Palestinian Police Rampage Over Lawlessness

Reuters takes a page from the AP.

When the Palestine Police forced the closure of the Rafah pass, the AP originally claimed:

Palestinian police angry over growing lawlessness in the Gaza Strip stormed the Gaza-Egypt border crossing Friday, shutting down the border and forcing European monitors to flee, Palestinian and European officials said.

Later, the AP/Yahoo article changed the story and admitted that shots were fired and rather than being angry over lawlessness, they merely wanted the execution of those who killed their fellow officer as part of a family feud.

In reporting a new incident of a Palestinian Police rampage, Reuters blends both versions:

About 200 policemen stormed government offices in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah on Monday to protest at the failure of the Palestinian Authority to fight growing lawlessness, witnesses said.

The incident was the latest sign of chaos in Gaza, which has suffered growing internal unrest since Israel withdrew last September after 38 years of occupation.

Firing into the air as they ran through the streets, the policemen raided government offices, courthouses, an election office and the municipality building in Rafah.

They smashed windows at the Interior Ministry building and forced the staff to leave.

The number of police taking part in the protest swelled to some 200 officers, most of them armed, who forcibly shut down one government building after the other.

"We are calling on all officers to take off their uniforms because the Palestinian Authority has tied the hands of policemen, preventing us from implementing law and order," one policeman told Reuters.

The police rampage followed the killing of a police officer in fighting with a Rafah clan on Thursday. After that incident, Palestinian police backed by gunmen imposed an armed blockade on the Rafah border crossing and forcibly ejected travellers.

So, according to Reuters:

1. The Palestinian police are protesting lawlessnes when they run through the streets firing into the air, raiding government offices, smashing windows, and forcing the Interior Ministry to close.

2. A report about intra-Palestinian violence must be tied to Israel.

3. Palestinian police feel their hands are being tied. Here Reuters declines to mention that when they protested a few days ago, these police wanted the execution of the gunman who killed a fellow officer. The question is--when the Palestinian Police say they want 'law and order': which law and on whose orders?

We can expect more spin from the media to excuse Palestinian violence among themselves and their failure to conform to democratic expectations.

After all, it's not as if they are like Iraq--where the media at every step of the way has examined, reported, and singled out every piece of negative news. In Gaza, terrorists are freedom fighters, lawlessness is protest, chaos is connected to Israel, and Barghouti--who planned the murder of Israeli-- is merely a jailed politician.

And the rush to create a Palestinian state continues.

Technorati Tag: Palestinians and Media Bias