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| UN |

Mr Nasser Laham, of the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency, talks to SIGNAL about thesituation on the ground for Palestinian journalists and where he sees potential for progress inthe short to medium term.

What is your own personal and professional background?

I am Editor-in-chief of Ma’an News Agency (MNA) since it was

established in 2005. I have worked in the field of media since

1996 as both anchor and correspondent. I have served 5 years in

Israeli jails. I have a BA in psychology and sociology from Bethlehem

University and an MA and PHD from Lahaye University, Netherlands.

I speak English and Hebrew fluently.

 

Could you explain the work of the Ma’an news agency?

MNA publishes news in Arabic, English and Hebrew. As an

independent Palestinian news service, we try as much as we can to

be impartial and objective when we report on the Arab- Israeli conflict

and the Hamas-Fatah conflict. We are open to criticism and we keep

trying to improve our performance to become as close as possible to

professionalism, objectivity and impartiality. When we report about

the two major conflicts in our region, we try to make sure we give

both sides opportunity to comment.   We have good relations with

Israeli journalists. We quote Israeli media outlets and they quote us

as an independent news service.

 

How hard is it for Palestinian journalists to provide balanced and

objective commentary on events in the region?

Palestinian journalists nowadays are mature enough and

professional enough to give a balanced and objective coverage of 

events, especially independent journalists. They learned quite well

how avoid inciting language and how to use moderate terminology

acceptable by international standards. However, in certain cases,

like the latest Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip, journalists

find it very difficult to hide their feelings when innocent people

including children, women, and elderly people are being killed, and

journalists are human at in the end of the day.

With the current rounds of talks at a standstill, what is your viewon the Palestinian position at present?

I am sure the Palestinian leadership will insist on its position and will

not resume negotiations until Israel stops all settlement activities.

Just as the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat refused at the

last moment to make any further concessions, President Abbas will

not make more concessions. The ball is now in Israel’s court.

With the building of the ‘Wall’ continuing - what is your response to

Israeli assertions that it is being built purely for security reasons?

The best answer I can think of for this question is that given by

former US president Jimmy carter in his “Palestine: Peace Not

Apartheid”. The Israelis use security as a pretext to annex more

Palestinian territories and the proof is very clear and simple; most

of the wall’s route deviates from the Green line [the border between

Israel and the Palestinian territories recognized internationally] into

the occupied Palestinian territories, which Israel annexed illegally

after the six-day war in 1967. I don’t need to

remind people that the International Court

of Justice ruled that the wall is a violation

of international law. If a landlord decides to

build a fence around his property or home,it is self-evident that the fence will be built

on his property and not on the neighbours’

properties.

Furthermore, if the Israelis are that careful

about security, why do they deploy such a

large number of troops at the hundreds of 

checkpoints spread across the West Bank

inside and between Palestinian cities and

villages. Palestinians who suffer everyday

and internationals who visit the West Bank

and have the opportunity to travel from

southern West Bank to central and northerndistricts know that the security claim is

nonsense.

Have you noticed any improvements on a

civil/professional basis between Israel and

Palestine? Is there professional respect

between Israeli and Palestinian journalists

for example?

Palestinian and Israeli journalists have

matured enough to show professional

respect to each other. Israeli journalists visit

Ma’an repeatedly, and we hope Palestinian

journalists can have the opportunity to visit

offices of Israeli media outlets, but that

seems difficult because they need permits

from the Israeli authorities and they are

‘‘The baLL is now in isRaeL’s CouRT’’

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| The Middle East |

very difficult to get. Over ten years, I have

presented a very popular TV show called

“review of Israeli press” which indicates that

both Palestinian journalists and audience

are interested in Israeli media.

How do you think the West Bank can unite

with Gaza to become a cohesive and stable

state?

That unity seems difficult to achieve

especially when both rivals insist that they

never erred. A real sign indicating that unity

is possible has not been seen yet. That sign

can be seen, and unity can be achieved if 

Hamas and Fatah leaders, who caused that

rivalry and enabled it to increase, stand

up and confess that they have erred and

harmed their people. That is the only way to

reach unity; if rivals start to reconsider what

they did and where they erred and look for

ways to make up for their wrong doings.

What are your views on the Hamas Government in Gaza?

I have always described the Hamas takeover in Gaza in June

2007 as a “coup” and each time I said that Hamas’ hard-liners

were angry. I never said that Hamas staged a coup before

14 June 2007 because what was happening then was armed

conflict between trends within Hamas and Fatah while thePalestinian Authority’s police and security services were still

sovereign in Gaza.

 

An Israeli journalist told our magazine that “Operation ‘Cast

Lead’ was very effective and destroyed the desire of Hamas to

fight.” What is your view of this?

Either that commentator is one-sided, or he is fooling himself 

or hiding the truth. The fact that Operation Cast Lead failed to

free or even find any information about captured Israeli soldier

Gilad Shalit gave Hamas enough catalyst to boast its abilities.

Neither could that offensive prevent the firing of projectiles from

Gaza into Israel. On the contrary, Hamas gained more support

at international and Arab country level, and Israel lost more

and more of its deterrent power which the Israelis have always

boasted about.

Above: The

destruction of a

mosque in Gaza,

during Operation

‘Cast Lead.’

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What is your view of the 2006 Israeli-Lebanese conflict? Do you

believe further conflict is inevitable with Hezbollah openly rearming

and Israel constantly gathering intelligence on the Lebanese

situation?

Further confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah is still expected

and the weird part of it is that Israel views Hezbollah as Iran’s wingin the region, while Hezbollah views Israel as the US’ wing in the

region. Thus, the two are fighting on behalf of Iran and the US, so to

speak.

Where do you see the Palestinian State in the next 5-10 years?

I don’t see a Palestinian state within the coming 5-10 years, but I

rather see a Palestinian entity subordinate to Jordan or Israel in the

West Bank, and another Palestinian entity in Gaza, which will be

subordinate to Egypt.

Do you believe the international community, particularly the

EU, could do more to help in the current situation?

The international community, particularly the EU can facilitate

the separation of the Palestinians from Israel which is something

inevitable because the alternative for that will be one state for both

the Palestinian and the Israeli peoples.

Top: A checkpoint at the Israeli security barrier.

Above: Palestinian journalist reporting from Gaza City.