Zionist Publicity And The Palestinian Uprising (Al Intifada)

Khaled Bdier, Baheth center for studies

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ý      Features of Zionist Publicity

ý      Basic Grounds of Zionist Publicity

ý      Zionist Publicity and the  "Palestinian Intifada"

The Zionist propaganda is not an outcome of the present moment. It reverts to the time when Zionists started to think of settling in Palestine, the first landmark of which was the Basl conference (1897) in Switzerland. Therefore, the Zionist propaganda was born from the womb of the Zionist ideology, and acquired its norms and goals from the Zionist Movement's program which reclines on realization of the conception of a Jewish national homeland in Palestine.

It could be said that Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) –author of "The Jewish State" and founder of modern political Zionism- had perceived the importance of publicity for realizing the Zionist Movement objectives. So, he initiated a weekly newspaper named "De Walt" (The World), the first issue of which saw the light on June 3^rd, 1897. The leading article of this first issue said: "This newspaper must be an armor and a weapon for the Jewish people, a weapon which ought to be used against enemies of the Jewish people, regardless of their religions".[1]

Pursuant to this, the Basl Conference engendered "The Central Guidance Office" which linked between the chief of the Zionist organization and the local units. After the conference, which followed the First World War, a new division was set up. This division was called "Publicity Department", headed by "Chief of the Zionist organization" in coordination with "The Central Guidance Office".[2]

Herzl's maxims were considered as "prophetic commandments", which successive generations conceived as an embodiment thereof, though the forms of these maxims change according to place, time and extent of progress achieved in fulfilling the Zionist project. This could be clearly noticed in the ideas which the Zionist publicity observes in its mass media for creating the desired change in the conduct and consciousness of the parties it addresses. Consequently, what may be told to the Diaspora is different from what may be told to Jews settling in Palestine. This inconsistency includes the stage prior and posterior to the rise of the Zionist entity. It also includes communities targeted by the Zionist publicity. For example, the Zionist –as from the beginning of the 19^th Century, and in addition to calling upon Jews to return to "The Promise Land"- urged them to work on altering the distorted image which was then imprinted in the Western mind, and which then presented the Jew as a miser who always refused to mix in that community. William Shakespeare's plays and Sir Walter Scott's autobiography show how the Jewish race was looked upon with disdain.

ý      Features of Zionist Publicity

Before setting forth to define the basic grounds of Zionist publicity, we must first have a look at the most significant characteristic of this publicity:

§               Zionist publicity is one of the fields of war against Arabs. It aims at changing the form of compliance, depending on psychology and sociology and is based on desirability, motivation, brain washing and tampering with emotions. That is why Zionist publicity benefits from the experience of scientists, specialists and university professors. The best example of that is appointment of Dr. Cohen (one of the publicity scholars and professor of political sciences at the Hebrew University) to supervise publicity operations in the early seventies. It is the same Dr. Cohen who later on became a "Foreign Minister Advisor" and then "an Ambassador Extraordinary", because the "Zionist State Department" supervises all publicity fields in view of the fact that publicity strategy is one of the most important political elements.

§               Publicity is not mere thoughts or maxims as it is grounded on a pubicational scheme which includes coherent objectives, tools, stages, intellectual logic, arguments and supports to be able to address people and make them change their compliance through inducement. It invocates a small incident, magnifies it and then intimidates the sequences thereof to create a sort of disputation thereabout, changing it into an international operation, for which proofs, conceptions, evidences and pleas are furnished. The reason behind success of Zionist publicity is its ability to harmonize between its objectives and the local logic, or the historical and intellectual background of the society, subject of the pubicational attack.[3]

§               Zionists do not depend solely on mass media as a means for their publicity. In fact, they exploit their embassies, their employees and their tradesmen or rather every Jew they can have command of, in order to make him a tool in the hand of Zionist publicity. They sometimes resort to direct contact, knowing that the change of stance from opposition to support or from support to opposition does not happen except through direct contact.

§               Zionist publicity is not limited to Arabs and Palestinians only, but as a matter of fact, it is directed to many other centers and directions as well. It is aimed at the Zionist gathering in Palestine and in Western countries. It addresses the Western public opinion and prominent persons in those communities. It also addresses Jews living in all countries of the world. The Arab-American intellect "Dr. Edward Sa'id described Zionist publicity as "the most horrible publicity system in the world because it deforms the image of a whole nation…. and this encouraged the Zionist enemy's army and the great number of supporting writers to set out –disincentively- to cancel the long history of anguish and infringements, hoping to destroy the Palestinian people's civil existence".[4]

Undoubtedly, the Zionist publicity which addresses different centers gives each thereof what it (the center) wants but without weakening its arguments or its allegations, making sure that it thus serves its publicity objectives.

