Abu Toameh: What the Western Media Misses

Khaled Abu Toameh, journalist,arab, muslim som lever och arbetar i Israel ger sin syn på Israel och arabvärlden.

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Abu Toameh: What the Western Media Misses


- I’m not pro-Israel, I’m not pro-Palestinian and I’m not pro-American. But as a journalist, I’m pro the facts and pro the truth.


- Israel is a free and open country with a democracy, that respects the freedom of the media. You can basically write any anti-Israel story and still walk in downtown Jerusalem or Tel Aviv without having to worry about your safety. Anyone can be a journalist in Israel.


- We don’t have a free media in the Palestinian area, we didn’t have one when I was working there in the late 70’s and early 80’s, we didn’t have one when the PLO came here after the signing of the Oslo accords and we still don’t have one under Fatah and Hamas.


- Abbas is corrupt, discredited, weak and does not have much power. He is reliant on Israel, who’s presence in the West Bank is ironically the only reason he has managed to stay in power.



And if Israel withdrew to the 1967 borders as demanded by Abbas and the PLO?
- Abbas will collapse and Hamas will take over the West Bank in less than a day. If I were Israel, I would not give Abbas one inch of land in the West Bank – not for ideological reasons, but to avoid a situation where Hamas and others would take over the area.

- Israel is a free and open democratic country. I enjoy living here and I would rather live as a second class citizen in Israel, even though I’m not, than a first class citizen in any Arab country.