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Killing of 9 Palestinians ignored by US papers -- just as Sharon likes it!
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PMWATCH -- September 26, 2002 -- On Tuesday, September 24, the Israeli army killed 9 Palestinians
in a Gaza raid, 6 of whom were civilians, and 3 were armed fighters.
In a survey of 94 front pages of the largest circulation US papers, Palestine Media Watch
discovered that not a single one of those papers mentioned the killings in their front pages.
A large number of the papers headlined the Tony Blair Iraq speech, many highlighted the Hindu
temple terrorist attacks, signs of rising poverty in the United States, the Dow Jones 4-year
low dip, the FBI missing signals on 9/11, the Ivory Coast "rescue mission", prospects for
the West Nile vaccine, or even the sad news that the TV ratings for the Miss America peagent
have hit an all time low. But NOT A SINGLE front page made ANY mention of the 9 Palestinians killed.
When a PMWatcher recently asked the Forein Desk editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer
(Ned Warwick: 215-854-2467) about why his paper had chosen to run two stories on September 5
to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Munich massacres, but had totally ignored the
20th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatilla massacre, here is what he wrote in response:
"Because of the effort to stay in stride with the fast moving and constantly changing Iraq
story we did not notice the passage of the anniversary of the Shabra and Shatila massacre.
I wish we had." And the Philadelphia Inquirer has a full time reporter on the ground: Michael Matza.
(Note that, more than one week later, the Inquirer has yet to make any mention of Sabra and Shatilla.)
In other words, the foreign desk editor of one of largest circulation papers is behaving exactly the
way Ariel Sharon wants him to behave: distracted by the US manufactured Iraq crisis from the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict (though not distracted enough to foget about Munich).
For the record, below are the newspapers whose September 25, 2002, front page PMWatch examined. Again,
not a solitary one of them mentioned the massacre of 6 civilians in Gaza the day before.
(To get hold of shots of front pages, go to: http://www.newseum.org )
Please give a call to your newspaper or your favorite media outlet and voice your concern over the fact
that the media is nicely playing right into the hands of Ariel Sharon's tactic. Indeed, it is no
coincidence that aside from Britain's Tony Blair, Ariel Sharon is the one man in the world today who is
egging on Bush to start a war against Iraq as soon as possible. Ask them if they are proud of the fact
they seem to have given up on their journalistic independence and are having war-mongers practically
dicatate their news priorities.
You can give a call to your favorite paper or media outlet at: http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/contact/media.html
For sending a note to letters to the editor, please use:
http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/emailfax/sendemail.asp).
1 Anchorage Daily News - Anchorage, Alaska
2 Anniston Star - Anniston, Ala.
3 Birmingham News - Birmingham, Ala.
4 Arkansas Democrat Gazette - Little Rock, Ark.
5 Arizona Daily Star - Tucson, Ariz.
6 Arizona Republic - Phoenix, Ariz.
7 Los Angeles Times - Los Angeles, Calif.
8 San Diego Union-Tribune - San Diego, Calif.
9 San Jose Mercury News - San Jose, Calif.
10 Denver Post - Denver, Colo.
11 Rocky Mountain News - Denver, Colo.
12 Day - New London, Conn.
13 Hartford Courant - Hartford, Conn.
14 Norwich Bulletin - Norwich, Conn.
15 Washington Post - Washington, D.C.
16 Florida Today - Melbourne, Fla.
17 Miami Herald - Miami, Fla.
18 Nuevo Herald - Miami, Fla.
19 Orlando Sentinel - Orlando, Fla.
20 St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, Fla.
21 Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Atlanta, Ga.
22 Savannah Morning News - Savannah, Ga.
23 Honolulu Advertiser - Honolulu, Hawaii
24 Des Moines Register - Des Moines, Iowa
25 Gazette - Cedar Rapids, Iowa
26 Idaho Statesman - Boise, Idaho
27 Chicago Tribune - Chicago, Ill.
28 Rockford Register Star - Rockford, Ill.
29 State Journal Register - Springfield, Ill.
30 Indianapolis Star - Indianapolis, Ind.
31 Lawrence Journal-World - Lawrence, Kan.
32 Topeka Capital-Journal - Topeka, Kan.
33 Courier-Journal - Louisville, Ky.
34 American Press - Lake Charles, La.
35 Times - Shreveport, La.
36 Times-Picayune - New Orleans, La.
37 Boston Globe - Boston, Mass.
38 Sun - Baltimore, Md.
39 Portland Press Herald - Portland, Maine
40 Sun Journal - Lewiston, Maine
41 Detroit Free Press - Detroit, Mich.
42 Detroit News - Detroit, Mich.
43 Pioneer Press - St. Paul, Minn.
44 Star Tribune - Minneapolis, Minn.
45 Clarion-Ledger - Jackson, Miss.
46 News & Record - Greensboro, N.C.
47 Forum - Fargo, N.D.
48 Concord Monitor - Concord, N.H.
49 Press - Atlantic City, N.J.
50 Star-Ledger - Newark, N.J.
51 Albuquerque Journal - Albuquerque, N.M.
52 Las Vegas Review-Journal - Las Vegas, Nev.
53 Daily News - New York, N.Y.
54 Hoy - New York, N.Y.
55 Journal News - Westchester County, N.Y.
56 New York Post - New York, N.Y.
57 New York Times - New York, N.Y.
58 Newsday - Long Island, N.Y.
59 Times Union - Albany, N.Y.
60 Wall Street Journal - New York, N.Y.
61 Dayton Daily News - Dayton, Ohio
62 Plain Dealer - Cleveland, Ohio
63 Daily Oklahoman - Oklahoma City, Okla.
64 Tulsa World - Tulsa, Okla.
65 Oregonian - Portland, Ore.
66 Statesman Journal - Salem, Ore.
67 Citizens' Voice - Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
68 Philadelphia Inquirer - Philadelphia, Pa.
69 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh, Pa.
