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An occasional column by Nigel Parry for Middle East International magazine.
An earlier column in this series [MEI 567] focused on the role of the Western media in perpetuating various myths about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Indeed, just say the word "media" to your average Diaspora Palestinian and you find out pretty quickly what the phrase "open a can of worms" really means. As soon as you find space to get a word in edge ways, cheer them up by telling them about two new and very important websites.
"Ali Abunimah's bitter pill - uncovering media myths about the Middle East" at http://www.abunimah.org/ is one of the best examples of what a concerned individual can do with the World Wide Web, and in doing so serve as an important model for individual activism.
In the December 1998 issue of "The Link" magazine, published by Americans for Middle East Understanding (AMEU) and available at http://members.aol.com/linkissue/, Abunimah tells his story of official harassment resulting from student activism while studying at Princeton University, his visits to Palestine, what fuels his almost daily letters to NPR, the Chicago Tribune and CNN, and the storm that resulted when he confronted NPR for repeatedly using anti-Arab "investigative journalist" Steve Emerson as an "expert".
Abunimah points out that in the last two years, up to the end of September 1998, 49 of NPR's reports on Israel/Palestine focused on "security", 33 referred to "terrorism", 32 to "Hamas", and 36 to "Dennis Ross". By contrast, only six reports referred to "human rights", eight to "closure", one to "Shin Bet", two to "live ammunition" or "rubber bullets", three to "torture" and two to "demolition". Of the 42 reports that refer to "Israeli settlements", 18 contained the word "security" while only one contained the word "[land] confiscation". The term "illegal" never appeared in connection with Israeli settlements.
What makes his letters to these media giants powerful is their lucid nature, full of clearly referenced facts and statistics such as the above, their friendly and polite tone, and praise where it is due.
Reading about the feedback Abunimah has received from NPR and others, it is obvious that the various and multitudinous Israeli lobby groups and their friends have successfully rattled their cages to the point where the kind of reporting we hear with familiar wince is clearly preferable to weathering the storm that balanced reporting would result in. It's almost inconceivable in a democracy that interest groups get to call the shots at but the incontrovertible proof is there for all to see in Abunimah's extensive archives.
The second site has less to do with confronting the media and more to do with offering an alternative.
Since mid-October [1998], Birzeit University staff and students have been presenting weekly Internet radio programmes in English and Arabic, in a site called "Outloud" at http://www2.birzeit.edu/outloud/.
Palestine's first Internet radio programme, Outloud offers - using RealAudio technology - half-hour programmes that cover all aspects of the conflict through the sharp and lively lenses of the university community.
The archived shows have included spotlights on the poetry of Mahmoud Darweesh and the music of Fairuz, conversations with student leaders on student council activities, an interview with Palestinian academic Edward Said, and a report on sexual health in Palestine, all making the site well worth bookmarking and returning to regularly.
The creativity evident in such a venture is sadly lacking from much of the Palestinian Internet which seems to have largely taken refuge in gaudy, informationless, unmaintained, webpits of despair.
On a positive note, the number of locally-based websites continues to grow, currently 178 according to The Complete Guide to Palestine's Websites, found at http://www2.birzeit.edu/links/. Considering that in mid-1996, only 30 Palestinian websites existed, there is much to be thankful for in the last two-and-a-half years and also much to be hopeful for as the new millenium approaches.
by Nigel Parry
12 February 1999
MEI 593