§               To ensure achievement of its publicity objectives, the Zionist entity follows the method of "publicational inundation", i.e. an allegation is launched and is simultaneously reiterated by all publicity media, means, tools and systems so as to drown the recipient in an ocean of pleas and pretexts presented by those tools and systems, making him believe that the true world is that which this publicity propounds, taking into consideration here, the importance of every mean and tool in choosing the form that harmonizes with the addressed recipient so that anybody escaping from traditional mass media would be drowned in e-mails, telephone calls and fabricated meetings.

§               The Zionist publicity is capricious and inconsistent in its stances, so, when addressing Europeans it assures that Israel is a part of the West in the East and that Israelis are Europeans as they have a blond hair, blue eyes and a European culture. But when addressing Asians it emphasizes its geographical location, alleging that Israelis are Asians, though when talking to Africans the Zionist publicity puts the Zionist entity in comparison with African countries and the entity becomes a state, exhausted by wars and is striving for its independence, as is the case with African countries. Furthermore, the Zionist publicity finds no embarrassment in talking to Arabs as a neighboring country that strives for establishing peace with its neighbors[5] for the benefit of the area as a whole.

§               Zionist publicity employs falsity, forgery, fabrication and distortion, but does not have the audacity to do so if it is met by a counter –publicity that uncovers and exploits the Zionist lies and falsifications for incapacitation of the publicity. Zionist publicity men lay out two conditions for implementation of falsities:

a.                                    A falsity should not be caught or uncovered, and the publicity man has to prepare himself for the stage in which this falsity may be caught or uncovered, and consequently implement a substitute plan that minimizes the significance of this discovery.

b.                                    The publicity man should not use lies if he is unable to change the truth.

In his book "Philosophy of Israeli Publicity" Dr. Hamed Rabee' says: "Theodor Herzl depended on falsity and on distortion of truth when he says that he used to talk to the Ottoman Sultan about the wealth and welfare that will prevail in the area as soon as Jews start to exploit the land of Palestine, while telling Jews that the Sultan is in need of money to open Palestine for them, alleging that direct negotiations were being carried out with the Sultan, though Herzl had never seen the Sultan's face.

ý      Basic Grounds of Zionist Publicity

No doubt each stage has its own maxims and adages, from which the Zionist publicity draws its content and its significance. Yet, there are some main indispensable grounds that embody –at all levels- the Zionist policy objectives, the most important of which are the following:

Zionist publicity concentrated on the Jews' entitlement to "The promise land" because Jews –in accordance with their perspective- consider themselves the true population of Palestine, as they had been driven out therefrom by the Romans. Zionist publicity has made a habit of addressing Jews, trying to convince them to migrate to "the land of promise" in conformity with Talmud teachings which say: "It is worthier for thee to live in the desert of Palestine than to inhabit places in distant countries".[6]

While Judaism called for returning to "the promised land", Zionist publicity was ruminating the adage that Palestine is a land with no people, alleging that the Palestinian people does not exist. Is this not what GoldaMair (the former Zionist prime minister) announced on June15, 1969 when she said: "There is nothing called Palestinians, and the situation is not that there had been a Palestinian people in Palestine who considers himself the people of Palestine, whom we drove away therefrom. The Palestinian people did not exist".[7] But as soon as loud voices started to announce that the Palestinian people does exist, the Zionist publicity tried to present Palestinians as invaders who came to Palestine from abroad, claiming that they are wandering nomads like Bedouins of Bir Al Saba' whom the Zionist publicity described as rootless Bedouins roaming from one place to another in the desert. It furthermore depicted the land of Palestine as a barren dry desert. The Zionist theorist (of American origin) Louis D. Brandice said: "It was a barren land with no trees, wearying and unarbored generations ago but has now proved (after arrival of Zionist settlers) that it is a land that can become again "the land of milk and honey", where you could see it planted with orange trees, olive trees, almond trees, wheat and other cereals".[8]

In its address to the world, Zionist publicity depended on the unity between religion and nationalism, considering that the Jewish religion is –in itself- nationalistic and that nationalism and Judaism can not be separated from one another. The Zionist writer Yahel Michael Panis  says: "What is that Jewish nationalism if separated from the Jewish religion? It is a futile principle that has no embellished expressions; what would nationalism be if it is not a conception, or in other words a conceptional image? But, any conceptional image would be mere deception if it had no origin or basis in reality, and as for the conceptional image of Jewish nationalism, what basis would it have other than unity of the Jewish people with its Torah and with its religion".[9]

The Zionist publicity is accustomed to launch this projectile of its using all tools and means –in the face of anyone who restitutes Judaism to religion and refuses to regard it as nationalism. Zionist publicity propagated this matter vehemently amid Western societies, specifically in the United States, and managed to achieve great privileges in that domain, where an American Jew –for example- can get the Israeli nationality without having to drop his American one. Of course, this is not applicable only in the United States but also in other countries of the world as well. Consequently, we can find someone who might openly and haughtily say: "I am a Jewish nationalistic British".

