There was one half-decent piece from the Occupied Territories of Palestine this week on NPR. It occurred on Wednesday's ATC and featured a Gazan commenting on the attack by Palestinian gunmen against a peace demonstration opposed to the fighting in Gaza. The commentator said: "Many people here — including myself — think that the West is doing everything it can to weaken the Palestinian Authority. And Israel is, as well. All of their acts are aimed at Hamas, but they have also weakened Fatah, the more moderate faction here in Gaza. This is hypocrisy by the West and Israel as they steal the hope by tightening this economic embargo against the Palestinian people. Desperate people don't think rationally. Desperate people turn radical. And that is just what is happening in Gaza."Hypocrisy by the West and Israel - OMG! an utterance of truth slipped through on NPR. Let's hear from this fellow again.
But tonight was not Wednesday (probably never will be again). First we had Eric Westervelt reporting on Hamas' takeover of Gaza and talking about the "quartet of Middle East peacemakers." Then it's Michelle Norris talking to Martin Indyk, former Israeli ambassador and the director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. Indyk is all about the "moderate" Abu Mazen and Fatah. Needless to say there was nothing about the US policy of undermining the democratically elected government of Hamas, starving Palestinians, and arming and training Fatah in the hopes of destroying Hamas in a Fatah-led coup.
For better coverage take a look at Tony Karon's piece, Ali Abunimah's piece in EI, or Helena Cobban's article.
Update: Weekend Edition Saturday (6/16) had a pretty good interview with Rashid Khalidi who used to be at the Univ. of Chicago, but is now at Columbia University.
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