Sunday morning, the AP released an article about the upcoming peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, and updated it throughout the day. The first version bore a timestamp at My Way News of 6:49 a.m. Eastern Time. The second was 9:29 a.m. The final version was released with a 4:05 p.m. timestamp. The first two articles had identical headlines and first grafs. The changes begin in the second paragraph. In the second version, the word “outright” was removed.
Israeli PM: Peace ‘difficult but possible’
By MATTI FRIEDMAN
JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel’s prime minister spelled out his opening position for the new round of Mideast peace talks set to begin next week, insisting Sunday on key security conditions and saying an agreement would be “difficult but possible.”Netanyahu said a future Palestinian state would have to be demilitarized, recognize Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people and respect Israel’s vital security interests. Some of his demands have already been rejected outright by the Palestinians.
The second version also increases the demonizing of the Israeli side and pushes the pro-Palestinian bias. The first version:
In addition, he said, the Palestinians must recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people just as Israel would recognize the Palestinian state as that of the Palestinian people.
The Palestinians have balked at that demand, saying it could prejudice the rights of Israel’s Arab minority and compromise the right of Palestinian refugees to return to homes vacated in the fighting around Israel’s establishment in 1948.
The comments indicated just how much work lies ahead for President Barack Obama, who hopes to resolve one of the world’s most intractable conflicts within a year.
In the 9:49 update, note how the AP has added that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a state, something that I’d like to see on paper. As far as I know, the original PLO charter that calls for the end to Israel is still in effect. Note also that there are extensive quotes by Saab Erekat.
In addition, he said, the Palestinians must recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people just as Israel would recognize the Palestinian state as that of the Palestinian people.
The Palestinians recognize Israel’s right to exist, but refuse to take a stand on the nature of the country. They say that recognizing Israel as the Jewish state could prejudice the rights of Israel’s Arab minority and compromise the right of Palestinian refugees to return to homes vacated in the fighting around Israel’s establishment in 1948.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said Netanyahu’s comments were “dictation, not negotiation.”
“If he wants negotiations, he knows that these conditions won’t stand,” Erekat said.
The comments indicated just how much work lies ahead for President Barack Obama, who hopes to resolve one of the world’s most intractable conflicts within a year.
Some other notes on the article: The words “hard-line” are used three times to describe the Israelis. It’s mentioned only once in the final version, but look how it is used:
Something close to the Olmert proposal – including a Palestinian presence in east Jerusalem and a near-complete withdrawal from the West Bank – is widely seen as the basis for a future settlement. But Netanyahu, who leads a coalition dominated by hard-line nationalistic and religious parties, has signaled he is not willing to go that far.
The bias is the same throughout all three versions. The final update changes the headline, the lead, and the author. Note the change in the tone of both the headline and the lead. It’s no longer about Netanyahu saying that peace is “difficult but possible.” Now, it’s about Netanyahu and Israeli “demands.” The AP takes the Palestinian line and insists that Netanyahu is calling for “conditions.” These aren’t conditions. They are goals, and in fact, Netanyahu stated these goals plainly months ago when he called for a Palestinian state, partly in answer to the critics who said he didn’t want to work towards Palestinian statehood.
Israeli PM stakes out positions for peace talks
JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel’s prime minister demanded Sunday that any future Palestinian state be demilitarized and recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland, as he staked out his starting position for new Mideast peace talks.
Benjamin Netanyahu said reaching a deal will be difficult but possible. The conditions he laid down, coupled with a swift Palestinian rejection, illustrated just how difficult the task will be for the U.S. to meet its goal of brokering peace within a year. Talks are set to begin in Washington next week.
The AP is absolutely carrying water for the Palestinians in this reporting. Take this paragraph from the last version, making the insistence on having no preconditions for peace talks seem like an unreasonable demand by the “hard-line” Netanyahu:
He pointedly insisted that there be no preconditions for him to rejoin the peace talks, and his aides have given no details about what concessions he is prepared to make, saying that is a matter for negotiations.
And not until the fourth paragraph from the end does the report get around to the fact that the Palestinian Authority is not negotiating for all the Palestinians. You would think that would be an important part of the lead. You would be wrong. The world is pretending that Hamas is still the democratically elected government of Hamas, in spite of the murderous coup that rid them of Fatah politicians in Gaza, and in spite of the fact that for both the PA and Hamas, the election deadline is long past, and no one has pretended that it’s time for another one. That, too, might seem important to point out in the story. But the media have never seemed to think that standards apply to the Palestinians.
Which is why we get three hit pieces in a row, each of them nastier and more anti-Israel than the preceding.
The AP updates: They keep on spinning the news more pro-Palestinian with each version, and I’ll keep on pointing it it out to my readers. Somebody has to.