Zionist publicity took advantage of the holocaust and deliberately attended to keep it alive up to this date so as to extort "the West" –not only for recognition of Israel- but also for supporting it in the time of crises and for facilitating migration of Jews to Palestine for fear of occurrence of more "holocausts" against them in abroad. Zionist publicity considered every Arabian or Palestinian operation as a holocaust and accused every Arab leader –who tries to liberate the land and restore the rights- of being a new "Hitler".

Zionist publicity depicted the nature of the Arab-Israeli struggle as if it aims at devouring and slaughtering of Jews. According to Zionist publicity, it is a war launched against a small peaceful, democratic, non-aggressive, civilized and non-expansionistic state. Zionist mass media allocated wide elbowroom for asserting that the Zionist entity is a "peace loving state", flirting and propagating Sharon's words in an attempt to convince the Western public opinion that "Israel and the people thereof are of the most peace-loving nations".[10]

The peace which Zionists mean is that which Shimon Peres links to Israel's security. It is the peace which Goldamair talks about in her book "My Life", where she says: "I would like to tell those who inquire about the future that I still have one and only one answer: I am sure that we will have peace with our neighbors, and I am positively sure that no body is ready to work on peace with a weak Israel. So, if Israel is weak then there would be no peace".[11] This is the same peace which Rabin had promised in Oslo Agreements and Netanyahu had propagated in "Y-Plantation" and Barak had praised in "Camp David 2" and which Sharon is now linking with full submission of Palestinians.

The idea of "the white man's message" predominated the Zionist publicity men, whereas they used to present the Zionist entity as an agent of the "advanced and bright" Western civilization, alleging that the Jews' project in Palestine does not differ much from this "European message" in Africa, America or Australia and hence, the Zionist entity forms an extension to the Western civilization, and any damage befalling that entity would afflict this civilization and would necessitate prompt assistance and support to the entity by all means.

Zionist publicity never forgets to remind of the Jews and Judaism's contributions to European civilization and to civilizational development in general. It always stresses that most of the eminent men in the various fields of science such as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein and others are Jews. On the other hand, it presents an image of the anti-western civilization Arab who refuses to acknowledge the democracy and grace thereof. A report written by Jacob Tsore (chief of the joint committee of the Zionist Administration and publicity Affairs at the Foreign Ministry) states: "We must gather information about some Arab countries to prove their weakness, their fanaticism, their illiteracy rates, their way of treating minorities and lack of democracy therein".

As for the role of publicity tools that are directed to "primitive and anti Western civilization Arabs", to dissuade them from thinking of destroying Israel, the former chief of General Staff, Yigal Yadin (1950-1953) and archaeologist at "The Hebrew University" says: "we have a weapon of the first degree which we do not use the way we should, which is mass media in the Arabic language. The radio broadcasting station should work twenty four hours a day, using the most efficient broadcasting systems to cover the whole area from Iraq to Egypt, day by day, hour by hour and year by year because there are things we should say to them. In Egypt alone there are twenty-five to thirty million syphilis patients, suffering from relapsing fever, who do not bother at all about the Palestinian cause. We have to put this matter –day and night- in their minds. We must talk to them about their problems and about things they could do toward these problems if they change the way they use their potentialities. Let us instigate them to forget about destruction of Israel".[12]

Assuredly, the afore said are some of the basic grounds of Zionist publicity, taking into account that they are too many, due to diversity and numerousity of those addressed by this publicity. This renders it impossible to include all the basic grounds in this paper.

ý      Zionist Publicity and the "Palestinian Intifada"

It seems that the Zionist entity was militarily and security wise prepared for the rise of the "Al Intifada" –or "the uprising" as the entity used to call it –and had set up plans (such as the "Spiny Field") to face it. Yet, the entity was not prepared from the informational side.

