PALESTINIAN MEDIA TONES DOWN INCITEMENT

On the Air, Palestinians Soften Tone on Israelis - Greg Myre
According to those who monitor the Palestinian airwaves, suddenly there is talk of reconciliation. Israeli troops are called by more neutral terms. Scenes of destruction have fallen away. And the regular Friday sermons have become considerably more moderate. On Palestinian television, the archival scenes of violence were already appearing less frequently in the past year and had not been seen recently at all. "At the beginning of the intifada the media was totally different, showing fighting and playing national songs," said Nashat Aqtash, a Palestinian professor of mass communications at Bir Zeit University in Ramallah. "Now there is much more talk about social and political issues."

On the Palestinian side, there has been a decrease in "the extreme incitement to genocide, to kill all the Jews," said Itamar Marcus, the head of Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli monitoring group. But he said the problem was far from solved, adding that "incitement to hatred" continued in many forms as part of an effort to "delegitimize" the existence of Israel. (New York Times)

Arthur Siegel, in a letter to the NYT points out:

It is encouraging that the Palestinians are softening their tone, but your attempt to provide "balance" is itself unbalance ("On the Air, Palestinians Soften Tone on Israelis" - December 18, 2004).Citing the incendiary comments of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef - in 2001!! - as comparable to the daily incitement by the Palestinian media is bad enough. Ignoring the fact that on February 17, 2002 the Israeli Knesset passed legislation prohibiting incitement is a gross disservice to your readers. People can say anything. How the leaders in a society reacts to such statements is what matters. Finally a Palestinian leader is condemning outrageous comments. That should be
enough of a story.

He attaches a a copy of the article from The Jerusalem Post (reprinted below) of February 18, 2002 reporting on the Israeli legislation. He points out that it is of interest that the remarks by Ovadia Yosef in 2001 were not considered important enough to have been reported by The New York Times at the time - according to a search of their website.

Cabinet okays anti-incitement bill
The government yesterday reapproved a Justice Ministry bill prohibiting incitement after Minister-without- Portfolio Dan Meridor asked for a revote on a previous cabinet vote of approval for the bill. This time around, Meridor, Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin, Regional Cooperation Minister Roni Milo, and the Shas ministers voted against the bill.

The Justice Ministry prepared anti-incitement legislation after the Supreme Court ruled on November 27, 2000 that the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance could not be used to prosecute acts of incitement unless they were perpetrated by members of terrorist organizations. Since then, the state prosecution has been forced to drop a number of investigations, including one against Shas religious mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, because they could not pin their allegations on any existing law.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, Shas has foiled two government attempts to establish the legal machinery necessary to prosecute incitement. On June 25, 2001, Shas joined ranks with the opposition to defeat a government anti-incitement bill 30 to 29 on final reading. The following month, on July 11, the Knesset tied on the same bill on first reading. Shas again voted with the opposition. At the time, an angry Sheetrit vowed to bring the bill to the Knesset time and time again until it was passed. Yesterday, Sharon told the cabinet it is inconceivable to vote against the bill in this "time of war," and it should be legislated "immediately."

The draft approved yesterday differs from the previous draft. It requires "a reasonable possibility" the "call for perpetrating an act of violence or terrorism, or praise, sympathy, and encouragement for the act of violence or terror, or support for or identification with it" will actually "bring about the perpetration of the act of violence." The previous bill did not create a causal link between the act of incitement and any subsequent act of violence. The bill calls for a maximum five-year sentence for those convicted.

According to a Justice Ministry official, Sheetrit intends to bring the bill for first reading in the plenum very soon. Meridor told The Jerusalem Post he continues to oppose the law, because the prohibition against incitement is still too sweeping. "When we are talking about limiting freedom of expression, the threat emanating from words must be 'of a high probability or close certainty,'" he said. "It is too much to leave the prohibition in the realm of 'reasonable certainty.'"Meridor warned that under these circumstances, no Arab MK will want to be without an indictment and human rights organizations will have a field day criticizing Israel for restricting freedom of speech.