The Fanonite

BBC’s in-house Napolean, Gavin Esler, who in an earlier interview with Shimon Peres had shown more enthusiasm for destroying Lebanon than his interviewee - the kind of performance that has earned BBC the approval of Israel’s propaganda establishment - offers a new gem. ‘In pursuit of fairness’ in the coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict, he brings ‘not one but TWO Quotes for the Day’: one from Israel’s Prime Minister, and another from the pro-Israel King of Jordan, who, besides spending quality time with his Playstation 2, had only recently sided with Israel in its brutal assault on Lebanon. (For a broader history of Israeli-Jordanian collaboration, see Avi Shlaim’s Collusion Across the Jordan, and Said K. Aburish’s A Brutal Friendship).

For the BBC, I presume, that is the acceptable range of opinion when it comes to the Israel-Palestine conflict.

To his credit, Esler did gather a panel for the debate which was more balanced than usual even though it included an illegal settler, a criminal under international law.  Diana Buttu was articulate and effective — and attractive — and her reasoned arguments only brought the injustice of Israeli expectations, exemplified by the settler, into sharper relief.

Mark Urban’s short report that set up the debate, however, is typical of the crass propaganda that passes for journalism on BBC.

The report predictably frames the issue in the context of Israel’s ’security’. Prospective members of Israel’s brutal occupation army are humanized with endearing images of proud mothers and jubilant families as they pass out. To the uninitiated it would appear as if it were the Israelis rather than the Palestinians who have been enduring the relentless air-raids, artillery barrages and armoured assaults.

There is ample talk of ‘both sides’ in the conflict, as if there were parity between Israel’s $5bn a year occupation army, and the handful of poorly equipped rag-tag Palestinian resistance fighters from among a population of 1.3m crammed inside the world’s largest open air prison – on the 6km stretch of Gaza.

In its characteristic blame-the-victim approach, the BBC fogey speaks about Israel’s unilateral ‘withdrawal’ from Gaza and how ’subsequent violence’ from the Palestinians has undermined support for similar steps. He somehow manages to overlook the fact that Gaza’s land borders, airspace and coastaline are still controlled by Israel. The population of Gaza has since been starved in a blockade which Dov Weissglass, the advisor to the Israeli PM, referred to as a ‘diet’ in a splendid display of Israeli humour.

The BBC hack goes on dutifully to introduce viewers to Israel’s ‘demographic problem’ - namely, its non-Jewish population. For the BBC, presumably, ethnic cleansing is a respectable proposition worthy of unchallenged coverage. The reporter then interviews an Israeli arab, who – surprise, surprise – does not want to become a member of the ‘Palestinian State’ (an euphemism for the 200 odd Bantustans proposed as a solution for Israel’s ‘demographic problem’ with no sovereignty over its borders, defence or resources). Like most of us, perhaps, he does not relish the idea of living in the middle of a firing range; being harassed every time he leaves home; being humiliated every time he sets out for work; spending endless hours in ques at checkpoints; waiting ages at road crossings so that an Israeli settler can pass on the Jewish-only road without having to witness the faces of those he has disposessed.

Israel’s 25 foot high and 450-mile long annexation wall also receives BBC’s characteristic benign treatment. Declared illegal by the International Court of Justice in a near unanimous decision, the wall, we are told, is there for Israel’s security (a view shared by none except pro-Israel activists outside of Israel). The fact that it is built on Occupied Palestinian Territories, rather than on Israel’s borders (as common sense would suggest)and annexes 47% of the West Bank gets no mention.

The only problem that Urban sees with the wall is its effectiveness: quoting inhabitants of Sderot, he tells us that the Palestinian groups ’denied the chance to hit Israel one way, will do it another’. He tells us that in the past 6 years, Qassam rockets have killed 8 people in the town. To illustrate the horrors, we are introduced to Yaffa Malka, a hair-dresser, and her 13 year-old daughter who is ‘too afraid to go to school’. Yaffa turns out to be more hawkish than Hulagu (although not nearly as much as Gavin Esler – in this interview for instance) as she seeks the destruction of Palestinian infrastructure – their water, their electricity.

No mention, of course, is made of the fact that more than 1500 Palestinians have been killed in nearby Gaza in the same period, including 430 Children; that Gaza’s electricity and water sources have already been destroyed; that 2831 homes have been demolished (another 2427 partially demolished).

In his narration, Urban’s reference to Kafka is apt, as the same hawk who appears earlier in his report stressing unwillingness to give up an inch of occupied land, later metamorphosizes into a peacemaker ‘on the left’ - a reason for ‘hope’. He leaves us with a parting gem (with a smile this time). Having lived with Arabs and their ancestors ‘for 2700 years’ (he doesn’t appear that antient), he has apparently learned that ‘Arabs are patient people’. For this reason, he assures people in ‘Israel and the West’ that they will eventually see the light.

Not to be outdone, Urban offers his own nugget. Having earlier told us that Palestinians are unable to engage in dialogue because they keep ‘bickering among themselves’, he tells us that its the lack of leadership which is preventing resolution to the conflict.

Hmm…Now where have we heard that before?

Of course, its the famous official Israeli propaganda line that there is no peace because there is no partner for peace. Which makes one wonder: Are BBC’s reports on the Middle-East being written by the Israeli Ministry of Information?