The rise of the "Al Intifada" –which came as a reply to Sharon's profanation of Al-Aqsa mosque did come unexpectedly upon publicity designers in the Zionist entity. Mass media ignored the impact of Sharon's entry to the "AL AQSA Mosque" and focused on "demonstrations carried out by some youths against Jews". This was televised on Friday 29.09.2000 in the program "The Week in One Hour" (one day after Sharon's entry to Al Aqsa Mosque). The program avoided referring to Sharon's subject and presented a three-minutes report on "Friday Events", during which the correspondent commented on the ascent of events inside the holy precinct and said: "When the prayer finished, some Palestinian youths started to throw stones at Jews praying by "the wailing wall". The reporter ascribed this to the provocative Friday Sermon which assisted in inflaming the praying people's sensations.

In the very few times reference was made to Sharon's profanation of the "Al Aqsa Mosque", the Zionist mass media always stated that Israel is a democratic Jewish state and hence does not prevent a Jewish man from carrying out his religious duties. The mass media always accused Palestinians of incitement and provocation and that is what Sharon himself said to the Zionist television on Thursday 28.09.2000, ignoring plenty of incidents: "My visit is not provocative; provocation came from the other party". Sharon disregarded provocation incited by his entry to the Al Aqsa Mosque, which hurt the feelings and sensations of Arabs and Muslims, especially when accompanied by three thousand policemen.

As a matter of fact, many Zionist newsmen admitted that "the "Al Intifada" did surprise Zionist publicity designers: Roni Shked –for example- spoke about the negative role cameras played in photographing incidents and happenings of the "Al Intifada". The researcher at "JAFEE Center for Strategic Studies" (Shai Fildman) wrote under the heading" "The Second Intifada –An Appraisal of The Situation" : "the picture which electronic mass media showed, in which some well equipped Israeli soldiers were quashing some young Palestinian stone throwers did serve the Palestinians attempt to present themselves as a victim of the Israeli power…. A victim that needs international protection".[13]

Giora Ayland (Chief of the Planning Section in the Zionist Army General Staff) took the same direction, expressing his fear from photographs published by electronic his fear from photographs published by electronic mass media, "the thing that stirs up the public opinion against Israel". In an essay headed "The Israeli Army and Foreign Publicity: Appraisal and Lessons After One Year of the Intifada "Ayland wrote: "One of the mistakes we had made is our inattention to the impact of those T.V photographs in the whole world.", adding that "When Jacques Chirac sees an Israeli helicopter shelling Palestinians, he will not be ready to believe that this helicopter has the ability and preciseness to hit the target without endangering civilians or surrounding area".[14]

Ayland blames what he calls "Israeli delinquency "relating to the attack on the bus in Kfar Daroum where two people were killed and three members of the same family lost their legs, "considering that informational handling of the incident was inadequate and improper, whereas Israel rushed to reply by launching and attack (using helicopters). Publicity then, did not explain that reply and all pictures and photographs –presented by foreign mass media- showed the helicopter attack, while the attack on the bus was not mentioned at all".

It seems that the scene of the assassination of the child Mohamad Al Durrah had cornered Zionist publicist who girded themselves for launching a propagational attack, in an attempt to present a positive picture of the Zionist entity so as to efface the negative one created by mass media. Zionist publicity media first said that Al Durrah was shot by Palestinian hands and presented him (on the internet) as a Jewish child killed by Palestinians.

In order for Zionist publicity to succeed in confronting the " Intifada", some Zionists called for implantation of a tight relation with foreign journalists and encouraged giving importance to provision of information therefore. They also suggested having senescent military spokesmen replaced by young handsome ones. The British ambassador in Israel "Sherard Gowperkoolz" was the one to give this piece of advice in a press interview with "Jerusalem Post" newspaper, where he said: "Israelis should imitate the British Army tactics in its war against the Irish Republican Army in North Ireland". The British ambassador continued: "I wish to give more support to the Israeli public affairs efforts and sometimes feel that Israel could present its case in a better manner. The ambassador added: "If you do not proceed to provide mass media with photographs then the enemy would. Every time an incident takes place you have to assign an official spokesman, preferably young and handsome, to give a good image of the Israeli Defense Army".[15]

Setting up a special regional office to administer propagational war against Palestinians is considered the first step towards facing and stepping-over the surprise. This office –which includes representatives of the ministry of war, Foreign Ministry, security corps and the Prime Minister's office- started to draw plans to reply to international publicity and to break down the success achieved by Intifada's image in mass media, the thing that frightened Zionists lest the adage for which they had propagated since 1948 should fall. This adage says that Jalout –the strong and mighty- threatens David –the weak and feeble-. This adage hints to the Arabs who threaten Jews. What frightened Zionists is conversion of this equation, where David represents the weak Palestinian who never surrenders or stops challenging, while the wicked Jalout represents the Zionist in the course of the "Al Intifada".

