PMWATCH - JULY 23, 2002 -- Today's raid deep in Gaza and the killing of a dozen people, allegedly including a high level Hamas leader, and the wounding of 150 innocent Palestinians, is nothing but the latest proof (as though any were needed) that Sharon is intent on keeping this conflict bogged down in its current quagmire. Of course, for anyone with the slightest sense of recent history and context knows that there is nothing new or unexpected in this: whenever any movement towards anything resembeling peace or reconcilliation begins to stir, Ariel Sharon unleashes his death machine and perpetrates an atrocity that is sure to usher in another cycle of bloodier violence. Back in December, as Arafat managed to keep Hamas from striking for three weeks in a row (a small miracle in itself), Sharon decided that things were getting a bit too quiet and so went ahead and assassinated Mahmud Abu Hunud, a top Hamas leader. A week later, two suicide bombings struck Jerusalem and Haifa. Another example: back in late March, Arab leaders meeting in Beirut offered full a peace plan and eventually normalization with Israel. How did Sharon react? With the re-invasion of the West Bank and the war crimes of Jenin, resulting in the killing of hundreds of Palestinians. Dozens of Israelis were subsequently killed in suicide bombings, as promised by Hamas in retaliation for the invasion. And now, the same story: Hamas signals that it could negotiate a cease fire, and so Sharon, true to his strategy, reacts as expected.

Now, something worth noting in all of this is how the media plays these stories: back in December, when Sharon shattered the fragile unilateral cease-fire adopted by Hamas, the media's initial reaction was dismay. I remember a couple of CNN reporters shaking their heads over Sharon's provocative acts and commenting how this was coming at a time when it looked like things were quieting down. But then, the Israeli propaganda machine decended, with their spin and well-coordinated message, and went to work: repeating their usual mantra, again and again, drawing parallels with 9/11, demonizing Arafat, and doing all they could to contain the outrage, at least until the next suicide bombing took place, at which point they just switched to cruise control and let CNN and its cohorts do their usual reporting/mourning. The exact same script is now unfolding. Reporters on the ground are reacting with dismay over this naked act of provocation, especially in light of the latest signals from Hamas. They are also dismayed over the toll on civilians. But keep an eye on how the story will be spun and weaved in the next couple of days by the usual spinmeisters, and watch how slowly the debate will be shifted away from Sharon's provocative actions and his strategy of upsetting any progress towards a negotiated settlement, and towards a new debate about perhaps newly dug up "evidence" linking Arafat with Hamas, or maybe more new pictures of "militant babies", or how Arafat is failing in his attempts to bring about political reforms to the Palestinian Authority.

Also, keep an eye on the following for your paper: (1) Did the carnage make the front page? (2) Was there a picture of the death and destruction? (3) Was the picture above or below the fold? (For an example of the extent to which the media has downplayed Palestinian suffering and highlighted Israeli suffering, see our report on the Philadelpha Inquirer, where we show that the ratio of above the fold from page images showing Israeli suffering vs Palestinian suffering runs about 9 to 1.) (4) What kind of a headline was run: does it focus on the death and destruction or does it focus on the alleged Hamas leader?

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Hamas to Consider Halting Attacks if Israel Leaves

Mon Jul 22, 1:12 PM ET

GAZA (Reuters) - The founder of the Palestinian Muslim militant group Hamas said Monday it would consider halting suicide attacks on Israelis if Israel withdrew from West Bank cities and took other measures.

"Basically what I would say to the occupation army is to leave ... the Palestinian cities in all the West Bank that were occupied ...," Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin told reporters in the Gaza Strip ( news - web sites).

"And stop your aggression, demolishing homes. Release prisoners and stop assassinations. Once the occupation and all those measures against our people stop, we are ready to totally study stopping martyrdom operations, in a positive way."

Hamas gunmen and suicide bombers have targeted Israelis both inside Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

Yassin did not clarify whether any reconsidered position on attacks would apply both to Israel and to Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza, or be limited geographically.

Hamas opposes Israel's right to exist and has been carrying out suicide bombings since 1993 interim peace accords which it rejected.

The Israeli army reoccupied seven out of eight West Bank cities, areas transferred to Palestinian self-rule under the interim accords, after suicide attacks killed 26 Israelis in Jerusalem in June.

"Leave its occupation of us, leave our people," Yassin said, when asked what Israel had to do for Hamas to halt attacks. "Leave our villages and lands."

Israel says its closures and curfews in the West Bank are needed to stop Palestinian bombers infiltrating its cities.

The military wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for a series of suicide bombings in the Palestinian uprising. It says it carries out the bombings in retaliation for Israeli killings of militants.

After a month-long Israeli offensive in the West Bank ended in May, the wheelchair-bound Yassin told Reuters that Hamas would launch attacks on Israel as long as its army continued raids into Palestinian-ruled areas and killed civilians.

At least 1,447 Palestinians and 559 Israelis have been killed in the violence which erupted in September 2000 after U.S.-brokered negotiations on Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza Strip stalled
Witnesses: Israel Air Raid Kills 10
Mon Jul 22, 7:38 PM ET
By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - An Israeli air force F-16 fired a missile at a house belonging to a Hamas leader in Gaza City early Tuesday, killing at least 10 people, including three children, Palestinian officials and doctors said.

Security officials said the house belonged to Sheik Salah Shehada, founder of the military wing of Hamas, known as Izzadine el-Qassam, in Gaza and the West Bank. There word on the identities of the casualties or if Shehada was among them.

Hospital officials said more than 50 people were wounded. Residents said one of the dead was a baby.

The Hamas military wing has claimed responsibility for dozens of attacks against Israelis during nearly two years of fighting, including many suicide bomb attacks.

The explosion collapsed the building and three houses around it, residents said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.

In recent days Israeli forces have struck twice at Gaza, targeting metal workshops where the Israelis say Palestinians were manufacturing mortar shells and rockets. Palestinians fire mortars at Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip ( news - web sites) almost every day.

Witnesses said two Israeli F-16 warplanes circled over Gaza before one of them fired a single missile.

Jamal Halaby, a Palestinian police officer who lives nearby, said he saw the missile streaking across the sky, and then he heard a huge explosion. "I fell out of my bed and I found myself a minute later covered in dust and stones, and the sounds of my children screaming and crying."

The air strike came as Israel and the Palestinians were trading ideas about reducing tension in the West Bank and easing Israeli restrictions. Last month Israel sent troops into West Bank cities and towns for the second time since March, following Palestinian suicide bomb attacks.

Officials on both sides said Israel might pull its forces out of two of the towns if the Palestinians can maintain security there.

Some Israelis are suggesting that Gaza could be used as a test case, because the territory, separated from the West Bank by Israeli territory, has not been targeted by Israeli ground forces, and Palestinian security arms there are intact.

However, Israel charges that militant groups have a free hand there, and the Israelis blame the Palestinian Authority ( news - web sites) for failing to stop militants from firing mortars and rockets at Jewish settlements.