TIME AFTER TIME

"Journalism has changed. It is a tool for advocacy. For a lot of reporters, writing articles is what they do instead of demonstrating or lobbying for a cause, and against another one. Behavior that twenty years ago would have been quickly condemned and resulted in either editorial changes or summary firings is accepted and defended routinely.

Just look at the texts. They are so skewed that even while being horrified one wants to laugh at the clumsy and obvious tricks employed." - Barry Rubin Pledges Not Made, Fairness Not Met.

Time and again, the media's coverage of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians falls short of revealing the true picture of what is happening over there. In the Age for example, you read about Palestinians mourning their civilian dead as if the recently ended Israeli raids were for no purpose other than to torment the normal every day population of mums, dads and children. This report by Ed O'Loughlin cites a figure of "up to half" of the 100 Palestinians who allegedly died as civilians - Mourning tents spread on Gaza Strip - and tells of stories about Israeli snipers on rooftops firing at children.

If you detect a touch of cynicism here, let me say first that I don't doubt that innocent civilians die in operations such as the one Israel called “Operation Hot Winter”. My cynicism is not directed at those people but at the author of the piece who writes purely from one perspective - that of those he seeks to characterise as the victims i.e. the Palestinians. His readers are provided with little or no perspective or context about what is really happening in and around the battlefield.

First, the reason why the Israelis went into to Gaza last week. The chief mourner among the Palestinians is quoted as saying: "Tell them this: I only want peace. I only want peace. I am an ordinary man. I never hurt anybody. Please. My English is not good. I would prefer to speak Hebrew. I worked in Israel for many years. I have many Jewish friends and I do not hate the Jews. I have told them this. I only want peace."

Most Israelis would agree with him but would then scratch their heads in bewilderment as to why the remarks are addressed to them and not to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Al Aksa Martyrs and the countless other offshoots who, with the encouragement and blessing of the local leadership, have been pounding neighbouring Israeli towns with rockets on a daily basis for years and have recently introduced deadly Grad missiles from Iran. These missiles have increased the range of Palestinian missile fire to include Ashkelon and its environs so that the range now includes 150,000 Israeli civilians. Mr Abu Seif may only want peace but the thugs who rule his neighbourhood want something entirely different. They want him to remain busy in his role as a chief mourner.

Second, citing the number of civilian dead in any conflict in this region is fraught with danger. Apart from the fact that there have been countless cases of self-inflicted civilian deaths among Palestinians, the first problem is to determine who is a "civilian" or a "non-combatant" in an asymmetric war when the fighters wear no uniforms to distinguish them from the non-combatants.

Often the figures used are supplied by Israeli human rights groups but some of these groups, like O'Loughlin, also seem to have their own agenda. Some years ago at a social function in Israel, I met a member of B'tselem, a group whose casualty statistics are often quoted by O'Loughlin. I questioned him about how his group compiles its figures of Palestinian deaths in the fighting and he revealed that a heavy reliance in many cases on information provided by the local population. When I suggested that the locals might have reasons to fudge the truth our conversation ended in stony silence. Fact is, I don't believe the figures O'Loughlin quotes and I'll take the IDF's figures of 90% of the casualties being "militants" any day.

In any event the O'Loughlin article masks much of the background as to what really transpired in the field of battle. The Australian's Martin Chulov filed a story yesterday entitled ‘Toll rising as Hamas faces military fury’, in which readers are provided a more clear insight on the course of the fighting and which proves the points I make above. Note the following: -

"Fighting appeared to be centred on the Jabaliya refugee camp, a maze of narrow laneways and prefabricated concrete homes from where Hamas and other Gaza militant factions were yesterday still managing to launch rockets and snipe at Israeli forces to the east.

"From inside Jabaliya, Palestinian media reported several instances of clashes between locals and Hamas militants who were attempting to set up rocket-firing sights.

"Some locals have reportedly been shot by Hamas, and others arrested for attempting to drive them out of their neighbourhoods, but it was difficult to gauge whether a groundswell of resistance was building against the group."

In today's Australian, Chulov quotes Israeli Defence Force Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi defending claims that the Israeli strikes had been improper. His story is consistent with those cited by the Palestinian media about Hamas militants attempting to set up rocket-firing sites:

"'In one case we saw an old Palestinian man leave Jabaliya with a wagon in which a Grad missile was concealed,' he told the cabinet meeting. 'He stopped, as though at random, beside an orchard, to which two gunmen came, took the missile, placed it on a launcher and launched it.'"

How is that O'Loughlin could have missed this picture which is so different to the one painted in his story? Imagine if the Israelis had killed the old Palestinian man. Would he be mourned as a civilian or as a fighter, an accomplice in a terrorist plot to murder neighbouring Israelis?

It seems that the stance taken by some of the civilians inside Jabaliya is not an isolated one. Arab writers are beginning to speak out about Hamas thuggery - Gaza killings fault of Hamas and silent Palestinians. According to Ray Hanania of the Arab Writers Group:

"Hamas is a terrorist organization that is as dedicated to the destruction of Israel as it is to the destruction of the secular Palestinian society and the elimination of Christian Palestinians and secular Muslims. The organization has never advocated rights for secular or Christian Arabs in Palestineand have always embraced violence as a means of creating an environment in which they hope to one day achieve their fascist goals. You cannot blame Israel for the deaths without speaking out even more forcefully against the terrorist policies of Hamas."

Hanania dutifully excoriates the Israelis for what he calls its "excessive" policies (and I disagree that they are excessive on the evidence before me) but adds that "... you cannot close your eyes to one form of terrorism and thenclaim to be a victim of another form of terrorism." and that "Palestinians have allowed themselves to surrender the moral high ground by remaining shamefully silent on the terrorist actions of Hamas and by refusing to condemn the Hamas policy of firing Qassem rockets into Israel at Israeli civilian targets."

Of course, it's not only Palestinians who have "closed their eyes" and remained silent. There are many in the media who close their eyes and remain silent as well and in doing so, they play into the hands of Hamas.

My guess is that the following story, which shows that Israelis are far different to the impression of them created in the mourner's tent story, is not likely to see the light of day in the Age any time soon. Entitled ‘MDA treats victims on both sides’, it's about how personel from Magen David Adom - Israel's equivalent of the "Red Cross" - help Israeli victims of Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza and also facilitate the transfer of Gazan patients to Israeli hospitals for treatment.

Like O'Loughlin's chief mourner, this story is about how Israel is telling its Palestinian neighbours that it too wants peace and it's a story is presented in a tangible way showing the humanity of the Jewish people. The MDA seeks to heal people on both sides of the conflict and often its personnel face great danger in undertaking this task. Sadly, stories such as this one are pushed time after time into the blank pages and remain untold to the readership of the Age.