This said office worked hard –during the two years of the Al Intifada- on inventing, devising and propagating news idioms and adages, trying to spread them among Western publicity and –as much as possible- among Arab publicity media as well. Examples of these idioms and adages are: "Israeli Penetration", "Israel's waiver of territories to Palestinians", "Israeli civilians" and "targeted murder".

In its attack, Israeli publicity depended on the traditional adage which alleges that "Israel is engaged in a defensive war and has no other choice. This war is imposed thereon by malevolent forces, and despite that, the Israeli army does not use weapons except within a mere moral scope".[16]

Zionist publicity media traded upon the incident in which a Palestinian crowd killed some Israeli soldiers (from the Special Forces) who entered Ramallah to carry out assassination operations against some Palestinian militants. Zionist publicity intended to demonstrate the Intifada as ugly and retaliatory deeds carried out by savages who have no moral values. Zionists distributed a tape about the Ramallah operation, which was recurredly televised by several international stations to create some sort of equilibrium in the power of the image and to give preponderance to that of the Zionist entity, thus passing the Zionists' perspective of Arabs as being "conscienceless and religiousless conspirators",[17] and also as "snakes and animals whom God had regretted creation thereof" as says Rabbi Ofadia Yousef in a statement of his published in various mass media. According to the Zionist suppressive political policy which –according to Dr. Abdul Wahhab Al Missiri- does not look at Palestinians as a nation that has a history and a civilization, but as an integral part of nature, such as foxes and wolves, and consequently have no right in life. They must be annihilated if it proves that their harm exceeds the benefits thereof".[18]

In such for reasonable grounds that lead to this goal (i.e. annihilation, assassination and suppression) designers of Zionist publicity propagated the big lie of Barak's generous offer to Arafat in "Camp David 2" in July 2000, which was rejected by the latter, calling for implementation of the "Palestinians' Return Agreement" which can not be carried out except at the expense of Israel's existence and nature as a Jewish state.[19]

Zionist publicity managed to propagate this fake adage, and some Western mass media –in the forefront of which was the American- considered that the Clinton/Barak proposal is something preferential, generous and magnanimous but never explained in what way was it preferential or generous or even magnanimous".[20]

The Zionist propaganda then moved to the next step, which is accusation of the Palestinian Authority of going back on its agreements, thus choosing "terrorism as a strategic option" so as to achieve what it couldn't at "Camp David 2". As such, the excuse for bombing was ready and was quickly grasped by Western mass media. Thereby, the scarecrow of "terrorism" and of "defending Israel's security" became the Zionist justification for murdering Palestinian leaders, cadres, children, women and old men. Hence, the martyr "Abu Ali Mustapha" is a terrorist who was planning to explode a nursery and the two martyrs "Jamal Saleem" and "Jamal Mansour" are first class terrorists, being a threat to the Zionist entity. The enemy's government always pleaded that it has a list of "wanted figures" which it passed to the American Administration and to the Palestinian Authority. There were less than thirty names on that list, and because the Palestinian Authority did nothing about that list, the Israeli Defense Army is forced to carry out this job. The paradox that reflects the annihilation policy practiced against the Palestinian people is that this said list – two years after the break out of the Al Intifada has expanded to include the whole Palestinian people, whereas the occupation army blockades all cities, villages and camps in the West Bank and Gaza, murdering or arresting Palestinians right, left and center, raising the number of Palestinian detainees to eight thousands.

It is noticeable that after the September 11 explosions in Washington and New York, Zionist publicity became more powerful and influential, where it newly designed idioms and adages that outreached the first ones. Palestinians became Taliban Movement and Al-Qaeda Organization, Tel Aviv is facing what Washington is encountering and Israel now has its own Ben Laden as Ariel Sharon (the Zionist prime minister) has recurredly announced. It was Benjamin Netanyahu who led the propagational campaign outside occupied Palestine (i.e. in the United States and Europe) comparing Taliban and Ben Laden's terrorism with "Palestinian terrorism", concluding that "Palestinian terrorism" is tightly associated with the September 11 events. Fighting terrorism became an international demand to face all kinds and forms of terrorism, meaning that Israel has to use all available means against all forms of violence".[21]

