Yasser Arafat\'s meeting with Israeli journalists last month - which was widely-reported in the Israeli press and led to much criticism of the journalists for giving Arafat a stage - apparently struck a chord with President Moshe Katzav. Katzav attempted yesterday to do the same, when he invited Palestinian Authority journalists to a session, hoping that he could get his message across to the Arab population in the PA. Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch reviewed for Arutz-7 how the event was reported in the Palestinian media today:
\"The two official papers, Al Hayat al Jadeeda and Al-Ayam didn\'t even mention it at all. Al Kuds, which is a bit more independent, did report on it, but interjected its own editorial comments in the news piece. For instance, it wrote that \'Katzav asked that the Palestinians stop the \"violence\" [with the word violence in quotation marks].\' The paper further quoted Katzav as saying that Israel\'s liquidation policy is an act of self defense, but placing three exclamation points after the words \'self-defense.\'\"
How did the PA media relate to the terrorist murder of Ya\'ir Har-Sinai of Susia yesterday? Marcus:
\"They usually blame the victim in such cases, but this time they could not, so they merely wrote, \'He was one of the leaders and most extremist of the settlers. He was responsible for many crimes against residents of Yata and other villages, such as burning hundreds of dunams, killing sheep, destruction of wells, etc.\' The implication is clear, as if to say that the killing was motivated by the pursuit of justice.\"
\"The two official papers, Al Hayat al Jadeeda and Al-Ayam didn\'t even mention it at all. Al Kuds, which is a bit more independent, did report on it, but interjected its own editorial comments in the news piece. For instance, it wrote that \'Katzav asked that the Palestinians stop the \"violence\" [with the word violence in quotation marks].\' The paper further quoted Katzav as saying that Israel\'s liquidation policy is an act of self defense, but placing three exclamation points after the words \'self-defense.\'\"
How did the PA media relate to the terrorist murder of Ya\'ir Har-Sinai of Susia yesterday? Marcus:
\"They usually blame the victim in such cases, but this time they could not, so they merely wrote, \'He was one of the leaders and most extremist of the settlers. He was responsible for many crimes against residents of Yata and other villages, such as burning hundreds of dunams, killing sheep, destruction of wells, etc.\' The implication is clear, as if to say that the killing was motivated by the pursuit of justice.\"