. The stalemate, that newspapers endlessly report, is simply that negotiations reflect the underlying truth that neither side has accepted the other. As long as this fact is missing, the so-called Middle-East peace process will never be a reality. The causes of the war between the Arabs and Israelis are presented differently in newspaper articles around the world depending on the cultural values and traditions of the author and the group he is addressing. In order to get a perspective on this conflict from various parts of the world, I examined two sources. The first newspaper I looked at was the Chicago Tribune. Charles Krauthammer wrote the article, “Israel’s Only Option is Self-Defense”, on October 30, 2000 and he places total blame for the war on the Palestinians. The Israelis are described as being in a “nightmare” because of the “murderous” behavior of the Arabs. The article says that Yasser Arafat refused to cease-fire, despite agreements with President Clinton. More than 200 Palestinians died because Israeli soldiers fired at Arab rock throwers. Krauthammer, however, ignores this and emphasis is placed on an incident where “Palestinian civilians got their hands on two Israeli reservists who were lost and tore them limb from limb.” The reporter goes on to say that when Israel retaliated with helicopter attacks that blew up half a dozen buildings not one person was killed because Barak gave Arafat three hours’ warning. Krauthammer characterizes the murders of the Israelis as acts of “feral viciousness” and calls Palestinians “essentially tribal.” These terms are racist in nature, implying that the Palestinians have not reached a stage of civilization that is equivalent to that of our own. One must assume that the Israeli state-sanctioned murders of Palestinians bear the mark of civilization in Mr. Krauthammer’s opinion. The real...
