BBC Buries Palestinian West Bank Violence

[Teddy Bear]

Just a few days ago on Monday, we made the observation here about how the BBC made it MAIN headline news on their Mid-East website that a rabbi had announced that he wished Abbas and all enemies of Israel would disappear.

Then on Tuesday, 4 Israelis including 1 pregnant woman were shot and killed in Hebron by a passing car, a murder that was later claimed by Hamas in an attempt to derail the current peace talks. The BBC ran an article on the story, though the fact that one of the women killed was pregnant was only mentioned way down in the article, and for a time the headline for this story was posted on their Mid-East webpage. I cannot imagine if it would have been a Palestinian pregnant woman that had been killed by Israeli troops that this fact would not have been made clear, if not in the headline, then certainly by the first paragraph.

Now today, Thursday, not only has this murder disappeared from the BBC Mid-East webpage, but another shooting that happened yesterday where an Israeli man and woman were shot in a similar fashion in the west Bank area, does not get it's own article anywhere on the BBC, as it does here on CNN.

The only way you would know of it is from the following article and you can see just where it is placed (underlined by me):

Middle East direct peace talks to begin in earnest
2 September 2010 Last updated at 12:46
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are to begin direct peace talks in Washington later on Thursday.

The talks, hosted by Hillary Clinton at the US State Department, are the first such negotiations in 20 months.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama held separate White House meetings with the leaders, urging them not to let the chance of permanent peace "slip away".

The push for a deal comes amid fresh violence in the West Bank.

On Wednesday, an Israeli man and woman were shot and injured when the car they were travelling in came under fire from another vehicle near the Jewish settlement of Kochav Hashachar, to the east of Ramallah.

The man is in a serious condition in hospital, Israeli officials have said.

The attack came less than 24 hours after another West Bank shooting in which four Israelis were killed.

The militant wing of the Islamist group Hamas has claimed responsibility for both attacks.

If we look at the current snapshot of the BBC Mid-East Page

we can see that the story of the rabbi who wishes for Abbas to 'disappear', as well as another of the fact that some Israel acedemics shun settlements, remain as the top Mid-East stories of the time.

Somebody, somewhere in the BBC, made a conscious decision to get rid of, or not even mention directly, the murder and violence committed by the Palestinians against Israelis, but still felt it necessary to show an opinion of one rabbi and some academics.

Conscious Bias??? - You bet!

[benshi]

As you wrote Teddy, how disturbing it is that the BBC hides the killing of Israelis by Palestinians, whilst if it was Palestinians that were killed no doubt it would be headline news.

Furthermore, like many other Israelis, I am saddened but not surprised to see acts of terror carried out (true to form) by Hamas whilst peace talks are being held in America. This is why I and so many others can't believe there is a genuine Palestinian desire for a peaceful solution.

[Teddy Bear]

What do you imagine the BBC headlines would be if an Israeli had fired upon and injured a Palestinian couple driving by in their car, and the woman was 9 months pregnant?
Probably - Pregnant Palestinian Woman and Husband Shot by Israelis or words to that effect? Something that would immediately make you aware of the callous intent of those doing the shooting against the innocent actions of the victims?

So what do you imagine the headlines are when it's an Israeli woman that was 9 months pregnant and her husband that were shot at by Palestinians?

Well I can tell you - NONE! It doesn't appear on the BBC radar as worthy of its own article.

What the main article is of the BBC Mid-East web-page is this one
Abbas delays peace talks decision
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says there will be no quick decision on whether to continue talks with Israel.

The article then goes on to explain that following the end of a 10 month moratorium by Israel to build in the disputed West Bank territory, the Palestinians are claiming they may reject current peace talks unless Israel renews it.

Somewhere down the bottom of this fairly lengthy article is the mention that
Earlier in the evening, a pregnant Israeli woman and her husband were slightly wounded in a gun attack in the West Bank.

Israeli police said Palestinian gunmen had opened fire on their car south of the city of Hebron. The woman later gave birth in hospital.

Surgeons actually performed a C-Section on Netta Zucker the victim to deliver the baby prior to treating her gunshot wounds to avoid complications. Notice also how getting shot in the leg for the BBC is 'slightly wounded', at least when it's an Israeli. Wonder how they'd feel if it was one of their reporters.

