How Have The Media And The Palestinian Arabs Changed Over The Last 50 Years? (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

Have the attitudes of Palestinian terrorists and of the West itself changed over the last 50 years?

Last week, I came across a collection of old articles that illustrate some of the attitudes following the Six Day War.

All 3 articles are by Yehoshafat Harkabi, the chief of Israeli military intelligence from 1955 until 1959 before he became a professor of International Relations and Middle East Studies at Hebrew University. Along the way, he changed from a hardliner to a supporter of negotiations with the PLO. The collection is entitled "Three Articles on the Arab Slogan of a Democratic State."

The first article, "The Slogan 'Democratic Palestinian State'," translated from a piece he wrote for Ma'ariv in April 1970, shows how the Arabs wrestled with their image as terrorists so as not to turn world opinion against them.

Back in those days, world opinion was actually a source concern.

After the Six-Day War, when the Arabs became aware that by making extreme statements they had prejudiced their position in foreigners' eyes, they commenced to seek a way of evading the trap of politicide [calling for the annihilation of a State]  that entails genocide that is, a way of lending a moderate tone to their position calling for the annihilation of Israel.

This was actually a problem that forced some Palestinian Arab leaders to twist their words in order to appear 'moderate' -- a problem that does not seem to exist today.

For example, Ahmed Shukeiry, the first Chairman of the PLO, from 1964 to 1967, said that he had never advocated throwing the Jews in the sea -- that was a Zionist libel.

He explained that what he meant was that the Jews would return to their countries of origin by way of the sea: "They came by the sea and will return by the sea" (Palestine Documents for 1967, p. 1084). Thus, from a means of annihilation the sea was metamorphosed into a simple means of transportation.

Thanks to a compliant media, such gymnastics are not required today.

Hamas has no problem declaring their intent to destroy Israel, just as they are able to fire thousands of rockets at Israeli civilians without the West saying a word, let alone invoke international law.

As far as the Palestinian Authority goes, Abbas knows what to say in Arabic and what to say in English, secure in the knowledge that the media will obligingly focus only on the latter.

In fact, after the Six Day War, the Arabs began to catch on to how easy it was to lead the West and its media by the nose.

Arab spokesmen began to brandish the slogan of "a Democratic Palestinian State in which Arabs and Jews will live in peace." Indeed, this slogan was well received among many circles in the world at large as evidence that the Arab position had become more moderate. Many people overlooked its ambiguity and disregarded that fact that it by no means contradicted the basic Arab position of the past, for the slogan may still mean that Jews would be reduced to an insignificant minority which would be permitted to live in peace.

The problem, of course, was that the Arabs had no intention of living side-by-side with Jews in a democratic state. The idea was discussed at the Sixth Congress of the Palestinian National Council in Cairo in September 1969, where the consensus was that the slogan was purely a propaganda device.

Making the slogan anything more than that was dangerous.

That is, if this slogan is taken literally, the Arab character that the country must have after its "liberation" will be undermined, for a large group of Jews would be permitted to remain. the Palestinian National Covenant stipulated that only the Palestinian Arab people has the right of self-determination in the country, whereas the slogan "Democratic State" makes the Jews partners. Moreover, this slogan may imply reconciliation with the Jews rather than a war a l'outrance [out-right war].

So much for proposals for a 'one state solution' today.

The Democratic Front went so far as to offer that

The Palestinian State, which will eliminate racial discrimination and national persecution, must be based on a democratic solution of the existing conflict resting on coexistence between the two people, Arab and Jewish.

However, Harkabi notes that the implied recognition of "a Jewish people" is misleading, because Jews were seen as a people with no right to a state of its own -- and instead would have to settle for participating in a state with a Palestinian Arab nationality. Jews were to be accepted on a cultural level, not a national-political one.

Keep in mind that the same 'Democratic Front' that offered the possibility of a bi-national state with Jews is also known for the 1974 Ma'alot massacre in which 25 schoolchildren and teachers were killed. Not surprising, since this same 'Democratic Front' was accepted in the PLO's Command of Armed Struggle, which required it to accept the Palestinian National Covenant.

As for Fatah, Harkabi quotes from a public statement on January 1, 1970, on the 5th anniversary of their activity. Fatah had high hopes for guerrilla activity in the heart of Israel, attacking civilians and not just military targets, in the hope that the Israeli

will find himself isolated and defenceless against the Arab soldier in his house, on his land, on the road, in the cafe, in the movie theatre, in army camps and everywhere, far from the area under control of the Israeli Air Force and mechanical equipment which assures him protection and security of life. These acts will force him to consider and compare the life of stability and repose that he enjoyed in his former country and the life of confusion and anxiety he finds in the land of Palestine. This is bound to motivate him towards reverse immigration.

Fatah was unduly optimistic.

But the same can also be said for Harkabi.
He trusted the media to do its job:

The article in the Palestinian National Covenant which is so extreme regarding the Jews is becoming known in the world. A number of foreign journals recognized the importance of this document and reproduced the English translations of my article which explains the Covenant. There will most likely be pressure among the Palestinians to change the Covenant and make it more moderate and palatable.

Harkabi could hardly have been expected to foresee the degree to which those foreign journals would come to take sides and exhibit the kind of bias and outright support for Palestinian terrorists and against Israel that we see today.

And the Palestinian National Covenant remains unchanged.

He concludes his article optimistically, seeing the Arab adoption of the slogan "Democratic State" -- even as pure propaganda -- as a stage in the retreat of the Arab position:

The contradictions contained in the slogan "Democratic State" will bring about many inner struggles, debates, forums and symposiums. This slogan will become another subject over which the Arabs will be divided. The Jewish community will increase and the possibilities of digesting it as a minority will become smaller. For some time now they have been non-existent. The retreat in the Arab position will continue, for the meaning of the Arab position is becoming more apparent, and the attitude which stemmed from ambiguity and euphemistic expressions, which the Arabs used to define their aims, is becoming restricted. The difficulties involved in a politicidal position will become more obvious. From the Arab point of view, brandishing the slogan "Democratic State" creates more problems than it solves.

True, Israel has flourished and its population has grown.

But as it turns out, many of those "inner struggles debates, forums and symposiums" that Harkabi anticipated among the Arabs are these days taking place among Jews, especially as divisions develop between the Jewish communities in the US and Israel.

The retreat in the Arab position has developed -- but it is the position not of the Palestinian Arab but the Arab world that has changed, in ways that Harkabi could not have imagined.

Those negotiations he encouraged with the Palestinian Arabs came to pass, and brought about Palestinian territories, but have only become a greater source of danger for Israeli security.

Harkabi could hardly have been expected to anticipate the cynical world of today.

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