Palestine Media Watch -- Spread the Palestinian point of view

Palestine Media Watch

Tell CNN that Israel does in fact deliberately target civilians

PMWATCH -- July 5, 2002 -- In his July 3, 2002, interview with PBS's NewsHour, Eason Jordan of CNN stated the following:

EASON JORDAN: [....] while it's disputable whether Israel is targeting civilians, there's certainly no irrefutable evidence of that in the territories. There's no doubt that suicide bombers are going into Israel and intentionally killing civilians at random. ( see http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec02/media_7-3.html )

While it is indeed not disputable that suicide bombers do target civilians, it is however equally not disputable that the IDF often does also target civilians.

(1) "The BBC has obtained video footage which appears to show an incident in the West Bank city of Jenin two weeks ago in which two Palestinian children were killed by Israeli tank fire.... the footage shows a tank firing the first of two shells, at close range, at a group of civilians who are running away. "Jenin deaths video implicates army" - BBC - July 5, 2002 -- See also a July 7, 2002, article by Gideon Levy: "Buried with chocolate in his hand" - Haaretz

(2) In his "A Gaza Diary", published in the October, 2001, issue of Harper's Magazine, and in his October 30, 2001 Fresh Air interview at NPR, New York Times journalist Chris hedges said:

And I walked out towards the dunes and they were--the--over the loudspeaker from an Israeli army Jeep on the other side of the electric fence they were taunting these kids. And these kids started to throw rocks. And most of these kids were 10, 11, 12 years old. And, first of all, the rocks were the size of a fist. They were being hurled towards a Jeep that was armor-plated. I doubt they could even hit the Jeep. And then I watched the soldiers open fire. And it was--I mean, I've seen kids shot in Sarajevo. I mean, snipers would shoot kids in Sarajevo. I've seen death squads kill families in Algeria or El Salvador. But I'd never seen soldiers bait or taunt kids like this and then shoot them for sport. It was--I just--even now, I find it almost inconceivable. And I went back every day, and every day it was the same.
[Full transcript: http://64.226.129.19/pmw/manager/features/display_message.asp?mid=487 ]

(3) Human Rights Watch has repeatedly condemned Israel for using civilians as "human shields", and Israel has officially acknowledged that it has done so routinely.("Israel: Decision to Stop Use of "Human Shields" Welcomed http://hrw.org/press/2002/05/israel0509.htm")

(4) Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called the actions of the IDF in the Occupied Territorie, "War Crimes". Here is a quote from their report on Jenin: "Human Rights Watch identified fifty-two Palestinians who were killed during the operation, of whom twenty-two were civilians. Many of the civilians were killed willfully or unlawfully. Human Rights Watch also found that the IDF used Palestinian civilians as 'human shields' and used indiscriminate and excessive force during the operation." (Israel/Occupied Territories: Jenin War Crimes Investigation Needed Human Rights Watch Report Finds Laws of War Violations http://hrw.org/press/2002/05/jenin0503.htm )

(5) A joint statement given by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists, on April 7, 2002, in the wake of the Jenin invasion by the IDF, read in part: "Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists want to send a clear, unambiguous message to all parties to this conflict, and to the international community. Stop the deliberate targeting of civilians and other persons protected by international humanitarian law." It went on to say: "In entire cities and towns, ambulances and emergency medical services have ground to a halt. Medical workers and ambulances have been fired upon. The wounded have been denied access to medical treatment; Palestinians have been killed attempting to reach hospitals for routine medical care. Such abuses raise not simply humanitarian issues: they are serious violations of international humanitarian law." (Joint Statement Given in Jerusalem: April 7, 2002 with Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists http://hrw.org/press/2002/04/isrstmnt040702.htm)

(6) In an open letter addressed to leaders of U.S., E.U., Israel, P.A., and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (July 6, 2001), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called for the dispatch of international human rights monitors (even while Israel objected) because of the continuing killing of civilians. (http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/07/isr-0706-ltr.htm

