CODED MESSAGES BELY PALESTINIAN 'CONDEMNATION' OF TERROR
By Michael Widlanski * 25 December 2003 11:00 PM

Several Israeli media outlets reported that Yasser Arafat's Palestinian
Authority condemned the Palestinian human bomb attack tonight north of Tel
Aviv.

But the truth is a little different.

Neither Voice of Palestine Radio nor Palestinian State television reported
the "condemnation," and VOP radio--which is directly supervised by Arafat--
referred to man who set off the bomb as a "heroic martyr."

He was described as having "died a heroic martyr's death" (Arabic:
istash-hada, tenth form reflexive verb for martyrdom). Occasionally the
Paletinian media have used more neutral terms to describe the deaths of
human bombers, but not in this case.
Describing the "martyrdom" of the human bomber in its 10-PM news was not
unique during the Christmas Day broadcasts of Voice of Palestine.

Another Palestinian, who blew up while preparing a car bomb Wednesday night
(Christmas Eve) was characterized throughout Thursday's broadcasts as having
died a heroic martyr's death. (VOP 2PM Akhbar al-Yom news magazine show).
So do Yasser Arafat and his hand-picked prime minister Ahmad Qrei'a (also
known by his kunya, Arabic nickname, Abu 'Ala) really condemn terror
attacks?

In fact the "condemnation" appeared as part of a big headline on the
PA/PLO-controlled Palestinian news agency known as WAFA (Arabic: Wikalat
al-Anba al-Filistiniyya:Palestinian News Agency), but the heart of the
article in Arabic is an extreme denunciation of Israeli "massacres,"
"crimes" and "atrocities."
(See www.wafa.pna.net/AraText/25-12-2003/page052.htm )

Although the article, in line 11, says the "Palestinian Leadership
repudiates and condemns all attacks on civilians be they Israeli or
Palestinian," its tone is far more condemnatory of Israeli attacks on HAMAS,
Jihad and FATAH car bomb makers whose deaths are also treated as Israeli
atrocities.

Indeed, the language of the WAFA statement clearly leaves the door open for
attacking Israeli civilians "beyond the Green Line" as well as all men and
women in Israeli army or police uniforms.

In fact, Palestinian radio and Palestinian television openly encourage
attacks against Israeli soldiers, policemen and "settlers" by using songs,
coded language and film montages enticing young boys to gain entrance to
paradise by becoming martyrs in the struggle against Israeli occupation.

* Michael Widlanski, a specialist in Palestinian communications, teaches at
Hebrew University's Rothberg School, and he recently completed eight years
of research on the Palestinian mass media.