Surreal and Mixed Messages during Bush's Trip
January 10, 2008
On today's 700 Club, we talked about the surreal rhetoric and mixed messages during President Bush's trip to Ramallah. Over and over again, Bush spoke of the vision of "two states living side by side in peace and security."
That's what Bush talked about at his press conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But while Abbas stood beside Bush and agreed to this vision, he sends quite another message to the Palestinian people through his official Palestinian media.
We talked earlier in the day with Itamar Marcus, director of the Palestinian Media Watch. They monitor the official media of the Palestinian Authority. We obtained some clips with verbatim translation of the kind of messages Abbas is broadcasting to the Palestinian people -- quite a different vision than "two states living side by side in peace and security."
We have three clips. The first says, "We will liberate the land of religions" and goes on to make clear that includes parts of Israel like the Galilee, Tiberias and Acco.
The second clip is a PA documentary that states, "We don't forget that the West Bank and Gaza have another section in Palestine, which is the Palestinian coast that spreads along the Mediterranean Sea from the Gaza Strip and Ashkelon in the south until Haifa in the Carmel mountains" -- in other words, all of Israel.
The final clip is a promo with a map of Palestine that includes all of present day Israel.
The message over and over is that their vision of Palestine does not include Israel.
That's why today's rhetoric seemed surreal and distant from the reality.
JERUSALEM DATELINE Main Page >>
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