"The clashes between Israelis and Palestinians since October 2000 have been marked by systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Civilians have been the main victims of the violence, and an immediate priority must be to bring such violations to an end. At least 470 Palestinians have been killed, most of them unlawfully by Israeli security forces when their lives and the lives of others were not in danger. More than 120 Israelis have been killed, most of them civilians deliberately targeted by armed groups and individuals. The death toll includes more than 130 children.
2- In a report dated March 14, 2002 (Shooting at Ambulances & IDF Impediments to medical treatment) from the Israeli Human Rights group Btselem, taken from their website http://www.btselem.org/ :

"Over the past two weeks (28 February - 13 March), the intentional attacks on medical teams and the prevention of medical teams from treating the sick and wounded have been almost unprecedented. IDF soldiers have fired at ambulances, killing five Palestinian medical personnel who were on duty, wounded several members of ambulance medical teams, and damaging the ambulances. In addition, the IDF prevented medical treatment to the sick and wounded, even leaving people to bleed to death. Hospitals have been unable to function because of the damage to the electricity, water, and telephone infrastructure, and the blocking of access to some of them. As a result, the hospitals are unable to receive the wounded and sick, or obtain food and medicine."

"These violations are an integral part of Israeli policy and are accompanied by other grave practices. The matters described in this report are another indication of the IDF's total loss of restraint."

(7) In a report from Physicians for Human Rights - USA: http://www.phrusa.org/research/forensics/israel/Israel_force.html

"Physicians for Human Rights USA (PHR) finds that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has used live ammunition and rubber bullets excessively and inappropriately to control demonstrators, and that based on the high number of documented injuries to the head and thighs, Israeli soldiers appear to be shooting to inflict harm, rather than solely in self-defense."

"PHR's analysis of fatal gun shot wounds in Gaza reveals that approximately 50% were to the head. This high proportion of fatal head wounds suggests that given broad rules of engagement, soldiers are specifically aiming at peoples' heads.

(8) Corroborating the report of PHR-USA above, here are excerpts from the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, in a report written by Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, titled "The Message from High Command" , dated February 10, 2002:

"An 11-year-old boy was shot in the head from short range while fleeing after he threw stones at Israeli soldiers who were posted at the roadblock next to the refugee camp where he lives. That is the version given by eye-witnesses. It took the boy a week to die, .."

"A 15-year-old boy threw stones at a tank that was besieging the headquarters of a national leader. A soldier shot him in the head from short range, killing him."

"A soldier in an undercover unit gave hot pursuit to a boy of about nine who had been throwing stones, shot him from behind and killed him."

(9) In a testimony from a soldier who operated a bulldozer in the Jenin refugee camp and published by the Israeli paper Yediot Aharanot on May 31, 2002: (http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/kurdi_eng.html)

"No one refused an order to take down a house. When they told me to destroy a house I exploited that in order to destroy a few more homes. On the loudspeaker [the Palestinian residents] were warned to get out before I came in. But I didn't give a chance to anyone. I didn't wait. I'm sure that people died inside of those houses. From my perspective we left them a football field, they should play there. The 100x100 was our present to the camp. Jenin will not return to be what it was." [Note: After publication - and in spite of it - the unit to which the man belongs received from the army command an official citation for outstanding service. Details can be seen at link above.]

Please make sure you read the original call at: http://www.pmwatch.org/pmw/cast/cnnbias2.asp

Please let CNN know that we will not rest, and will escalate our protests, until we get exactly those two things. Anything short of that is not acceptable.

Palestine Media Watch
http://www.pmwatch.org

=================================================

If your organization wishes to sponsor this call, please send an email to:
aps@atlanta4palestine.org or to ahmed_bouzid@yahoo.com

Original call issued JUNE 24, 2002
Latest update, JULY 4, 2002

CNN: TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT VICTIMS OF TERROR!

CNN (Cable News Network LP, LLLP.) has bowed to political and financial 
pressure from Israel and its supporters in the US after the recent comments 
made by Ted Turner on the situation in the Middle-East. CNN has responded by 
producing a five-part documentary series called Victims of Terror. The 
program considers ONLY Israelis to be victims of terrorism. CNN has also 
developed extensive on-line resources about Israeli victims that notably 
ignore the innocent deaths on the Palestinian side. Palestinian deaths rate 
no mention.

