Two pivotal events this week have generated a glaring dissimilarity in Palestinian and Israeli media coverage. A day before a panel of judges gathered in The Hague’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) to formulate a legal opinion regarding the Israeli security barrier in the West Bank, a Palestinian blew himself up on a bus in Jerusalem, killing eight Israelis.
The attack could not have been timed better to assist the Israeli government in proving its point – perhaps the bomber and his dispatchers were oblivious or unconcerned about the timing, but Israelis maintained the attack verifies the necessity of a barrier to keep aggressors out.
Thousands of Israelis gathered in the streets of the Dutch capital on Monday to explain the importance of what they called “Israel’s anti-terrorist fence.” They felt the Palestinians had foolishly shot themselves in the foot.
The Palestinian side is well aware of the ramifications of Sunday’s bombing, but the press has its own opinion on Israel’s stand. For Israel, the bombing was “a quite unexpected present” wrote Ashraf Al-‘Ajrami, a columnist in the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam. According to Al-Ajrami, Israel is trying to turn the media focus away from what he calls Israel’s violation of international law, and is focusing instead on “what Israel calls the Palestinian ‘terror’.”
The Palestinian media underlined the despair caused by the barrier to the Palestinian people. Monday’s edition of Al-Ayyam included a special supplement about the barrier, reporting extensively on the anguish it has inflicted on Palestinians such as cutting them off from their livelihood, encroaching on Palestinian land, violating human rights and so forth. A large picture on the paper’s front page showed two small boys playing while a cement-wall section of the barrier towers over them. The bus bombing was marginal in comparison to the glaring banner headline about The Hague hearing.
While the Israeli tabloid Ma’ariv devoted the majority of its pages to personal stories of Sunday’s terror victims, Palestinian media focused on the plight caused by the barrier. Palestinian television devoted the entire day to broadcasts on the barrier including live discussions, footage from mass anti-fence rallies, interviews with Palestinians whose lives have been disrupted by the barrier, video clips and news updates.
The Israeli press has a different story to tell. Ma’ariv made a clear and unequivocal link between the bombing and The Hague hearing on its front page. The picture of a stunned soldier, his face marked with bloodstains and shrapnel wounds appears beneath two headlines. “Jerusalem — Eight people murdered in a terror attack” and “The Hague — Israel is on trial.” “Judge for Yourselves,” the paper urges.
The Israeli narrative of the events connects the two incidents. “The terrorist who murdered pupils on their way to school entered an area without a fence,” Ma’ariv informed on its front page, adding that this should be brought to the attention of the judges in Holland.
While the Israeli press stresses terror, Palestinian media emphasizes the barrier’s meandering route and merciless violation of human rights. Both sides accentuate their plight. Each side almost all but ignores the other’s suffering.
Contrary to the impression one may get from reading Monday’s headlines in the Israeli press, there is no consensus concerning the security barrier in Israel. The idea has been criticized by doves and hawks, journalists and opinion-makers, each for their own reasons. Yet when Israel is an entity on trial, the press seemingly unites around the official stand and takes the barrier’s merits for granted.
On the Palestinian side, anti-fence advocates in The Hague realize that where public opinion is concerned, Sunday’s bombing has done them damage.
Head of the Palestinian delegation to the ICJ Na’sir Al-Qidwa told AP that Sunday’s “suicide operation” will have no effect on the ICJ decision regarding the fence, since he said the court formulates opinions in accordance with the law, regardless of events on the ground. However, he added that although the Palestinians have repeatedly condemned the attacks, “these pictures [of the bombing] are not good.”