What could possibly drive the escalating Arab arguments about the Saddam execution off the top of the agenda? Hmmm. Hey, I know - how about an Israeli attack on Ramallah?
al-Jazeera screen capture live from Ramallah
Not clear what's happening yet - reports include bombing, Israeli forces "storming" the city and grabbing some 'wanted' people off the street; eleven reported wounded so far, no deaths reported yet but two in critical condition. Looks like more than a minor skirmish, we'll see how much more. (And on the very day that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert was due to meet Hosni Mubarak in Egypt for the first time since June to discuss restarting the peace process, no less.) Both al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya were initially covering it heavily and live, although al-Arabiya has now moved to other things while al-Jazeera is sticking with its full crisis-mode live coverage. Not a word about it currently appears on either Yahoo News or Google News front pages... just one more example of the different news priorities in the American and Arab media (it hasn't made the Al-Jazeera English homepage yet either).
One interesting point: al-Jazeera is describing Israeli clashes with "the Palestinian Resistance (al-muqawima al-filastiniya)" - no faction identified, not described as "with Hamas" or "with Palestinian security forces." After months of escalating Fatah-Hamas violence, this is kind of interesting - transposing a frame from the Hezbollah-Israel war.
UPDATE: ah, here's the story: "Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen exchanged heavy fire in downtown Ramallah on Thursday after undercover Israeli forces tried to arrest fugitives in the city's vegetable market." Let's just say that al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya were both treating it as slightly more dramatic than it appears in this account.
Don't know how this incursion into Fatah-controlled West Bank (vs. Hamas-controlled Gaza)is supposed to shore up Fatah. Hasn't it done the opposite?
Anyway, Corriere della Sera, bottom of Page 1
Israeli raid, four dead in Ramallah
Four Palestinians were killed during an incursion by the Israeli Army into Ramallah on the West Bank, where there were violent clashes. Three of the dead were 20 year-olds. The battle between the men of Tsahal and Arab militants wounded 25, including a photographer, who is in critical condition. Most were wounded as they tossed stones at the Israelis. The operation was initiated to support a group of special forces who had launched a raid to capture some wanted men near the market.
Repubblica, headline
Israeli incursion into Ramallah, 4 dead 20 wounded.
Yussef Abdel Khader, Khalil al-Badawi, Ala al-Himran and a fourth person, whose identity has not been revealed, were shot by the Israeli Army in Ramallah Hospital.
In the center of town powerful blasts were heard and traffic was paralyzed when Israeli troops aboard dozens of trucks and several bulldozers, entered Manara Square. They were supported by two military helicopters which fired on protesters.
In Parliament, Mustafa Barghuit declared the raid to be "unprecedented". Israeli sources said the helicopter fired on the crowd to keep it away. Soldiers entered offices and during the raid met determined resistance from the Palestinians.
Posted by: Nur al-Cubicle | January 04, 2007 at 01:05 PM
Acording to Ha'Aretz, the target of the raid was Rabiah Hamad, who was wounded but not captured.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/809619.html
Both Ha'Aretz Hebrew site and Yediot Aharonot have it as the lead story.
Posted by: Alan | January 04, 2007 at 01:21 PM
Let's just say that al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya were both treating it as slightly more dramatic than it appears in this account.
Yes, and so have you been, Aardvark :)
Not a word about it currently appears on either Yahoo News or Google News front pages... just one more example of the different news priorities in the American and Arab media
Violence in the Palestinian territories is not very newsworthy in the US anymore. Especially on the day when a new congress is being seated, and most especially when it's the first time democrats have controlled congress in over 10 years.
I'd rather see you asking why the Arab media has been downplaying any violence in Iraq that doesn't involve US forces for the last 3+ years. Don't you think that's a question that really should be answered? Isn't that the very heart and soul of the problems the Middle-East is facing? Some sort of perverse and twisted Arab nationalism that ignores any amount of misconduct if the perpetrators are Arab, but propagandizes to the point of outright fiction any mis-step made by the West?
Posted by: Craig | January 04, 2007 at 02:50 PM
Craig,
How do YOU know if they'd been downplaying the violence in Iraq that doesn't involve US forces? Might one ask why the media in the US doesn't cover crime that doesn't involve black people?
Posted by: hk | January 04, 2007 at 03:18 PM
How do YOU know if they'd been downplaying the violence in Iraq that doesn't involve US forces?
Because, I'm not an idiot and I have eyes and ears? Honestly, this is a silly question, hk. A bullshit question. Do you really believe everyone in the west is completely ignorant?
Might one ask why the media in the US doesn't cover crime that doesn't involve black people?
You have stated this exactly opposite to reality. Should come as no surprise, eh? :)
The only crimes that make the news in America anymore are either spectacularly horrendous crimes, or crimes involving middle class (or better) whites. Lacy Petersen, Natalee Holloway, so on and so forth. Men murder their wives every day in the US. American girls go missing every day, overseas. What makes these cases so important they were in the news for a year or more?
And if you're so wrong about the US media, how can your opinions about the media anywhere else be valued?
Anyway... Aardvark, I really wish you'd get onto the right side of things once in a while. I've been trying to figure out your tilt for a long time now, and I just don't get it. I'm sure you think you are presenting the "real" scoop, here, but there seems to be some kind of disconnect, somewhere.
Posted by: Craig | January 04, 2007 at 04:30 PM
Aardvark, I really wish you'd get onto the right side of things once in a while. I've been trying to figure out your tilt for a long time now, and I just don't get it. I'm sure you think you are presenting the "real" scoop, here, but there seems to be some kind of disconnect, somewhere.
Craig, you are the disconnect, chum. Get real.
Posted by: Nur al-Cubicle | January 04, 2007 at 06:06 PM
Craig,
Exactly my point: you have taken my bait--what you claimed is exactly the equivalent of what I threw at you. Perhaps you shouldn't make wild claims on things that you haven't got a clue about.
Posted by: hk | January 05, 2007 at 12:18 AM
hk, I could care less about your opinion about "who is the idiot now" - I don't even know anything about you, except you say a bunch of stuff that doesn't seem to have any bearing on observable fact. You wanna live in La-La land, knock yourself out. No skin off my nose.
Nur,
Craig, you are the disconnect, chum. Get real.
I suspect you'd rather I got dead, than got real, Nur. Along with every other white and every other Christian in the United States.
But thanks for the concern :P
Posted by: Craig | January 05, 2007 at 03:21 AM
hk,
Exactly my point: you have taken my bait--what you claimed is exactly the equivalent of what I threw at you.
No, it isn't. I made my case based on who the perpetrators were. You made your case based on who the victims were. And even if that weren't true, in most of the high profile criminal cases in the US the last 15 years, the victims and the pereptraors have been of the same ethnicty and religion... usually of the same family, even. Your argument is bullshit, no matter how you try to spin it.
Don't use 120+ IQ arguments when you don't have the pre-requisites :)
Posted by: Craig | January 05, 2007 at 03:29 AM
Craig, unlike many posters here you obviously don't speak Arabic and don't read or watch Arab media. Maybe you should consider that before pontificating on the subject with such confidence.
Just saying.
Posted by: No Preference | January 05, 2007 at 06:49 AM
Craig,
Since you are so good as to elucidate for us what's on North American television, could you PLEASE tell us what exactly should be on al-Jazeera that's not currently on it? Be sure to be as specific, with names and details and all, about them as you have been with the sensational crimes that has been on American newsmedia, since you know so much.
Posted by: hk | January 06, 2007 at 02:23 AM