Another appeal to the president to lift a finger on behalf of Palestinian freedom, this one from the Committee to Protect Journalists, which cites the case of Wattan TV in Ramallah: “Obama should urge Israel to return outlet’s equipment.” Excerpt:
During his trip to the region this week, U.S. President Barack Obama should call on Israeli authorities to return the equipment of an independent broadcaster that was seized more than a year ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.
Israeli authorities raided the Ramallah-based private broadcaster Wattan TV in February 2012 and confiscated key equipment, including transmitters, computers, files, and archives. Officials said at the time that Wattan TV was broadcasting illegally and had interfered with aircraft transmissions. Muammar Orabi, the station’s general director, told CPJ that the broadcaster had a license granted by the Palestinian Authority, which could not have been issued without Israeli acquiescence.
The station, founded in 1996, has gained credibility through its probing, independent coverage of both Palestinian and Israeli authorities. The outlet’s equipment was funded in large part by U.S. agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Middle East Partnership Initiative.
It would appear that Israeli power (in this case) intruded into the space that was supposed to have been assigned by Israeli power, by agreement, for purposes of policing, to the PA. And, of course, that it intruded into a case of licensing which was allegedly placed by Israeli power, by agreement, into the hands of the PA.
From both of these I conclude that the division of occupied Palestine for the purposes of law enforcement, governance, licensing, etc., into areas A, B, and C, was (like so much else) a farce, a sham, and (for some) a delusion.
I trust that Obama, ever a proponent of freedom generally and freedom of press in particular, will energetically and publicly demand what the broadcasters demand.
There are so many little gestures that could be done. Good faith reversals of some of the more unnecessarily malevolent Israeli acts. Gestures that wouldn’t mean squat to Israeli “security” but would at least put the US in the position of drawing some very fuzzy line on both our own and Palestinian humiliation. But they’re just not done.
Israeli policy sure seems to be, above all, humiliation. No exceptions. And when a US President goes there simply to pay homage, he asks for it/makes it easy. The whole world is watching, Mr. President.
So beyond anger… Well into embarrassed…
PS. And please, Mr. President, don’t overcompensate for this humiliation on the world stage by proving how tough you are by killing a few more Muslims with a drone strike or two.
This incident, like many others before it, demonstrates that even within Palestinian non-sovereignty (The Bantustans of Area A, B, C) there is no autonomy.
So the next time some Zionist whiner claims that a future Palestinian state alongside Israel will undoubtedly attack Israel and therefore MUST be demilitarized, remind him or her of Israel’s impunity as it raids Ramallah in violation of mutual agreements.
Where’s the hack, J-Street’s Ben Ami, when you need him to wax poetic about the two-state solution?
RE: “Israeli authorities raided the Ramallah-based private broadcaster Wattan TV in February 2012 and confiscated key equipment, including transmitters, computers, files, and archives.” ~ Committee to Protect Journalists
MY SNARK: So, who ya gonna call? No, not Ghostbusters™. Call that “avid supporter of free speech”, Ambassador Michael Oren! He is so proud of Israel’s “democratic values”!
SEE: “Israel’s US envoy: ‘Gatekeepers’ hindering PR efforts”, By Yitzhak Benhorin, Ynet News, 3/17/13
Although he is an avid supporter of free speech, advancement of local film industry, Ambassador Michael Oren believes documentary in which Shin Bet officials slam Israel’s West Bank policy hurting country’s international image
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4357190,00.html
P.S. Oren is definitely not “an” historian! If anything, he is a historian.