The AP couldn’t manage to write a Rosh Hashana story without criticizing Israel. Because gee, when they write Ramadan stories, the first thing they do is bemoan Muslim terrorist attacks. Oh, wait. No they don’t. Here’s what went ’round the world:
Israelis ushered in the Jewish New Year on Monday with festive family dinners – and a warning from their outgoing prime minister that they’ll have to return virtually all the land captured in 1967 to win peace with the Palestinians and Syrians.
Ehud Olmert, who is giving up his office amid a corruption investigation, also exchanged holiday greetings with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. The Jewish New Year, or Rosh Hashana, coincides this year with Eid el-Fitr, one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar.
Let’s see what the AP says the Palestinians have to do.
Palestinians, meanwhile, prepared for Eid el-Fitr, the three-day holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Eid el-Fitr will start here Tuesday.
In Gaza, outdoor markets were selling nearly all the supplies needed for the holiday, but prices were up sharply, compared to the period before the start of the blockade. Gazans get many of their supplies through smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border.
A tunnel operator, who would identify himself only as Abu Nidal, said he had been working double time in the run-up to the holiday.
“Before we used to enter 1, 2 tons a day of goods in general,” he said. “These days, from 5 to 6 tons.” He added that the smuggled goods range from clothes and chocolate to balloons.
Got the narrative? Israel will have to give up all the territory captured in 1967. Because Ehud Olmert, the unelected Prime Minister of Israel, who is operating without any kind of mandate and is being forced out of office due to corruption investigations, said so. The Palestinians, meantime—have to smuggle Eid food into Gaza. Lots of it.
Now let’s look at the holiday itself. The AP can’t simply describe Rosh Hashanah. Nope. Gotta have the narrative.
Rosh Hashana, which began at sundown, ushers in 10 days of soul-searching capped by Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. But the New Year holiday itself is a time for festive meals, which traditionally include an apple dipped in honey to symbolize a sweet new year.
Israel closed off the West Bank until late Wednesday, barring Palestinians from entering Israel. It is a measure common during Jewish holidays, to deter possible attacks by Palestinian militants.
The Gaza Strip, the other Palestinian territory, has been virtually sealed off since June 2007, when the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control by force. The vast majority of the territory’s 1.4 million Palestinians have been trapped there since then.
Got it? While Israelis will be having festive meals, after days of soul-searching, the Gazans are trapped inside the Gaza Strip (and there’s almost no context save for the reference to Hamas above), and working double-time to smuggle in Eid feast goods.
File this under, “Why we hate the AP.”