When will it stop?
I woke up peacefully this morning, had my regular cuppa, some toast, and off I went to work. As usual, the Palestinian Authority newspapers were already on my desk, and the headlines were sadly typical:
“A new massacre in Gaza, six killed, forty wounded” wrote the daily Al-Ayyam in bold red letters.
“Ten killed and dozens wounded in an extensive operation in Gaza” wrote Al-Hayyat Al-Jadida in black.
As hard as it is to admit, not only have I become accustomed to such headlines, but I’ve also become accustomed to the almost instant assumption that the Palestinians are either exaggerating or just being overly dramatic. Yet, occasionally – despite the tough barriers that regular readers of these newspapers build around ourselves – something troubling gets through. A picture of a demolished bridge with residents gathering around it still registers as the kind of experiences that shouldn’t happen to anyone, no matter what.
I then read the Israeli news bulletins online (the Israeli attack occurred during the night and the item didn’t make it to the morning print editions).
I learned that the operation occurred following the launching of “Qassam” missiles toward the Israeli town Sderot, north of the Gaza Strip.
I also learned that the soldiers had demolished around one hundred workshops that were manufacturing ammunition – mainly “Qassam” missiles – mortars and anti tank missiles.
In addition, during the operation, Palestinians opened fire at the soldiers and activated explosives and R.P.G missiles.
I even discovered that most of the “victims” were active armed terrorists, and the town targeted, Beit Hanoun in the Gaza strip, was the base from which over thirty “Qassam” missiles and a few hundred mortar shells were launched into Israeli communities north of the Gaza Strip.
And so I resumed my regular routine. Everything is okay: they are still the bad guys, we are still the good guys. They attacked, we retaliated. We opened fire, but we hit terrorists, not civilians.
So why do I still have this disturbing feeling, that it shouldn’t happen to anyone, no matter what?!
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YANIV BERMAN, a multi-lingual (English, Hebrew and Arabic) analyst with The Media Line Ltd., observes and compares news stories as they are reported by media representing each respective language’s community.