From: Ali Abunimah
To: morning@npr.org
Subject: Israel's supposed "restraint"

July 31, 2001

Dear NPR News,

After two days in which at least thirteen Palestinians have been killed in the occupied territories, the eight of them killed today including two children, there was something perverse about Linda Gradstein's completely one-sided report about demands on Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon to abandon his policy of "restraint."

In a feeble attempt to make clear that "restraint" is Israel's own definition of its policy, Gradstein mentioned that Israel has in fact been carrying out a policy of "targeted killings" and "closure." But this description by Gradstein falls far short of a minimally adequate description of the violence that Israel has been carrying out. Why did she not mention that Israel's policy of "restraint" in recent months, and especially recent weeks has included mass demolitions of Palestinian neighborhoods, such as the attacks on Shuafat in the occupied West Bank, and Rafah in occupied Gaza. Israel has also destroyed tens of thousands of Palestinian olive and citrus trees. "Restraint" has included frequent shellings of Palestinian neighborhoods by Israeli tanks and helicopters and killings, beatings and humiliations of Palestinians at Israeli checkpoints. Israel continues to shoot dead unarmed protestors and bystanders, such as the fifteen year-old boy killed last week. Israeli journalist Amira Hass has in recent weeks reported on frequent, widespread and occasionally deadly attacks on Palestinians and their property by settlers throughout the occupied territories which the occupation authorities make absolutely no effort to investigate or prevent if they are not actively aiding and abetting the settler attacks. All of this goes far beyond anything the Apartheid government of South Africa did during the 1984-1985 Township Uprising and yet I doubt anyone would refer to P.W. Botha as having practiced "restraint."

Yet, Gradstein limited her description of Israeli violence to three words "targeted killings" and "closure." A listener who did not know the facts of the situation might indeed accept Israel's self-description of its brutality as more than reasonable and certainly "restrained." Meanwhile she spoke of Palestinian "attacks" on Israel.

It will not be long before Israel demands to be admired for its "restraint" because it has decided not to drop an atomic bomb on Gaza.

Gradstein referred to an Israeli debate about "reoccupying" or "reinvading" the West Bank and Gaza Strip at least four times. She should have pointed out that while Israelis talk about "reoccupation," in fact Israel already occupies the entirety of the West Bank and Gaza Strip with tens of thousands of troops, as well as tanks and armored personnel carriers. Although she mentioned that "reoccupation" would affect nominally Palestinian-controlled areas, she did not point out that these areas ("Area A") amount to only 17% of the occupied West Bank, and that Israel already frequently enters these areas with death squads, or uniformed troops either to raid houses and arrest people, or to execute them, and that since the areas are completely besieged Israel already controls them for all practical purposes. To talk about "reoccupation" without making these facts absolutely clear is to accept the absurd Israeli claim that it does not belligerently occupy the West Bank and Gaza and is merely acting in "self-defense."

Gradstein ended her report with a reference to Yasir Arafat pursuing "his goal of a Palestinian state in all of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem." Please note that Israeli withdrawal from all the occupied territories is not a matter of the "goals" of one individual but a question of international law. To reduce it to Arafat's personal "goal" is to accept the prevailing Israeli view that Yasir Arafat alone, rather than Israel's brutal and racist occupation of millions of people is the problem.

Finally, Gradstein's report included the voices of several Israeli politicians and analysts and not a single Palestinian. Yesterday's All Things Considered featured a report by Jennifer Ludden about how ordinary Israelis are coping with the stresses and strains of day to day life. This exclusive focus on Israeli experiences and perspectives on two consecutive days on which so many Palestinians have been killed is blatantly unfair.

NPR has been doing a fairly good job in recent weeks, but the latest reports are far beneath what should be expected.

Sincerely,

Ali Abunimah
http://www.abunimah.org