Straight Talk
During any military operation, the wrong people get killed. It is one of the horrendous facts of war-time that people who do not take up arms are killed by those who do (either for or against said people). What I find most difficult with the reports of the Israeli operation is getting the straight story from the press. They have become so accustomed to spin that it's hard to tell what is based in fact and what comes from reports they've read elsewhere. Take the Wash. Post's report of the Jenin fighting today. "Many refugees who had fled to town to escape the camp's dusty streets and cinder-block hovels where the bloodiest fighting unfolded said their homes had been pulverized. They described bodies lying in the streets." Given this paragraph (taken in full from the story) you'd expect there to be quotes next in the story. "'There are uncountable numbers of houses that have been destroyed,' said Riad Ghaleb, 28, a produce seller from the camp. 'When you see them, you go crazy. The helicopter fired so many rockets at our neighborhood because three soldiers were killed there in a house near where I live.'" This is terrible. I am fairly accustomed to moving, but if I had spent years building a home and family, seeing it wiped out in an instant by an opposing military force would both depress and enrage me. But wait a minute, what about the bodies in the streets? The Post produces no quotes of people talking about bodies in the streets. There are reports of people being killed. The opening paragraph of the story tells of civilian casualties (though again without direct quotation). I'm not attempting to belittle the true plight of the Palestinian civilians, but words are extremely important and I simply no longer trust the media to give me the straight story without trying to tug at my heart-strings in some way that is not supported by evidence in their story. In the past two days, I've seen many reports that talk about people talking about bodies strewn in the street of Jenin, but no quotes have come out. There are no photos because the Israeli military has closed off the camp.

Salon also has an accounting of what's going on in Jenin, and it is important to read the stories one after another to further discern my point. "'That is where the soldiers made me and my children wait for two and a half hours without food or water,' recounts Khitam Kamel, a 34-year old mother of 11, who fled the Jenin refugee camp last Tuesday, a week after Israeli forces launched their assault on the town. 'What happened to us and to our people in the camp, I cannot tell you, it was terrible. Now I will gladly give the last of my children as martyrs until we liberate ourselves.'" What is happening to families uprooted in Jenin is terrible, but listening to this account, you have a woman planning to give her children as murderers because she was made to wait for two hours without food or water. There is undoubtedly more to her story, but unless Salon is willfully deceiving us, she didn't tell them anyhing more of her plight than having to wait without food and water. Again, it is important to contrast the reporting style of the Post and Salon in this case. "'On her trip out she saw one body but no wounded people -- in contrast to reports of bodies littering the streets. There were scenes of enormous destruction, though. 'On both sides of some streets, the houses have been half demolished by bulldozers or passing tanks. Others houses have been completely destroyed by missiles or explosives.'" This tells the same story as the Post, but directly refutes the assertion given by the Post without backing that there are bodies strewn in the street. "'They called me a terrorist, saying that Force 17 carries out attacks against Israelis. I said that I only joined because of the salary, but they called me a liar and hit me and kicked me,' he says. His body, though, shows no signs of beating." Having read the accounts, would the Post have included the last significant sentence in the quoted report? There's a war on in Israel and it's important that the major national publications give it to us straight.
- posted by levinson @ 4/12/2002 07:23:00 AM