UPDATE: The AP media bias

I wrote my 1 p.m. post earlier today and scheduled it. Here’s the lead from the first version of the AP story about Tzipi Livni calling for new elections:

Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni on Sunday abandoned her efforts to form a new coalition government and said she would recommend early parliamentary elections.

Palestinians worried the decision could put already fragile peace talks in limbo for months until the elections are held. The balloting could also clear the way for opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects sweeping territorial concessions to the Palestinians, to reclaim the premiership.

And here’s the lead in the AP update:

Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni abandoned efforts to form a government Sunday, putting Israel on course for new elections and endangering already fragile Middle East peace talks.

Palestinians fear the decision could put a year’s worth of peace talks in limbo for months, until elections are held. The balloting opens the door for opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who rejects sweeping territorial concessions to the Arabs, to return to power.

There’s also this, which wasn’t in the earlier piece:

Peacemaking foundered during Netanyahu’s 3-year tenure as prime minister in the 1990s, and his positions have not softened since.

He quit Ariel Sharon’s government because he opposed Israel’s 2005 withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and opposes ceding sovereignty over any part of east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Do you know what they fail to mention? Why peacemaking “foundered” during Netanyahu’s term.

As Prime Minister, Netanyahu negotiated with Yasser Arafat in the form of the Wye River Accords (1998). No progress was made regarding negotiations with the Palestinians, and although they failed to implement agreed-upon steps of the Oslo Accords, Netanyahu turned over most of Hebron to Palestinian jurisdiction. In 1996, Netanyahu and Jerusalem’s mayor Ehud Olmert decided to open an exit for the Western Wall Tunnel. This sparked three days of rioting by Palestinians, resulting in both Israelis and Palestinians being killed.

You see, Netanyahu turned over Hebron to Arafat, but the Palestinians rioted over lies that their precious aqsa mosque was being destroyed (obviously, it was not).

But just in case you weren’t sure that Netanyahu was one of those evil Likud guys that Obama likes to denigrate, the AP points it out for you. And lays all the blame of the “foundering” peace talks on his shoulders. Not on, say the terrorist bombings that happened just before and during his term as PM:

• Mar 3, 1996 – In a suicide bombing of bus No. 18 on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, 19 were killed (16 civilians and 3 soldiers).
• Mar 4, 1996 – Outside Dizengoff Center in Tel-Aviv, a suicide bomber detonated a 20-kilogram nail bomb, killing 13 (12 civilians and one soldier).
• Mar 21, 1997 – Three people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb on the terrace of a Tel Aviv cafe. 48 people were wounded.
• Jul 30, 1997 – 16 people were killed and 178 wounded in two consecutive suicide bombings in the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem.
• Sep 4, 1997 – Five people were killed and 181 wounded in three suicide bombings on the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall in Jerusalem.
• Oct 29, 1998 – One Israeli soldier was killed when a terrorist drove an explosives-laden car into an Israeli army jeep escorting a bus with 40 elementary school students from the settlement of Kfar Darom in the Gaza Strip.

Funny how the AP doesn’t mention these things.

I do.