The Zionist propaganda utilized the September 11 events to spread out its venom. Publicity media justified the Israeli army's shelling of ambulance cars, claiming that Palestinians were using them for transporting explosives and arms. Zionist publicity media also justified the murder of Palestinian children because they are would-be terrorists. Zionist newspapers used to publish –on their front pages- fabricated pictures of Palestinian children carrying machine guns or wrapped up with explosive belts to present them as "future terrorists". Zionist publicity media also utilized martyrdom operations and live pictures thereof as an excuse to go on murdering, destroying, suppressing and occupying on the pretext of "Israel's security", thus overstepping all the adages it had propagated so as to make assassination of combatants understandable and acceptable to Western mass media. Examples of these idioms are: "positive defense", "targeted murder" and "the right of Israel to liquidate terrorists".[22]

Zionist propagational means –at times- gave and propagated false stories, especially when news agencies were presenting pictures and photographs of Palestinian children, women and old men who fell during Zionist aggressions, as had happened when breaking into Jenin Camp in 2002. Zionist publicity media then stated that "Palestinian combatants used their relatives as a human armor though all sources confirmed that Zionists had used all means and tools of killing for controlling the camp".[23]

In other cases, such as "Hay Al Daraj" bombing operation in Gaza, where children, women and old people fell as martyrs, the Zionist propaganda rushed to give baseless excuses such as: "combatants were hiding amid civilians", and in case pictures of victims quickly reached Western mass media, Zionist publicity would turn to statements made by ministers or Foreign Ministry and War officials in which they express their sorrow and apologize for "the fall of innocent victims who live close to terrorists' houses or who dwell in the vicinity of workshops that manufacture mortar missiles".

Parallel to that, Zionist propaganda exaggerates the number of killed Zionists, focusing on children. It markets their pictures that are taken at very close distances among Western mass media. An example of tampering with television pictures is the escort of the Jewish child –who was killed in Al Khalil- to her final resting place, televised on 01.04.2001, where all newspapers and broadcasting stations focused on that. Yet, when a Palestinian child is killed the whole matter is ignored and eyes are shut to it.

To damage the Palestinians' high spirits, Zionist publicity recurredly confirms steadfastness and solidarity of the Zionist society which has been subject to treachery from Palestinians who had signed "peace agreements" therewith. The Zionist journalist "Sima Kadmon" stated in an essay of his, headed "Sharon Sites": "Our desire for unity of arrays and our longing for a unified front, together with our indignation toward all those who undermine unanimity arise from our feeling that the whole world is against us and that the knife is in the nation's back".[24]

Giora Eiland confirms that "unity of the Israeli society is ascribed to the fact that the background of the Intifada today is different from that of 1987, which started from bottom to top, while today it is from top to bottom because of the strategic decision which calls for an armed struggle. Another difference is that in the past matters did not go beyond throwing stones at the Israeli army men, while today it is more or less an armed clash. Furthermore, Israel –in 1987- had unrestricted control of the state of affairs, but today, there is an Authority which has a president, a parliament, an army, a legal police crops with thirty thousand men who carry legitimate weapons". Eland added: "consensus is ascribed to the fact that the Intifada started after the meeting with Palestinians in the prime minister's house and after Camp David, that is to say, when the political march was at its peak".[25]

Opposite to that, Zionist publicity worked on presenting Palestinians in a state of dissension and contention. "Fatah Movement is in discord with Hamas, Arafat is in disagreement with some of his assistants, and above that the disputes inside Palestinian camps and cities and among Palestinian Resistance factions. Zionist publicity made use of any incident that took place in the West Bank or Gaza areas to fabricate a separatist scenario thereof, as had happened when the Authority's security crops in Gaza subdued the demonstrators who were denouncing the aggression on Afghanistan, or as had happened in the wake of          " Operation Defensive  Shield", where the Zionist television hosted in its programs Palestinian officials despite the decision taken by the Israeli government on 29.03.2002, which prohibits hosting of Palestinian officials. These propagational hosting were planned to change television programs into political struggle arenas between Palestinian politicians who theorized and preached as if they were not on the enemy's publicity platform.

Dr. Azmi Bshara –commenting on those programs- says: "A person does need to have a shrewd political mind to see the Israeli interest in pouring oil on the fire of this struggle which does not serve the interests of the Palestinian people, because democratic political reformation does not pass via Israeli television and radio".[26]

When we talk about Zionist publicity, we have to admit that it has achieved most if not all its objectives, due to the lack of an official Palestinian political firm decision to defend the Intifada and to adopt a resistive course, the thing that reflects itself on the strategic informational ability to comfort Zionist publicity.

Here, we point out to three separate occasions in which the Zionist publicity managed to achieve its objectives due to the above said reasons:

1.            The "Karen A" interception incident, in which Zionist publicity achieved a great success.

2.            Detention of "Ahmad Sa'adat" (Secretary General of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine PFLP) together with the combatants who killed the Zionist terrorist "Rahba'am Zaivi".