Let's understand something about this clearly:

The reasons that Israel is still building in disputed territory is because for over 60 years the Palestinians have avoided or refused to negotiate a proper peace deal. Instead of attempting to negotiate peacefully, even after being offered 97% of their original land back, they launched an intifada, and have maintained terror attacks ever since.

Somehow they believe they should be rewarded for this, and that Israel will continue to uphold a yet to be agreed territory as if the Palestinians had accepted it, while they give nothing except launch further attacks. In other words Israel should reward them for attacking Israel, and continue to reward them for avoiding reaching a peace agreement.

The BBC narrative would certainly try to convince you that the Palestinian narrative has merit, and that it is Israel that is blocking the peace process. Which is why when an Israeli pregnant woman is shot by Palestinians, this story gets buried.

Here's the article to see how it appears - I'll highlight the part about the shooting:

Palestinian leader Abbas delays decision on peace talks
27 September 2010 Last updated at 14:07
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says there will be no quick decision on whether to continue talks with Israel.

He said he would respond to Israel's lifting the ban on building in West Bank settlements after next week's meeting of Arab leaders in Cairo.

On Sunday, he had warned talks renewed earlier this month would be a "waste of time" unless the ban continued.

The 10-month moratorium came to an end at midnight (2200 GMT on Sunday).

Bulldozers started levelling ground for 50 homes in the settlement of Ariel in the northern West Bank, Israeli media reported, and similar activity was also reported in the settlements of Adam and Oranit. But construction work was expected to be slow because of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

With peace negotiations are in the balance, Mr Abbas is in a difficult position and he may be forced to compromise, says the BBC's Jon Donnison in Ramallah.

Under pressure from the United States, there are signs Palestinian negotiators may accept the moratorium on building is not officially going to be extended, as long as no major construction takes place in the coming weeks and months, our correspondent adds.

'Waste of time'
Speaking at a Paris press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Mr Abbas said he would discuss the settlement issue with Palestinian negotiators in Ramallah on Wednesday, and the 22-member Arab League in Cairo next Monday.

"After all these meetings we may be able to issue a position to clarify what is the Palestinian and Arab opinion on this matter, after Israel has refused to freeze settlements," he said.

As the moratorium expired, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on the Palestinians to continue peace talks, which recently resumed after a 20-month pause and have the strong backing of US President Barack Obama.

"Israel is ready to pursue continuous contacts in the coming days to find a way to continue peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority," he said.

Mr Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said Mr Abbas would spend the next week consulting Arab governments "and will come back to the Palestinian leadership to take the right decision and the right answer, with all what we have from the Americans and the Israelis".

He added that there should be an immediate halt to settlement activity.

If they see that the extent of construction in the West Bank has been limited, that might be enough to keep them at the table, says our correspondent.

In his statement, Mr Netanyahu made no direct mention of the issue of the settlement freeze.

But he maintained that it was possible "to achieve a historic framework accord within a year".

He had earlier urged settlers "to display restraint and responsibility".

Some Jewish settlers celebrated the end of the construction ban.

At the settlement of Revava, near the Palestinian town of Deir Itsia, they released balloons and broke ground for a new nursery school before the moratorium expired.

Earlier in the evening, a pregnant Israeli woman and her husband were slightly wounded in a gun attack in the West Bank.

Israeli police said Palestinian gunmen had opened fire on their car south of the city of Hebron. The woman later gave birth in hospital.

Compromise deal

Meanwhile, the US has renewed calls for Israel to maintain the construction freeze, saying its position on the issue remained unchanged and the US state department was staying "in close touch" with all parties.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to Mr Netanyahu and also to Tony Blair, the representative of the Middle East Quartet (the EU, Russia, the UN and US), as the end of the construction freeze neared, a spokesman said.

Israel says the settlements are no bar to continuing direct talks on key issues, and US negotiators have been working intensively to secure a deal.

Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza, is strongly opposed to the talks.

On Saturday, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told the BBC he would attempt to convince government colleagues of a compromise deal, and said the chances of a deal on the issue were "50/50".

It is estimated that about 2,000 housing units in the West Bank already have approval and settler leaders say they plan to resume construction as soon as possible.

The partial moratorium on new construction was agreed by Israel in November 2009 under pressure from Washington.

It banned construction in the West Bank, occupied by Israel since the Middle East war of 1967, but never applied to settlements in East Jerusalem.

US President Barack Obama has urged Israel to extend the moratorium, saying it "made a difference on the ground, and improved the atmosphere for talks".

Nearly half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are held to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.