According to the Palestine Red Crescent Society in a report released 
6/24/02, there has been a total of 1,626 Palestinian deaths, and 19, 549 
injuries since September of 2000. Of those killed directly by Israeli 
attacks more than 234 have been under the age of 18.

CNN has compromised the most basic journalistic standard of BALANCE. Are
Palestinians lesser humans? Do not Palestinians bleed too?

CNN News MUST be honest and fair. CNN must cover Palestinian victims of
Israeli attacks by immediately providing its viewers:

** A full and complete tally of every single Palestinian child, woman, and 
elderly man killed by the Israeli army and settlers.

** A five-part series on the Palestinian victims of terror.

DEMONSTRATE FOR FAIR AND HONEST COVERAGE OF THE WAR ON PALESTINE

WE DEMAND EQUAL COVERAGE FOR ALL VICTIMS

Bring your friends, neighbors, and family. CNN must understand we are its 
public and we will not stand by silently.

Directions: From I-75/85, exit on International Blvd. exit (248 C), turn
left on International Blvd, then take another left onto Centennial Olympic 
Park Drive. Cross over Marietta Street -- CNN Center is on your right. 
(Parking available in surrounding areas) MAP:
http://www.cnn.com/StudioTour/directions.html

Sponsored by: Atlanta Palestine Solidarity, Al-Awda, Palestine Right to
Return Coalition, Palestine Media Watch, International Action Center, 
Students Organizing for Justice at Georgia Tech, Refuse & Resist-Atlanta, 
and the Green Party of Chatham County.

Atlanta Palestine Solidarity and other local groups hold a weekly protest 
against the Israeli occupation every Monday from 4:30-6:00PM at the Israeli 
consulate (1100 Spring St.)

ENDORSING ORGANIZATIONS

Atlanta Palestine Solidarity
Al-Awda-Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Palestine Media Watch
International Action Center
Students Organizing for Justice at Georgia Tech
Refuse & Resist-Atlanta
Green Party of Chatham County
Association for Socially Minded Americans (A.S.M.A.)
Palestine Solidarity Committee (Seattle)
Palestine Human Rights Campaign
Islamic Association of Palestine
Islamic Society of Atlanta
ADC-Georgia Chapter
Forum of India Leftists
Al-Bushra ( http://www.al-bushra.org )
Arab-American Christians for Peace (AACP) San Francisco
People for Justice and Peace
Arab-American Catholic Community of San Francisco
Jerusalem.org ( http://www.Jerusalem.org )
Nazareth.net 
Bethlehem Families
Bir-Zeit Society
JAA, Jordanian American Association
Jifnah Club
Ramallah Club
Sahel Club
St. Thomas More Arab American Catholic Community
St. George Orthodox Church, SF
St. George Orthodox Church, Sta. Rosa
St. James Orthodox Church, San Jose
St. John of God, Justice and Peace Committee
St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, SF
Taybeh Association
Delaware Valley Justice
Playgrounds for Palestine