3.            The "understanding" reached in the wake of the siege of "Nativity Church" in Bethlehem, where Zionist publicity propagated that Muslims had detained Christian priests inside the church and used them as human armors.

It is worth mentioning that these three situations ended in a way that accords with Zionist publicity objectives whereas the Palestinian official behavior and the settlements reached with Zionists did actually serve Zionist speakers and proved correctness of their view point in front of the world.

As such, Palestinians became:

-                Terrorists, transporting weapons on "Karen A" to threaten the security of the "peace loving Israel".

-                Terrorists, killing Zaivi, and hence are detainees in Jericho.

-                Terrorists, besieging Christian priests in "Nativity Church", and assaulting Israeli soldiers, and therefore, some of them migrated to European countries while others moved to Gaza.

"Karen A" as an example:

No doubt, the informational operation implemented by Zionists during the uprising passes through well studied stages to ensure achievement of the results sought after. This propagational process was divided into the following stages:

a.            Putting forth the problem: notification of the problem.

b.            Preparing for the propagational campaign: this stage includes planning and gathering of information that serves publicity objectives.

c.            Direct attack: the most dangerous of all stages, whereas it depends on gathered information and direct addressing of the opponent.

d.            Enemy enfeeblement stage.

e.            Result exaggeration stage.

Any perception of the Zionist publicity war against the Intifada would notice that publicity designers in the Zionist entity had adhered to the above mentioned stages, though they look so intermingled and complementary that it becomes difficult to separate a stage from the one that precedes or that follows it.

We can say that Zionist propaganda is noticed most in the afore said incidents which are:

1.            The "Karen A" issue.

2.            Arresting of the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Ahmad Sa'dat) and his combatant companions who carried out the death sentence on the Zionist terrorist "Rahebam Zaivi".

3.            Deportation of the combatants besieged inside the "Nativity Church" in Bethlehem.

In this paper we shall deal with only one of the above three issues (i.e. The Karen A case) to exemplify the Zionist propagational work, and successes thereof in achieving its objectives.

The "Karen A" story started in early January 2002, with a piece of news infiltrated by the Zionists and communicated by international mass media, relating to the Israeli forces' interception to an "armament ship" heading for Gaza Strip. News pointed out that some country is behind the armament ship heading for Palestine. This piece of news represents the first step in the propagational process, and was enough for raising or stirring the problem.

It is obvious that the preparational stage for the propagational campaign had been studied and finalized before releasing this piece of news. This is evidenced by the press conference held in Tel Aviv (at the Israeli Forces General Staff) and attended by Shaol Mufaz (General Chief of Staff) and the Air Forces and Navy Chiefs. In that conference Mufaz said: "Noah Operation" (meaning capture of the ship Karen A) was a very complicated military and security operation, where "Karen A" was under our full control before getting to the Israeli sea port".[27]

During that press conference accusation was directed to the Palestinian Authority for standing behind the purchase of the ship. Chief of the Air Forces and Chief of The Navy gave some details about "the ship interception process", revealing some information about the cargo content thereof.

The third stage, which is represented by the direct attack –though preceded by the Mufaz press conference- came vigorous and vehement in the press conference held by Ariel Sharon on 06.01.2002, who was very eager to invite foreign diplomats and military attaches to have a look at the ship and freight thereof, so as to ensure getting the support of their countries to the Zionist stance. Sharon said: "The Palestinian Authority assumes a major role in international terrorism". To gain the sympathy of the international public opinion, Sharon exaggerated the threat which this ship represents when he said: "The ship was heading for Gaza, and had it not been intercepted, we would have been under direct threat from Tel Aviv to Hertzliya and from Ariel Settlement to Nitzarim".

Within the scope of this attack, Sharon did not forget to point out that the operation itself represents Arafat's strategic preference to terrorism and that his (Arafat's) cooperation with Iran aims at carrying out terrorist operations against Israel.[28] Sharon's aim was to ensure American and Western reactions against Iran and against "Hizbullah". During this conference, reference was made to the names: Fuad Al Shobaki, Adel Al Mughrabi, Juma'a Abu Ghali, Fathi Al Razzam and Omar Akkawi as being involved in the ship question.