70 Providence Journal - Providence, R.I.
71 Post and Courier - Charleston, S.C.
72 Argus Leader - Sioux Falls, S.D.
73 Rapid City Journal - Rapid City, S.D.
74 Chattanooga Times Free Press - Chattanooga, Tenn.
75 Jackson Sun - Jackson, Tenn.
76 Leaf-Chronicle - Clarksville, Tenn.
77 Corpus Christi Caller-Times - Corpus Christi, Texas
78 San Antonio Express-News - San Antonio, Texas
79 Times Record News - Wichita Falls, Texas
80 Deseret News - Salt Lake City, Utah
81 Salt Lake Tribune - Salt Lake City, Utah
82 Richmond Times-Dispatch - Richmond, Va.
83 USA Today - Arlington, Va.
84 Burlington Free Press - Burlington, Vt.
85 Rutland Herald - Rutland, Vt.
86 Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Seattle, Wash.
87 Seattle Times - Seattle, Wash.
88 Sun - Bremerton, Wash.
89 Green Bay Press-Gazette - Green Bay, Wis.
90 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Milwaukee, Wis.
91 Charleston Gazette - Charleston, W. Va.
92 Herald-Dispatch - Huntington, W. Va.
93 Casper Star-Tribune - Casper, Wyo.
94 Wyoming Tribune-Eagle - Cheyenne, Wyo.
For sending a note to letters, use: http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/emailfax/sendemail.asp).
You can also give a call to your favorite paper or media outlet at: http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/contact/media.html
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Gaza raid kills 9; UN says siege must stop
JORDAN TIMES - 09/25/02
GAZA (R) — The Israeli army killed nine Palestinians on Tuesday in one of its biggest raids in the Gaza Strip and faced international isolation over its siege of Yasser Arafat's base after the UN Security Council said it must stop.
The United States abstained in the vote rather than veto it, signalling the growing impatience of Israel's ally and the main Middle East peace-broker. Washington seeks calm in the region and Arab support for its preparations for possible war with Iraq.
In a statement, Arafat said his government welcomed the UN resolution and urged quick implementation.
A senior Israeli official said Israel would comply with it only if Palestinians met their obligations to arrest fighters under the measure. He doubted the Palestinians would do so and said Israel's own compliance was therefore “highly unlikely.”
Dozens of tanks and armoured vehicles backed by helicopter gunships poured into two Gaza City suburbs hours after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the army, having besieged Arafat's offices, could target the Palestinan Islamic movement, Hamas, next.
Gaza is the main power base of Hamas, which has carried out scores of suicide bombings in a two-year-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation, including an attack last week that prompted the siege of Arafat's Ramallah headquarters.
The army said it blew up 13 metal workshops suspected of forming a makeshift weapons factory, as well as the family home of a fighter. The workshop owners denied the allegations.
A military source claims some of the workshops made Qassam rockets, which Hamas has fired from Gaza into Israel.
Gunfights erupt
The raid met fierce resistance and triggered gunfights. Palestinian hospital sources and families said six civilians and three fighters were killed and more than 20 people hurt.
It was the bloodiest day in Gaza since Israel killed Hamas' military commander, his lieutenant and 14 civilians in an air strike on Gaza City on July 23.
Soldiers also razed the two-storey Gaza house belonging to the family of Mohammad Farhat, who killed five people in a Jewish settlement in March before being shot dead.
Israeli media criticised Sharon for doing little to hit Hamas while besieging Arafat in response to two suicide bombings that killed seven people, both claimed by Islamist groups, one of them Hamas, opposed to the Palestinian leader.
Arafat says Israeli military clampdowns have crippled his ability to rein in the resistance.
Troops have demolished most of Arafat's presidential complex since last Thursday and penned him and more than 200 others into a single building as they press demands for the surrender of 50 fighters Israel claims are also holed up inside.
On Tuesday, soldiers shouted through loudspeakers at the Palestinians inside the offices: “Peace be upon you. Turn yourselves in. It is better for you.”
International censure
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution demanding Israel end its siege, using a compromise European text that also called on the Palestinian Authority to bring those responsible for attacks to justice.
Arafat “stressed that the Palestinian Authority is committed to the decision with all its items, and it calls on the international community to compel Israel to implement the withdrawal and end the siege,” his statement said.
An Israeli foreign ministry statement said the decision was positive in “calling for an end to (Palestinian) terror and for putting terrorists on trial” but said the UN demand for an immediate end to its military action was “difficult” to accept.
Raanan Gissin, senior adviser to Sharon, said he did not expect the Palestinian Authority to meet UN demands.
“Since the Palestinian Authority definitely not only is not arresting terrorists but actually aiding and abetting them, then it is highly unlikely that we could unilaterally fulfil our part of the resolution,” Gissin told Reuters.
Jordan urged Israel to comply, saying its siege tactics only prolonged the Middle East “cycle of violence”.
Earlier, the White House said President George W. Bush “views what Israel is doing now as unhelpful to the cause of bringing about reform in Palestinian institutions” before resuming talks on a Palestinian state.
At least 1,564 Palestinians and 600 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian revolt began in September 2000 after US-brokered peace negotiations stalled.
Wednesday, September 25, 2002
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