Your email address
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Your letter (1) "The BBC has obtained video footage which appears to show an incident in the West Bank city of Jenin two weeks ago in which two Palestinian children were killed by Israeli tank fire.... the footage shows a tank firing the first of two shells, at close range, at a group of civilians who are running away. "Jenin deaths video implicates army" - BBC - July 5, 2002 - (http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_2102000/2102081.stm) See also a July 7, 2002 article by Gideon Levy: "Buried with chocolate in his hand" - http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=182987&contrassID=2&subContrassID=14&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y (2) In his "A Gaza Diary", published in the October, 2001, issue of Harper's Magazine, and in his October 30, 2001 Fresh Air interview at NPR, New York Times journalist Chris hedges said: And I walked out towards the dunes and they were--the--over the loudspeaker from an Israeli army Jeep on the other side of the electric fence they were taunting these kids. And these kids started to throw rocks. And most of these kids were 10, 11, 12 years old. And, first of all, the rocks were the size of a fist. They were being hurled towards a Jeep that was armor-plated. I doubt they could even hit the Jeep. And then I watched the soldiers open fire. And it was--I mean, I've seen kids shot in Sarajevo. I mean, snipers would shoot kids in Sarajevo. I've seen death squads kill families in Algeria or El Salvador. But I'd never seen soldiers bait or taunt kids like this and then shoot them for sport. It was--I just--even now, I find it almost inconceivable. And I went back every day, and every day it was the same. [Full transcript: http://64.226.129.19/pmw/manager/features/display_message.asp?mid=487 ] (3) Human Rights Watch has repeatedly condemned Israel for using civilians as "human shields", and Israel has officially acknowledged that it has done so routinely.("Israel: Decision to Stop Use of "Human Shields" Welcomed http://hrw.org/press/2002/05/israel0509.htm") (4) Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly called the actions of the IDF in the Occupied Territorie, "War Crimes". Here is a quote from their report on Jenin: "Human Rights Watch identified fifty-two Palestinians who were killed during the operation, of whom twenty-two were civilians. Many of the civilians were killed willfully or unlawfully. Human Rights Watch also found that the IDF used Palestinian civilians as 'human shields' and used indiscriminate and excessive force during the operation." (Israel/Occupied Territories: Jenin War Crimes Investigation Needed Human Rights Watch Report Finds Laws of War Violations http://hrw.org/press/2002/05/jenin0503.htm ) (5) A joint statement given by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the International Commission of Jurists, on April 7, 2002, in the wake of the Jenin invasion by the IDF, read in part: "Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists want to send a clear, unambiguous message to all parties to this conflict, and to the international community. Stop the deliberate targeting of civilians and other persons protected by international humanitarian law." It went on to say: "In entire cities and towns, ambulances and emergency medical services have ground to a halt. Medical workers and ambulances have been fired upon. The wounded have been denied access to medical treatment; Palestinians have been killed attempting to reach hospitals for routine medical care. Such abuses raise not simply humanitarian issues: they are serious violations of international humanitarian law." (Joint Statement Given in Jerusalem: April 7, 2002 with Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists http://hrw.org/press/2002/04/isrstmnt040702.htm) (6) In an open letter addressed to leaders of U.S., E.U., Israel, P.A., and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (July 6, 2001), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch called for the dispatch of international human rights monitors (even while Israel objected) because of the continuing killing of civilians. (http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/07/isr-0706-ltr.htm "The clashes between Israelis and Palestinians since October 2000 have been marked by systematic violations of international human rights and humanitarian law. Civilians have been the main victims of the violence, and an immediate priority must be to bring such violations to an end. At least 470 Palestinians have been killed, most of them unlawfully by Israeli security forces when their lives and the lives of others were not in danger. More than 120 Israelis have been killed, most of them civilians deliberately targeted by armed groups and individuals. The death toll includes more than 130 children. 2- In a report dated March 14, 2002 (Shooting at Ambulances & IDF Impediments to medical treatment) from the Israeli Human Rights group Btselem, taken from their website http://www.btselem.org/ : "Over the past two weeks (28 February - 13 March), the intentional attacks on medical teams and the prevention of medical teams from treating the sick and wounded have been almost unprecedented. IDF soldiers have fired at ambulances, killing five Palestinian medical personnel who were on duty, wounded several members of ambulance medical teams, and damaging the ambulances. In addition, the IDF prevented medical treatment to the sick and wounded, even leaving people to bleed to death. Hospitals have been unable to function because of the damage to the electricity, water, and telephone infrastructure, and the blocking of access to some of them. As a result, the hospitals are unable to receive the wounded and sick, or obtain food and medicine." "These violations are an integral part of Israeli policy and are accompanied by other grave practices. The matters described in this report are another indication of the IDF's total loss of restraint." (7) In a report from Physicians for Human Rights - USA: http://www.phrusa.org/research/forensics/israel/Israel_force.html "Physicians for Human Rights USA (PHR) finds that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) has used live ammunition and rubber bullets excessively and inappropriately to control demonstrators, and that based on the high number of documented injuries to the head and thighs, Israeli soldiers appear to be shooting to inflict harm, rather than solely in self-defense." "PHR's analysis of fatal gun shot wounds in Gaza reveals that approximately 50% were to the head. This high proportion of fatal head wounds suggests that given broad rules of engagement, soldiers are specifically aiming at peoples' heads. (8) Corroborating the report of PHR-USA above, here are excerpts from the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz, in a report written by Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, titled "The Message from High Command" , dated February 10, 2002: "An 11-year-old boy was shot in the head from short range while fleeing after he threw stones at Israeli soldiers who were posted at the roadblock next to the refugee camp where he lives. That is the version given by eye-witnesses. It took the boy a week to die, .." "A 15-year-old boy threw stones at a tank that was besieging the headquarters of a national leader. A soldier shot him in the head from short range, killing him." "A soldier in an undercover unit gave hot pursuit to a boy of about nine who had been throwing stones, shot him from behind and killed him." (9) In a testimony from a soldier who operated a bulldozer in the Jenin refugee camp and published by the Israeli paper Yediot Aharanot on May 31, 2002: (http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/kurdi_eng.html) "No one refused an order to take down a house. When they told me to destroy a house I exploited that in order to destroy a few more homes. On the loudspeaker [the Palestinian residents] were warned to get out before I came in. But I didn't give a chance to anyone. I didn't wait. I'm sure that people died inside of those houses. From my perspective we left them a football field, they should play there. The 100x100 was our present to the camp. Jenin will not return to be what it was." [Note: After publication - and in spite of it - the unit to which the man belongs received from the army command an official citation for outstanding service. Details can be seen at link above.]

