Arutz-7's Hebrew news department has completed a unique project presenting the way in which Arutz-7, alone among Israeli media, covered the Oslo process and warned of its dangers. The Hebrew-language project, entitled, "The Writing was in the Air," combines an audio CD of selections aired on Arutz-7 and a 96-page book of explanation and background.
The project shows how Arutz-7, from the summer of 1993 until the summer of 2000, presented many evaluations that the Oslo process was not one of peace but rather an introduction to war. Government leaders interviewed on Arutz-7 were asked questions they were rarely asked by other Israeli media, and many items dealt with the quick-paced arming of the Palestinian Authority.
As an example, track #8 of the CD deals with the implementation of the second Oslo Agreement in 1996, when then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres ordered the IDF to withdraw from Ramallah, Bethlehem, and other cities. A Yesha Council official who had just met with then-IDF Intelligence Chief Moshe Yaalon (currently IDF Chief of Staff) is heard saying,
"Arafat is keeping the terrorist armies in reserve, allowing them to develop so he can use them as a bargaining chip. After he receives Hevron, the only city he has not yet received, the talks will start, and if Israel doesn't give him what he wants, he will release the suicide bombers and the terror network, and the attacks will begin..."
Netanya Mayor Tzvi Poleg was asked at the time by Arutz-7 if he is not afraid that the withdrawal from nearby Tul Karem would endanger his townspeople. "Will you tell your citizens that the State of Israel has taken a chance on your lives?" he was asked. Poleg responded,
"No, I do not say that. What you have said is too harsh, and it's not correct. This agreement [Oslo] has no danger for any citizen of the State of Israel, and certainly not of Netanya..." Over 40 people were killed in several Palestinian terror attacks in or near Netanya in the past 27 months alone.
The disc also compares Arutz-7's broadcasts with those of other radio stations. On one jovial Voice of Israel broadcast, reporter Yoni Ben-Menachem asks a resident of Shechem, from which Israel was about to withdraw: "Will we able to come here and eat knafeh?"
The answer, in broken Arabic-accented Hebrew: "Please do. After the Palestinian police will be spread out everywhere, then there will be real security."
Ben-Menachem: "Will I be able to come here on the Sabbath and eat knafeh?"
Answer: "Please do, at my expense."
Then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres is heard singing the praises of Oslo, telling his party colleagues,
"The agreement with the Palestinians has been fulfilled. Terrorism is down, the doomsayers have been proven wrong... Everyone must now admit that this is the only agreement that is real and practical and that can bring security and peace..."
Also heard are Binyamin Regional Council head Pinchas Wallerstein pleading with the Rabin-Peres government not to give rifles to Arafat; Peres promising that a Palestinian state will never arise; and Ehud Barak saying he would never give up even 50% of Yesha. Barak, of course, later offered 98% of Yesha to Arafat, but was turned down.
The disc also includes samples from Yitzchak Rabin, Binyamin Netanyahu, Yossi Sarid, Rehavam Ze'evi, Gonen Segev (a right-wing party MK whose vote in favor of Oslo proved to be critical), left-wing writer Amos Oz, Avishai Raviv, and others.
"The Writing was in the Air" can be obtained at this phone number: 067-666079 (in Israel). An English version is being considered.
The project shows how Arutz-7, from the summer of 1993 until the summer of 2000, presented many evaluations that the Oslo process was not one of peace but rather an introduction to war. Government leaders interviewed on Arutz-7 were asked questions they were rarely asked by other Israeli media, and many items dealt with the quick-paced arming of the Palestinian Authority.
As an example, track #8 of the CD deals with the implementation of the second Oslo Agreement in 1996, when then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres ordered the IDF to withdraw from Ramallah, Bethlehem, and other cities. A Yesha Council official who had just met with then-IDF Intelligence Chief Moshe Yaalon (currently IDF Chief of Staff) is heard saying,
"Arafat is keeping the terrorist armies in reserve, allowing them to develop so he can use them as a bargaining chip. After he receives Hevron, the only city he has not yet received, the talks will start, and if Israel doesn't give him what he wants, he will release the suicide bombers and the terror network, and the attacks will begin..."
Netanya Mayor Tzvi Poleg was asked at the time by Arutz-7 if he is not afraid that the withdrawal from nearby Tul Karem would endanger his townspeople. "Will you tell your citizens that the State of Israel has taken a chance on your lives?" he was asked. Poleg responded,
"No, I do not say that. What you have said is too harsh, and it's not correct. This agreement [Oslo] has no danger for any citizen of the State of Israel, and certainly not of Netanya..." Over 40 people were killed in several Palestinian terror attacks in or near Netanya in the past 27 months alone.
The disc also compares Arutz-7's broadcasts with those of other radio stations. On one jovial Voice of Israel broadcast, reporter Yoni Ben-Menachem asks a resident of Shechem, from which Israel was about to withdraw: "Will we able to come here and eat knafeh?"
The answer, in broken Arabic-accented Hebrew: "Please do. After the Palestinian police will be spread out everywhere, then there will be real security."
Ben-Menachem: "Will I be able to come here on the Sabbath and eat knafeh?"
Answer: "Please do, at my expense."
Then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres is heard singing the praises of Oslo, telling his party colleagues,
"The agreement with the Palestinians has been fulfilled. Terrorism is down, the doomsayers have been proven wrong... Everyone must now admit that this is the only agreement that is real and practical and that can bring security and peace..."
Also heard are Binyamin Regional Council head Pinchas Wallerstein pleading with the Rabin-Peres government not to give rifles to Arafat; Peres promising that a Palestinian state will never arise; and Ehud Barak saying he would never give up even 50% of Yesha. Barak, of course, later offered 98% of Yesha to Arafat, but was turned down.
The disc also includes samples from Yitzchak Rabin, Binyamin Netanyahu, Yossi Sarid, Rehavam Ze'evi, Gonen Segev (a right-wing party MK whose vote in favor of Oslo proved to be critical), left-wing writer Amos Oz, Avishai Raviv, and others.
"The Writing was in the Air" can be obtained at this phone number: 067-666079 (in Israel). An English version is being considered.