"Barry" Bari Atwan: "Racist" to criticise Palestinians cheering Yeshiva killings
Glumone | 22.03.2008 23:52 | Other Press | Palestine | London
Abdel Bari Atwan complains it's wrong to criticise Palestinians celebrating after Israeli Yeshiva students (associated with the settler movement) were killed, since anyone who attacks Palestinians in Palestine must be "taking pleasure" at doing so too.
Bari Atwan blasts Merkaz Harav
21/03/2008
By Simon Rocker
A London-based Palestinian who is used by the BBC as a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs has criticised “hypocritical” Western reaction to the attack on the Jerusalem yeshivah earlier this month.
Abd al-Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the Arabic language daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, wrote in an op-ed in his newspaper on the weekend before last: “The fact that [President] Bush felt revulsion at the celebrations staged by some Palestinians in Gaza following the attack testifies to his racist perspective and clear contempt for Arab and Muslim victims.
“This is the main reason for the escalation of violence worldwide.”
Mr Atwan, who regularly appears on BBC, Sky and Arabic language TV, added: “We do not justify murder and violence against civilians; at the same time, we feel that the West and America are being hypocritical, especially when it comes to victims on our side. This hypocrisy has given Israel legitimacy to keep on butchering Palestinians for the past 60 years.”
He described the target, the Merkaz Harav yeshivah, as “a factory that produces extremist Jews, whose representative is Baruch Goldstein. This yeshivah produces extremist settlers, who are plundering Arab lands and establishing settlements on them.”
Goldstein massacred Palestinian worshippers at a Hebron mosque on Purim 14 years ago: he was not a graduate of Mercaz Harav.
Mr Atwan also wrote, according to the translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri): “There are Palestinians who believe that the resistance should be peaceful rather than violent. We do not discount this [approach]; but at the same time, it must be emphasised that whoever invades the Palestinian land and murders its children is an enemy who takes pleasure in killing children and blowing up homes.
(I don't recall footage of Israelis celebrating Palestinian deaths in city centres, and for sure we'd have seen them in heavy rotation like the few that said prayers at Baruch Goldstein's grave).
“The massacres in Gaza may mark the countdown that heralds the demise of the state of Israel — since its leaders have chosen to fight against peace, and have dehumanised their [Palestinian] victims.”
(Oh those silly Israelis. They should make peace with Hamas, which doesn't recognize Israel and demands that Israel withdraw border controls around Gaza, which would let in Katyusha rockets or worse, as a condition for a ceasefire).
Mr Atwan, who, according to the website Wikipedia, was born in the Dair al-Balah refugee camp in Gaza and is now a British citizen, was unavailable for comment.
Last year, according to Memri, he told a Lebanese TV station that if war with Iran broke out, “by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square, and dance with delight” if Iranian missiles struck Israel.
Lior Ben-Dor, press spokesman for the Israel embassy in London, said: “We hope that media outlets in Britain will be aware of the double-language used by Abd al-Bari Atwan. When he speaks in English, he conceals his true colours.”
The BBC did not comment on his views, but drew attention to its editorial guidelines which cite “a tradition of allowing a wide range of individuals, groups or organisations”.
21/03/2008
By Simon Rocker
A London-based Palestinian who is used by the BBC as a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs has criticised “hypocritical” Western reaction to the attack on the Jerusalem yeshivah earlier this month.
Abd al-Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the Arabic language daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, wrote in an op-ed in his newspaper on the weekend before last: “The fact that [President] Bush felt revulsion at the celebrations staged by some Palestinians in Gaza following the attack testifies to his racist perspective and clear contempt for Arab and Muslim victims.
“This is the main reason for the escalation of violence worldwide.”
Mr Atwan, who regularly appears on BBC, Sky and Arabic language TV, added: “We do not justify murder and violence against civilians; at the same time, we feel that the West and America are being hypocritical, especially when it comes to victims on our side. This hypocrisy has given Israel legitimacy to keep on butchering Palestinians for the past 60 years.”
He described the target, the Merkaz Harav yeshivah, as “a factory that produces extremist Jews, whose representative is Baruch Goldstein. This yeshivah produces extremist settlers, who are plundering Arab lands and establishing settlements on them.”
Goldstein massacred Palestinian worshippers at a Hebron mosque on Purim 14 years ago: he was not a graduate of Mercaz Harav.
Mr Atwan also wrote, according to the translation provided by the Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri): “There are Palestinians who believe that the resistance should be peaceful rather than violent. We do not discount this [approach]; but at the same time, it must be emphasised that whoever invades the Palestinian land and murders its children is an enemy who takes pleasure in killing children and blowing up homes.
(I don't recall footage of Israelis celebrating Palestinian deaths in city centres, and for sure we'd have seen them in heavy rotation like the few that said prayers at Baruch Goldstein's grave).
“The massacres in Gaza may mark the countdown that heralds the demise of the state of Israel — since its leaders have chosen to fight against peace, and have dehumanised their [Palestinian] victims.”
(Oh those silly Israelis. They should make peace with Hamas, which doesn't recognize Israel and demands that Israel withdraw border controls around Gaza, which would let in Katyusha rockets or worse, as a condition for a ceasefire).
Mr Atwan, who, according to the website Wikipedia, was born in the Dair al-Balah refugee camp in Gaza and is now a British citizen, was unavailable for comment.
Last year, according to Memri, he told a Lebanese TV station that if war with Iran broke out, “by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square, and dance with delight” if Iranian missiles struck Israel.
Lior Ben-Dor, press spokesman for the Israel embassy in London, said: “We hope that media outlets in Britain will be aware of the double-language used by Abd al-Bari Atwan. When he speaks in English, he conceals his true colours.”
The BBC did not comment on his views, but drew attention to its editorial guidelines which cite “a tradition of allowing a wide range of individuals, groups or organisations”.
Glumone