Background / CNN blinks first in battle with Israeli officials

June 23, 2002

By Peter Hirschberg, Ha'aretz Correspondent

After months of gnawing agitation over what they perceive as the pro-Palestinian bias of the international media, Israeli officials, and not a small portion of the public, were able to rub their hands with some glee Sunday as the mighty CNN news network appeared to be succumbing to the latest round of anti-media pique in Israel.

After the founder of the 24-hour news network, Ted Turner, last week described IDF actions in the West Bank as "terrorism," and reports emerged Sunday that the YES satellite company was considering taking CNN off the air as a result, the Atlanta-based company hastily dispatched a high-level official to Jerusalem.

Over the weekend, it also suddenly began airing a promo for a five-part series on the Israeli victims of Palestinian suicide bombings. "A special CNN series will take you inside everyday life in Israel and introduce you to the people whose lives are turned around by the fear and the violence," the promo announces. "In part one - living the nightmare of losing a loved one."

Ahead of his scheduled Sunday evening meeting with Eason Jordan, CNN's chief news executive, Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin announced that he would not object if Israel's cable companies submitted a request to remove the BBC - considered by many Israelis to be the most hostile of the TV networks - and CNN from the basic broadcasting package, with the stations being offered only to those viewers willing to pay extra for them. Later, Rivlin said the satellite broadcaster YES was in fact planning to submit a request to the Cable and Satellite TV Council to cease airing the BBC and CNN.

"CNN's reports are not only anti-Israeli but also encourage terrorism," Rivlin said. "If Turner had made these foolish remarks in Israel, he would have been declared persona non grata, and we are considering what to do about the network's correspondents."

Seizing the opportunity, other politicians also weighed into the international media Sunday, with Tommy Lapid venting his wrath on the British press - considered by many Israelis to be the most antagonistic toward the Jewish state. "Newspapers like the Independent and the Guardian are working in the service of the Hamas," Lapid remarked.

IDF spokesman Ron Kitri insisted all the networks were guilty of uncritically presenting the Palestinian viewpoint. "When Saeb Erekat accused Israel [on CNN] of massacring 500 Palestinians in Jenin, no questions were asked," he said. "But when we said that a few dozen were killed, we were immediately asked to back up our claim."

