Where are they?

Don Wycliff is the recently departed Public Editor of the Chicago Tribune. One of his last columns for the papers was titled, “Secrecy’s corrosive effect in terrorism case.” Though he outlined the suspicious case against supposed terrorist Muhammad Salah, his deeper focus lay in wondering why Americans had little or no understanding of the Palestinian perspective:

Our Commentary page features no columnist who can be depended upon to routinely explain and defend Palestinian actions and attitudes as, say, Charles Krauthammer defends Israel’s. So on probably the most enduring and insistent foreign policy issue of our time, we routinely do not hear from one side.… 

Palestinian writer Ray Hanania salutes Wycliff but wonders why the mainstream media is so afraid of publishing the Arab or Palestinian point of view. He selects Zionist pressure and conditioning to simply accept the Israel perspective as the only worthy perspective on the conflict.

The situation is little different in Australia. Since the Hamas win in January, I cannot recall an article by a prominent Palestinian writer, commentator, academic or activist. We’ve suffered any number of Zionist apologists, Israelis, Americans and Australians salivating over the “terrorists” running the Palestinian Authority, but not a word from the “other side.” No wonder the wider population is so confused about the conflict, politicians blindly mouth pro-Israel propaganda and journalists happily accept that Israel’s “security” is paramount.

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