WaPo’s Greenberg Bolsters Pro-Palestinian Activists, But Notes ‘Anti-Arab Chants’ of ‘Nationalist Israelis’

 In the Digest section of the Saturday, July 16, Washington Post, in the article, "Israelis and Arabs March in Jerusalem for Palestinian Statehood," writer Joel Greenberg bolstered the pro-Palestinian statehood movement by playing up the presence of both Jews and Arabs in a rally that was held in Jerusalem on the previous day as a "rare Jewish-Arab demonstration in this contested city."

After several examples of portraying the pro-Palestinian demonstration positively, Greenberg ended the article by taking a shot at "nationalist Israelis" who held a rally last month by noting that "anti-Arab chants" were present.

In last Saturday's article, one Palestinian participant was quoted as declaring that "We will live in tranquility and peace," while an Israeli was paraphrased as claiming that "Palestinian statehood would free Israel from the burden of occupation." He was further quoted as asserting that "The struggle for Palestinian independence is also a struggle for freedom for Israelis."

The Washington Post writer asserted that the protest "proceeded without incident," and concluded the article by undermining right-leaning Israelis as he recounted that a rally last month of "nationalist Israelis" was "punctuated by anti-Arab chants" as the group celebrated the anniversary of Israel’s "capture of East Jerusalem in 1967."

Greenberg could have balanced out his positive statements about the pro-Palestinian rally by noting that a recent survey of residents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip found that, as documented by the Jerusalem Post’s Gil Hoffman in the article, "6 in 10 Palestinians Reject 2-State Solution, Survey Says,"  according to a poll conducted by Stanley Greenberg, "When given a quote from the Hamas Charter about the need for battalians from the Arab and Islamic world to defeat the Jews, 80 percent agreed. Seventy-three percent agreed with a quote from the charter ... about the need to kill Jews behind stones and trees."

Hoffman further recounted that "only 34 percent of Palestinians 'accept two states for two peoples,' while 66 percent said the Palestinians’ real goal should be to start with a two-state solution but then move to it all being one Palestinian state."

As recounted last April in the Jerusalem Post article, "Poll: One-Third of Palestinians Support Itamar Attack," a third of Palestinians voiced support for the slaughter of a young Jewish family - including three of their young children - who lived in an Israeli settlement, according to a survey conducted by Hebrew University.

An article by CAMERA recounts Jerusalem’s history in light of Israel’s June celebration of East Jerusalem's liberation from Jordanian control in 1967. Jordanian rule had seen the destruction of synagogues and other Jewish holy sites, and restrictions on the freedom of Jewish residents to worship. By contrast, after Israel took control of East Jerusalem in 1967, Arab residents were offered Israeli citizenship, and greater religious freedom was established.

As recounted by the Jerusalem Post’s Sarah Honig, in the article, "Another Tack: No jews in Judea," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as saying that "when an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital is established, we won’t allow the presence of one Israeli in it." So much for Jews and Palestinians living in "tranquility and peace."

And, as documented by the Jerusalem Post’s Melanie Lidman, in the article, "In Times of Revolution, Opinion Surveys are More Accurate," a recent survey of Arabs living in East Jerusalem,  conducted by Dr. David Pollock of the U.S. Information Agency, found that "35 percent would prefer to be citizens of Israel, compared with 30 percent who would rather be citizens of a future Palestinian state." And if Jerusalem were divided between Israel and a Palestinian state, "40 percent said they would move to stay in a neighborhood that was part of Israel, compared with 27 percent who would rather be citizens of a future Palestinian state."