While Kitri said he was opposed to pulling the plug on CNN and BBC, he did offer alternative punitive measures: "If I have an exclusive interview to offer," he said, "I can give it to one network and not to another."

The YES satellite company denied the reports Sunday it was planning to submit a request to the Cable and Satellite TV Council to cease airing the BBC and CNN stations, but immediately after Turner's comments were published last week, it did add Fox News - perceived by many to be unabashedly pro-Israel - to its menu of news stations.

Army Radio ran a recorded section from a Fox program in an effort to illustrate the contrast between Fox and CNN: "Two suicide bombings in Israel in the last two days," announced the anchor. "Where do the people who do these horrible deeds get the money to do these horrible deeds?"

For all the refined talk about journalistic ethics and balance, it also emerged Sunday that the cable companies acute sensitivity to the public's dislike of the news networks coverage appears to have a strong economic component - their sense that they are paying CNN an astronomical sum for broadcast rights. "We pay CNN millions of dollars every year," said Ran Belnikov, the director-general of the cable companies. "This sum is over the top and unjustified." Belnikov did submit, though, that linking the two issue "might be a little problematic."

CNN's Jordan, though, did pick up some ammunition over the weekend which he might well choose to utilize in his meeting with Rivlin. In his meetings with Palestinian officials over the weekend, he discovered, residents in the West Bank appear to be as peeved with CNN as their Israeli counterparts.

Asked about how he views CNN coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Ahmed Sief, a lecturer in communications at Bir Zeit University, offered an explanation that sounded uncannily like the Palestinian version of Rivlin: "CNN covers the Israeli point of view and tends to ignore the suffering of the Palestinian people. The Palestinian side is considered less important from the news point of view and the language of the broadcast is pro-Israeli.

The Guardian article is below. The link, if you'd find it useful, is http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4435748,00.html

------------------------------

CNN Chief accuses Israel of Terror

Oliver Burkeman in New York and Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem

Tuesday June 18, 2002

The Guardian

Ted Turner, the billionaire founder of CNN, accuses Israel today of engaging in "terrorism" against the Palestinians, in comments that threaten to lead to a further decline in the news network's already poor relations with the Jewish state.

"Aren't the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?" says Turner, who is vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.

"The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism."

His remarks were last night condemned by Ariel Sharon's government, which called them "stupid". Andrea Levin, director of the American pro-Israeli media watchdog Camera, said the comments were a "reprehensible" attempt to "blur the line between perpetrator and victim".

In his first British interview since the September 11 attacks, Mr Turner - who broke philanthropic records in 1997 when he donated $1bn to the UN - argues that poverty and desperation are the root cause of Palestinian suicide bombings.

But Daniel Seaman, a spokesman for the Israeli government, said: "My only advice to Ted Turner is if people assume you are stupid, it is just best to keep your mouth shut rather than open your mouth and confirm everyone in that view."

Mr Turner also admits that he was wrong to call the September 11 hijackers "brave" in a speech in Rhode Island that sparked outrage. "I made an unfortunate choice of words," he says, adding that his ownership of the Atlanta Braves baseball team meant the word was never far from his mind. "Look, I'm a very good thinker, but I sometimes grab the wrong word ... I mean, I don't type my speeches, then sit up there and read them off the teleprompter, you know. I wing it."

Mr Turner is moved to tears at one point in the interview by the "depressing" combination of conflicts like that in the Middle East and the state of the environment, which he says demands massive global attention - "or, you know ... it's goodbye".

A senior minister in Yasser Arafat's cabinet told the Guardian he welcomed Mr Turner's comments. Many Palestinians complain just as bitterly of a pro-Israeli bias in CNN's coverage - mocking it as the "Zionist News Network" - as Israel complains of a pro-Palestinian one.

"I feel it reflects a more consistent approach," said Ghassan Khatib, Mr Arafat's newly appointed labour minister and until recently director of the Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre, a Palestinian media monitoring unit.

