah already has a TV station called Palestine TV. The faction also has its own radio station (Voice of Palestine), three daily newspapers and several radio stations, in addition to at least 13 Web sites that provide a platform for daily attacks on Hamas and other rivals. If Abbas and his Fatah companions want to tell the Palestinians through the new TV station how bad Hamas is, why are Abbas and his Fatah lieutenants chasing Hamas and literally begging it to agree to the formation of a "unity government," talking in Cairo about joining forces and distributing ministerial portfolios? There is another problem with the Fatah-controlled media. While targeting Hamas, the Fatah newspapers, radio and TV stations and Web sites have also been inciting against their peace partner, Israel, and against the U.S. and Europe - the same parties that are financing Fatah and supplying it with weapons. Ironically, this type of incitement drives more Palestinians into the open arms of Hamas. If you are telling your people day and night how bad and evil Israel is, your people will then say that this means that Hamas is right - you can't make peace with Israel or any Jew. If you are telling your people that the Israelis are war criminals and children killers and are basically responsible for all the miseries of the Palestinians, what will the people think of Mahmoud Abbas when they see him meeting with any Israeli? The last thing the international community needs to do is to fund yet another Palestinian media outlet that promotes hatred, violence and anti-Western sentiments.
2009-03-04 06:00:00
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