What's missing in Arab media 
By Evelyn Gordon 

(October 31) - It is a truism that the media is a major player in 
every war these days. Israelis, however, tend to focus almost 
exclusively on how events will be received by Western audiences: 
Comparatively little attention is devoted to media reports in 
the Arab world. 

But anyone who is interested in our future relations with this 
world should pay close attention to such reports - because it is 
hard to imagine that peace could be obtainable when the media 
is so diligently sowing the seeds of hatred. 

That the Arab media has devoted extensive coverage to Palestinian 
casualties over the last month is neither surprising nor in any 
way improper. What is worrying, however, is what has been left 
out of Arab news reports. 

Palestine Satellite Television, for instance, which is one of the 
Palestinian Authority's two channels, has never broadcast the two 
scenes most critical to understanding Israel's reaction to the 
recent violence: the lynching of two IDF soldiers in Ramallah, 
and the destruction of Joseph's Tomb by a Palestinian mob. 
Ibrahim Milhem, the station's news anchor and editorial director, 
explained that these incidents were never shown because they 
represent instances of the PA's "losing control." 

The coverage was similarly selective in Jordan - the Arab 
country with which Israel has the warmest ties. The Jordan Times, 
for example, gave extensive coverage to Israel's attacks on 
targets in Ramallah and Gaza in response to the lynching. But the 
paper printed not one word about the event that preceded these 
attacks - the murder of the two soldiers. 

Even those Arab media outlets that did report the lynching 
almost universally asserted that the victims were members of 
an undercover unit on an operational mission in Ramallah, 
rather than two reservists who had lost their way. None 
published the pictures of the lynching that would have refuted 
this assertion - pictures in which the only victim visible is 
clearly in uniform. A senior Jordanian publicist explained this 
decision as follows: "The objective facts are not important," 
he said. "What is important is how the facts look." 

Such selective presentation of events is both a far more subtle 
and a far more effective form of incitement than screaming 
"death to the Jews." Those who rely for information on Palestine 
Satellite Television, for instance, are now convinced that Israel 
bombs Palestinian targets for no discernable reason other than 
the government's whim of the moment. No sane person would attempt 
peaceful relations with such a country. 

This is not to say that the truth would necessarily persuade 
anyone in the Arab world that Israel was right. After hearing 
the full story of the lynching in Ramallah, for instance, many 
Arabs might still believe that Israel's decision to bomb empty 
buildings in retaliation was an overreaction. But there is a 
world of difference between a reaction - even an overreaction - 
and a completely unprovoked attack. 

An overreaction implies poor judgment. Unprovoked attacks imply 
a moral standard that is completely beyond the pale. After a 
steady diet of broadcasts that portray Israel in the latter 
manner, it is hardly surprising that thousands of Arabs 
throughout the Middle East - even in countries with which we 
have signed peace treaties - are urging their governments to 
declare war on Israel. 

Who would want such a pariah state in their midst? 

Nor is such selective coverage only a problem for Israel's 
relations with Arab states. With satellite broadcasts so easy 
to obtain, most Israeli Arabs now prefer to rely on Arab media 
for their news. Thus, broadcasts that paint IDF actions as 
completely unprovoked encourage Arab Israelis to see Jewish 
Israelis not as fellow citizens with whom it might be possible 
to coexist, but as mindless brutes with whom no coexistence is 
possible. The result can only be additional uprisings by Israeli 
Arabs. 

Accustomed as they are to relying on a media that at least 
aspires to minimal journalistic standards, the dearth of 
information reaching the Arab public is probably hard for 
most Israelis to grasp. The Israeli media has scrupulously 
reported every Palestinian casualty. The scene that has become 
the symbol of the recent violence in the Arab world - the death 
of 12-year-old Mohammed Aldura at Netzarim junction in Gaza - 
has been broadcast countless times on Israeli television. 

Perhaps it is because they take such basic journalistic 
integrity for granted that many supporters of the Oslo process 
have naively ignored what the Arab media is saying - and then 
been shocked to discover that so many Arabs still hate the Jews. 

But anyone who truly desires peace, as opposed to merely 
unloading territory, must make this issue a top priority. 
Because as long as Arabs are bombarded, day in and day out, 
with the message that Israel is a reasonless aggressor, 
peace will remain an unobtainable mirage.