Media & Political bias against Israel (5 views) Subscribe   
   From:  David (DavidABrown)    7/19/2003 6:41 pm  
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Source: www.JPost.com

Palestinian incitement against Israel needs to end not only on PA television and radio, but also on CNN and in the UN General Assembly, senior foreign ministry official David Granit said Thursday. 

According to Granit, this will be one of the key messages Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom will deliver in a speech Monday to the foreign ministers of the enlarged EU, and will also be one of the key topics of his discussions later in the week in Washington. 

Shalom is expected to challenge the EU foreign ministers and say that if the EU views itself as an active partner in the road map process, it is incumbent upon it to take action against the anti-Israel resolutions in UN bodies, both by voting against them, and ensuring that the Palestinians and Arab states tone down the rhetoric. 

Granit, the foreign ministry's deputy director general for UN and International Organizations, said Shalom's appeal to the EU foreign ministers will be the opening shot in an all-out campaign to put an end to the endless flow of anti-Israeli resolutions, many of them virulent, coming out of various UN forums. 

Many of these resolutions, he said, can be characterized as the type of incitement the PA has obligated itself to put an end to under the road map. 

Although these resolutions has been a staple of the UN for years, Granit said that a number of factors have come together now making it the right time for Israel to combat the phenomenon. 

First of all there is a strong international movement, led by the US, to reform the UN in the wake of its performance prior to the war in Iraq. 

"Those who want to upgrade the UN need to know that in order to lift the UN up, this issue has to be tackled," he said. "It is part and parcel of the reform issue." 

Secondly, he said, the diplomatic process underway also makes now the right time to wage a campaign around the issue. "These anti-Israeli resolutions create obstacles to the peace process," he said. 

"We did not understand at Oslo the damage these resolutions can do, and thought that the excitement of Oslo would sweep away all the negativity," he said. "But we did not appreciate enough the strength of the radical countries, Islamic fundamentalism, and the legitimacy they have in the UN. 

Although UN resolutions may seem unimportant in Israel, in African and Latin American countries, where the UN is much more active, they have weight and create an atmosphere that de-legitimizes Israel. 

"One resolution may not be important," Granit said, "But 30 or 40 creates an impact in many countries which, because of these resolutions, treat you like a leper." 

And finally, Granit said, there is a growing understanding among a number of countries in Europe, especially the central and eastern European countries who are slated to join the EU next year, that this is a phenomenon that needs to end. 

According to Granit, a number of European ambassadors have said in the last few weeks that the treatment of Israel in the UN needs to change. 

Shalom, who told the Jerusalem Post in an interview that appears in section B that Europe is changing its attitude toward Israel, said this new-found willingness' of European countries not to go along with anti-Israel bashing in the UN is one sign of the overall positive change in Europe's attitude toward Israel.

 



David A. Brown
Basic Christian: Forum
www.BasicChristian.org

 
  
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