Freedom of the Media IS necessary for Peace in the Middle East

Submitted by Alex Dashevsky (United States), Feb 16, 2003 at 14:04

A few months ago, I wrote an article that was very controversial in the Arab Media. Comments on Palestinian Independent Media accused me of deceiving the truth, that I was a "propagandist." I thought that this was very ironic, as I was critizing the arrogance of Arab governance for not listening to the Arab People. I sarcastically called it: "Seven Conspiracies the Zionist Imperialist Controlled Media Does Not Want You to Know" (http://www.hybridmagazine.com/culture/1102/adashevsky.shtml) in which I quoted media sources in the Arab media that accused Israel for everything from 9-11 to Enron.

Zogby Polls show that Arab peoples are more interested in their own families and jobs than in the 'Palestinian' Conflict, yet that is not displayed by the emotional pictures on the front pages showing innocent Palestinians caught in the cross fire between Israelies and terrorists.

As a human being, I am affected by these pictures, as I would be by Holocaust pictures 50 years ago. If I were to read this every morning on the newspapers, and have no alternative information, I would develope a distorted vision of American & Israeli intentions. We need more independence; if we do not, young overly disenfranchised Arabs whose misplaced anger should be directed at their own governments, will continue to be directed at the Americans and Israelies. To say that Arabs are culturally adverse to democracy reminds me of what they said about Japan following World War II. 9-11 proved that imposing democracy on Arabs should be a higher priority.

http://www.hybridmagazine.com/culture/1102/adashevsky.shtml

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