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| PALESTINIANS LAUD SADDAM, BASH BUSH AS AMERICAN-IRAQI SHOWDOWN LOOMS |
Palestinian political leaders and opinion makers are closely following the American-Iraqi show-down, and they are finding it difficult to hide their true feelings.
There are various gradations to these views but, generally speaking, U.S. President George Bush is seen as a blood-thirsty, gun-toting cowboy who is out to ambush the good but clever leader of Iraq, Saddam Hussein.
"Iraq's decision was a smart move that prevented an American attack on Iraq," declared Palestinian Authority strongman Yassir Arafat today (Sept. 18), in remarks broadcast on his official television station.
Arafat's admiration for Saddam and his distrust of what were seen as America's war-like intentions set the tone for the Palestinian media in recent days.
A cartoon in the Arafat-funded Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper (Sept. 17) shows an angry Bush waving a belt or a shoe and threatening UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as well as Arab leaders.
The top headlines in most of the Arab newspapers read by the Palestinians have been featuring Bush and Saddam, generally showing Saddam as a wise leader trying carefully and skillfully to avoid a fight while Bush has been depicted as someone itching for combat.
"Bush increases his pressure on Iraq as several countries express their fear of his strike (at Iraq)," headlined the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam on September 16.
"Iraq agrees to the return of weapons inspectors without conditions," declared Al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida in identical headlines the next day.
The Palestinian media have also tried to link the fate of Afghanis and Palestinians versus what is characterized as the rapacious behavior of the United States and Israel.
A picture that was featured in several Palestinian newspapers tried to implicate Bush and Sharon in the 1982 massacre of Palestinians by the Lebanese Phalange militia in Lebanon.
For example, the largest Palestinian daily Al-Quds linked a black-hat-wearing Bush with a monstrously proportioned Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, both of them, seemingly bent on conquest and murder at all costs.
The anti-Bush and anti-American cast of the headlines, cartoons and broadcasting coverage is not just a result of the Iraqi-American tension of the last few days.
Palestinian media outlets have been critical of the Bush Administration and America in general ever since the US began strikes at the bases of the Taliban and Osama Bin-Laden in Afghanistan.
Another recent cartoon shows an American and an Israeli tank each headed in its own direction against Arab targets--one against Iraq and the other against Palestinians in Gaza.
By Michael Widlanski on Thursday, September 19, 2002 |
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