"One of the problems in trying to reduce the violence has been the focus of so much international attention on Israeli rather than Palestinian civilian deaths, although four times as many Palestinians have been killed."

CNN has been a punchbag for both sides. A widespread perception of bias among some Israelis and US supporters of Israel has prompted several boycotts by pressure groups, urging viewers to switch to Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel. But three months ago, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Mr Arafat slammed down the phone after accusing her of anti-Palestinian bias. "You are covering with these questions the terrorist activities of the Israeli occupation and the Israeli crimes," he said. "Be quiet. Be fair. Thank you, bye-bye."

June 23. Israeli radio 7 a.m. report:

The chief news executive and news gathering president of CNN cable television network, Eason Jordan, will meet with Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin today. He will hear from Rivlin about Israel's complaints regarding the nature of the coverage the network gives to events in Israel. Jordan said that that CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer was assigned the preparation of a five part series on the victims of terror attacks Israel. Yesterday, Minister Rivlin said that he would not object to taking CNN off the air, if he receives such a request for financial reasons or according to requests by viewers. He said that the Yes satellite company is about to submit a request to the Cable and Satellite Broadcast Board to remove BBC's news channel from its basic viewing package. In a radio interview, the communications minister said that should he receive such a request, BBC executives will be called in for a hearing, and his ministry would not object to removing the channel. Rivlin said he would consider allowing people who wish to watch the channels to pay for it separately.

LISTENING TO VIEWERS

CNN: WE WON'T BROADCAST PALESTINIANS' SUICIDE TAPES

Ma'ariv (p. 12) by Hagai Krauss and Gabby Kessler -- Executives at CNN have asked the correspondent Wolf Blitzer to prepare a series of programs that will present the stories of five families who were hurt by terrorism.

CNN executives are deeply concerned about the public mood in Israel regarding their coverage of events in Israel and the territories. Network executives have taken very seriously the threats by the cable companies to stop broadcasting their channel in Israel, claiming that such a measure would be in response to viewers' requests.

The director of the network's news division, Eason Jordan, is to arrive in Israel today. Jordan is to meet with media and public relations executives in Israel in the course of his urgent meetings. The reason for his visit is the complaint about a lack of objectivity in the network's coverage of the events and the statements made by the founder of the network, Ted Turner, who equated between IDF activity in the territories and the suicide bombers. Jordan is also to meet with Communications Minister Ruby Rivlin this evening. Rivlin said yesterday that the possibility of taking the BBC off the air was also being examined. He said that any subscriber to cable television would be able to receive the BBC as part of a package.

Prior to his departure, Jordan announced that CNN would not broadcast any more video cassettes left behind by Palestinian suicide bombers before their mission. Jordan said: a distinction needs to be made between being fair and being balanced when youre talking about terror. Naturally, all the parties need to be given an opportunity to be heard, but we won't give terrorists and their supporters the same air time we give the victims of terror, said Jordan.

Jordan instructed his editors not to broadcast the tapes left behind by suicide bombers or the reactions of their relatives unless there is an unusual reason. CNN officials said that similar instructions were received about bin Laden's tapes.

The satellite television operator, Yes, began to air Fox News on Thursday. Fox is considered to be pro-Israel and is particularly appreciated by American Jews. Fox is considered to be CNN's most bitter enemy and, for the first time since going on the air in 1996, last January its ratings exceeded those of CNN.

RIVLIN TO WORLD JEWRY: BOYCOTT CNN

Yedioth Ahronoth (p. 11) by Eran Hadas and Itamar Eichner -- Communications Minister Ruby Rivlin called this weekend on the Jews of the world and on anyone with a conscience to boycott CNN, to refrain from advertising on it and to refrain from paying subscription fees to watch it.

"The network's broadcasts are hostile to Israel. Its position vis-a-vis Israel is immoral and it does not meet journalistic criteria," Rivlin told Yedioth Ahronoth.

Rivlin said that he asked all the government ministers to agree to be interviewed by CNN only in live broadcasts so that the network will not be able to edit the statements and distort them.