Where are the Palestinians?
It could be the festive season that is upon us, it could be the train of high-ranking American officials that passed through our humble country in recent week; but it seems that the Palestinians have lost much of the media exposure they are used to.
Once recurred infighting dissipated the short-lived mirage of a unity government; as soon as planned terror attacks were forced back to underground holes and dirty dungeons, the cameras were turned elsewhere; Dictaphones were shoved back to the bags of foreign journalists. Silence on the media.
The Pavlovian instinct of winning global attention through atrocities – be they self-inflicted, targeting Israelis or brought about by Israel – is proving to be narcotic. The momentary gratification can only be sustained by returning time and again to the toxic, destructive substances that generate the instant and short-lived pleasure. Iraq-based terrorists do it better – more savage, more televised, more destructive – and yet they face the same fate. Once world audiences become used to the images and the sounds, they ultimately turn their attention elsewhere.
Palestinian plight and the cause of the meek and the humble are not earning many brownie points either. Genocide in Darfur is sexier; war in Somalia is more riveting; local social injustices are more worrying.
If terror ain't workin' no more, if misery, starvation and poverty don't do it for the world, what remains in the Palestinian bag o' tricks?
Dare I say it – peace?
The residents of the Middle East, Western politicians, even the world at-large, seem tired of empty statements and stale diplomatic moves. The current state of affairs strikes me as the most real and present dead-end we have faced in our region.
If the Palestinians are to stop international media from yawning, they must muster whatever solidarity they have left in them and march towards peace.
The case of Gilad Shalit is a perfect model for my contention: Palestinian militants are holding him captive, staunchly opposed to any compromise that will bring to his release, yet they continue to yearn for the return of thousands of prisoners. Any other aspect of their lives will demonstrate the same ratio in favor of Israel.
Media coverage is obviously not an end in itself, but a means, and a very powerful means at that. The Palestinians have known this all along, but lost their direction somewhere along the way. In the maze of indulgent whims, justified and unjustified rage and genuine plight, they will inevitably meet the Minotaur. It is only too unfortunate that the Master of the Maze will be speaking fluent Arabic with a thick Gazan accent.
It could be the festive season that is upon us, it could be the train of high-ranking American officials that passed through our humble country in recent week; but it seems that the Palestinians have lost much of the media exposure they are used to.
Once recurred infighting dissipated the short-lived mirage of a unity government; as soon as planned terror attacks were forced back to underground holes and dirty dungeons, the cameras were turned elsewhere; Dictaphones were shoved back to the bags of foreign journalists. Silence on the media.
The Pavlovian instinct of winning global attention through atrocities – be they self-inflicted, targeting Israelis or brought about by Israel – is proving to be narcotic. The momentary gratification can only be sustained by returning time and again to the toxic, destructive substances that generate the instant and short-lived pleasure. Iraq-based terrorists do it better – more savage, more televised, more destructive – and yet they face the same fate. Once world audiences become used to the images and the sounds, they ultimately turn their attention elsewhere.
Palestinian plight and the cause of the meek and the humble are not earning many brownie points either. Genocide in Darfur is sexier; war in Somalia is more riveting; local social injustices are more worrying.
If terror ain't workin' no more, if misery, starvation and poverty don't do it for the world, what remains in the Palestinian bag o' tricks?
Dare I say it – peace?
The residents of the Middle East, Western politicians, even the world at-large, seem tired of empty statements and stale diplomatic moves. The current state of affairs strikes me as the most real and present dead-end we have faced in our region.
If the Palestinians are to stop international media from yawning, they must muster whatever solidarity they have left in them and march towards peace.
The case of Gilad Shalit is a perfect model for my contention: Palestinian militants are holding him captive, staunchly opposed to any compromise that will bring to his release, yet they continue to yearn for the return of thousands of prisoners. Any other aspect of their lives will demonstrate the same ratio in favor of Israel.
Media coverage is obviously not an end in itself, but a means, and a very powerful means at that. The Palestinians have known this all along, but lost their direction somewhere along the way. In the maze of indulgent whims, justified and unjustified rage and genuine plight, they will inevitably meet the Minotaur. It is only too unfortunate that the Master of the Maze will be speaking fluent Arabic with a thick Gazan accent.
posted by Orr at 11:50 am
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