Mick Hartley

HonestReporting has an interesting communique on the way that media coverage, by focusing on the old stereotype of Palestinian rage, is missing out on what’s actually happening:

[W]hile the media are obsessed with Arab emotion, an entirely rational process has been taking place on the Arab street:

● The IDF anti-terror policy is working: Israel’s stepped-up campaign against terrorist leaders since early 2003 has resulted in a 50-percent decrease in the number of Israeli terror victims. Palestinian deaths have likewise decreased significantly.

● Terror groups are in disarray, their leaders in hiding: Senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh told a reporter this week, ‘Hamas might have a crisis on its hands after losing its leaders.’ Another terror leader said people are ‘unaware of the limitations and amount of pressure imposed against the Palestinian combatants.’ And as opposed to Rantisi’s bravado (“I prefer to die by Apache”), Hamas’ new leader is afraid to reveal his identity or location.

● Palestinian leaders are getting the message: Yassir Arafat today expelled 21 Fatah fugitives from safe haven in his compound. And after the Yassin strike, 60 Palestinian leaders urged restraint in a prominent newspaper ad, arguing that the suicide bombings have backfired and calling for ‘a peaceful, wise intifada.’

It seems that the stereotype of Arabs as ‘rash’ and ’emotional’ ― as opposed to ‘calculating’ and ‘rational’ Westerners ― is coloring media coverage of this conflict. This is a variation on the ‘soft bigotry of low expectations’ that excuses the lack of Palestinian democracy by presuming Palestinians are incapable of reform.