The direct propagational attack did not stop at this point. Zionist publicity media then started –in a harmonized and well systematized manner- to publish and transmit news, commentaries and details about the Israeli soldier's potency and capability and capturing the ship without shooting a single bullet. Emphasis was also given to the weapons and ammunition distrained, and to the long Palestinian history in smuggling weapons in addition to their relations with other countries that make every effort to undermine Israel's security. An example of that is: "The Black Hawk helicopters hovered over the ship and the commandoes descended thereupon. Several rubber launches carrying frogmen clung to the ship and the commandoes stormed through to the control cabin, directing their guns to the heads of sleeping and unsleeping members of the crew. Soldiers started searching while the intelligence man gathered the ship crew and started questioning them… etc[29]

This scenario is more or less similar to what we see in the movies or on television, but for the recipient it is so exciting that he becomes eager to follow the story, not only from the security and political angle but also for the suspense it carries. The story itself depicts the strength and bravery of the Zionist soldier on the one hand and the cowardice and laziness of the ship crew. This is contrary to what some Zionist newspapers had reported, stating that Ariel Sharon had mobilized and levied the best of his publicity experts to exploit –as far as possible- seizure of the ship, in an attempt to present his army as an invulnerable force.

Alex Fishman wrote in Ma'ariv newspaper: "The operation has given life to population of the state", while Shlomo Gazet wrote (in Maariv newspaper as well): "Israel has never lived a better era intelligence wise".[30] Ozi Bensman wrote about Sharon's conference in Ha'aretz newspaper: "In fact, what happened is not a press conference, it is rather a propagational festival organized by the Israeli government for all accredited representatives of governments".

To universalize this festival, and to harvest the after math thereof, the Zionist entity sent telegrams to all its embassies and agencies abroad, which –according to Maariv newspaper- said: "You are requested to make every effort to expose this incident and consequences thereof." The telegram added: "This operation proves correctness of the prime minister's concept for destroying terrorism infrastructure."The telegram did not forget instigation against Iran: "The ship question also relates to a country that supports terrorism, exports terrorism and threatens to use nuclear power against Israel".[31]

In the same sequence, the Zionist entity sent a security delegation to the United States to disclose to Washington the details and findings relating to the ship, holding the Palestinian Authority and Iran responsible for the whole affairs.

It is noticeable that during this stage, Zionist publicity designers have mobilized all their tools and means –such as news papers, television, radio, press conferences, delegations and Zionist and foreign ambassadors- to work as a one complementary team for enfeeblement of their adversary. This stage was soon actualized due to the adversary's weak defense of a clear and rightful stance, whereas the Palestinian Authority president and officials –after denying to have any relation with the ship, and after announcing that this is one of Sharon's lies- declared that an investigation committee was formed for questioning Faud Al Shobaki as per a Zionist request.

The Palestinian Authority never thought or tried to work out a plan to defy the Zionist publicity. It never referred to the Zionist entity's arsenal which is being used against Palestinian civilians. No body talked about the Resistance's right in owning its simple weapons. No journalists or diplomats were summoned, no conferences were held and no delegations were sent for refuting the Zionist propagation. Instead, the Palestinian Authority gave in the Zionist publicity which exploited even European and American delegates. This welter and confusion led to success of the Zionist entity in proving what it alleges, paving the way for shelling of Gaza Airport and Seaport and of Arafat's residence in the city. It also led to sweeping away of the airport runways and putting fire to the planes of the Authority's president.

It is possible here to say that arresting Fuad Al Shobaki and putting him in Jericho jail –as part of what is known as the "Residence Deal", concluded between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, for raising the siege imposed on Yasser Arafat, in the wake of the Defensive Shield operation- is but a wrong Palestinian move that confirms credibility of Zionist publicity, at a time Palestinians were in bad need for setting up a propagational plan based on their right to resist occupation, the thing that international conventions and humanitarian laws protect and assure.

Throughout the "Karen A" propagational campaign, the Zionist entity –assisted by the Palestinian Authority's powerlessness- succeeded in realizing its goals against the Palestinian people and the Intifada thereof.

Just after the "Residence Deal" was signed, we regrettably heard Nabil Abu Rudainah thanking "Al Jazeera" television for the role it played in covering the incidents, requesting it to emphasize the fact that transfer of the six Palestinians to Jericho and lifting the siege on President Arafat is a great Palestinian achievement…. or rather a Palestinian victory.[32]

Last but not least, facing the Zionist propaganda, refuting its allegations and exposing the deep rooted falsity therein are quite feasible. All it requires from Palestinian and Arab informationalists is to have faith in their ability to do so, provided that they abide to an informational program which is based on two imperatives:

1.            Informational science and other relevant sciences as well, such as social science, psychology and political science, to ensure effectiveness of publicity.

2.            A political program that assures legitimacy of resisting the Zionist occupant. This would give vividity to the information program, without which this program would become textless and would later on change into evidence which Zionist publicity may use to prove Arabs inability and weakness.

References