Media Insists On Holding Abbas's Hand To Get Peace From Israel

We are informed that after ethnically cleansing Jews from Jerusalem in 1948, Arab East Jerusalem was magically created for all time.

Times Magazine informs us that with his new coalition, it is now up to Netanyahu to make peace--an odd statement only because the media has always assumed that it is Israel's obligation to make unilateral concessions for peace.

Now McClatchy's Frida Ghitis writes Netanyahu's move changes landscape, and that (once again) the ball is in Israel's court because Israel’s national unity coalition “creates a world of tantalizing opportunities” for peace with the Palestinians--and heaven forbid that Abbas have to take a stand for peace without another Israeli concession:

I hope Netanyahu will offer an olive branch, a way for Abbas to return to talks without seeming to capitulate.

Given that his stance has achieved nothing and Netanyahu is essentially assured of staying in office until at least late 2013, Abbas may want to reconsider, especially since elections in the U.S. promise even more of the same, or worse, for Palestinians. Either Obama wins, in which case he will try to pressure an even stronger Netanyahu, or Obama will lose and a Republican president will be much less helpful to Palestinians.

In the meantime, any hopes Abbas had the Arab uprisings would prove a huge help to Palestinians have not materialized.

Ghitis offers broad generalities--but no context.

• No mention that Netanyahu already offered to freeze settlements and Abbas did nothing about it
• No mention that since Israel is a democracy, Israelis can still protest what they see as capitulation
• No mention that those Arab uprisings are about kicking out the corrupt leaders, not maintaining them
• No mention that "Israelis and Palestinians have little to lose by making peace" means nothing if Israel does not have secure borders
• No mention of Abbas's long history of inciting hatred against Israel
• No mention that Abbas's term as president of the Palestinian Authority ended over 3 years ago

Ghitis actually writes that "it's hard to imagine Abbas holding fast to a strategy that has produced absolutely no results." Where has Ghitis been?"

Ghitis does not ignore anything that the rest of the media isn't ignoring.
That is how blind the media is.

Hat tip: HonestReporting's Israel Daily News Stream 05/22/2012

Technorati Tag: Israel and Media Bias and Abbas and Netanyahu.