The violinist, the medic and others: incitement or reporting?
December 3, 2004
In one of his first decisions since the death of Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas has very thoughtfully agreed with Sharon that Palestinian media is the real cause of Palestinian violence (and thus of the conflict?) and that the media (and not the actions of the Israeli army) is guilty of incitement against Israel.
Therefore, a few days ago, after Sharon made it clear that anti-Israeli propaganda in Palestinian media and schools was as dangerous as Palestinian weapons, Abbas has obligingly ordered Palestinian media to stop “incitement” against Israel.
Nobody should think of reporting killings, house demolitions or any humiliations done by the Israelis. Palestinian national songs are also off limits, as they might give Palestinians the idea that they actually have a right to their own state.
Under this new directive, does the photo of Samir Hijazi’s funeral in Gaza count as reporting or incitement? This young doctor was killed by an Israeli tank shell after he had been playing cards with his friends in the Rafah refugee camp. Do Palestinians (and others) have the right to follow these news? Or would that be troubling Sharon too much?
What about this photograph of a Palestinian musician who was forced to play his violin at an Israeli roadblock near Nablus, in the West Bank, before Israeli soldiers would let him pass, as hundreds of other Palestinians waited behind him? It outraged an Israeli rights group activist, who thought of the infamous Nazi abuse of pianists, and who took the photo and sent it to the media. Is that incitement, or should we all be told about such incidents?
