Friday, April 02, 2010

Palestinian journalists in trouble ... from Hamas and Fatah

The Jerusalem Post reports that "Palestinian journalists who last week met with their Israeli colleagues and an IDF spokesman in Tel Aviv have come under fire from both Hamas and Fatah." - Palestinian reporters urged to 'repent' . The journalists are facing expulsion from the Fatah-controlled Palestinian Journalists Syndicate on charges of "promoting normalization with Israel."

Strangely enough, that's what the Palestine Authority, controlled by Fatah, is supposed to be doing if the Barack Obama inspired proximity talks ever get under way.

And it's interesting to note that the memberships of the various official and semi official groups of Palestinian journalists that are proposing to punish the "offenders" including the quaintly named "Democratic Press Association" are the same journalists who provided much of the information which the foreign news media relied upon for its news from the region during Operation Cast Lead. This suggests that was was relied upon was not particularly reliable.

But what the heck. As long as it's cricitcal of the Israelis, it serves the agendas of many in the news media.

Don't therefore, hold your breath waiting to read some words of support for Gazan reporters Lana Shaheen, Mueen al-Hilu and Abdel Salam Abu Askar from the likes of Jason Koutsoukis.

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