Analysis: Humanitarian Groups in the West Bank Having Difficulty Delivering Aid to Palestinians Due to Israeli Travel Restrictions

Morning Edition: June 13, 2002

[JAT comments are indented and in italics.]

NPR's Ivan Watson reports humanitarian groups in the West Bank are having difficulty delivering aid to Palestinians due to Israeli travel restrictions. Expanded coverage. (4:12)

West Bank Aid

BOB EDWARDS, host:

Note that all the anti-Israel statements below are reported simply as people's statements, using the verb "say." The listener is led to understand that what these people "say" is not merely a claim but a definite fact. No Israeli viewpoint or context is included.

With the intensification of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the past 20 months, Israeli authorities have clamped down on movement in the West Bank. The United Nations says these travel restrictions are paralyzing the Palestinian economy. The UN also says the Israeli army repeated has denied humanitarian workers access to needy Palestinian communities. NPR's Ivan Watson reports.

IVAN WATSON reporting:

A truck loaded with emergency food aid for Palestinian families sets out from a United Nations warehouse in Jerusalem.

Soundbite of Vehicle

WATSON:

The driver, a man named Hadif Hanisweki(ph) first started delivering UN aid shipments to the West Bank last January. He says it's been the most dangerous job he's ever had.

Mr. HADIF HANISWEKI:

(Through Translator) I was with a convoy of trucks at the Israeli military checkpoint leading to Ramallah. The soldiers refused to let us drive through. When I tried to show my official papers, one of the soldiers began shooting and a bullet hit my truck.

WATSON:

Hanisweki says he's been forced by Israeli troops to turn back to Jerusalem without delivering supplies four times in the past four months. Dan Simmons, the regional director of the Christian charity organization, World Vision, says Israeli forces had used threats and intimidation to obstruct access to Palestinian communities in the West Bank.

Mr. DAN SIMMONS (World Vision):

Note that in the next paragraph, nothing is said about why there was an Israeli offensive, namely, that Palestinian homicide bombers had been killing Israeli civilians -- including women and children -- on a daily basis.

The places we've been stopped at checkpoints were all Israeli. The guns that have been lowered on us have all been Israeli army guns from tanks to automatic weapons. The places that we have been told that we're free to travel on and have been stopped have all been stopped by Israeli army. Every single incident of that sort has come from the Israeli army.

WATSON:

Since April's Israeli offensive in the West Bank, the army has tightened restrictions on Palestinian movement. Humanitarian workers say aid shipments to isolated communities are now more important than ever. On today's trip, the biggest obstacle to Hanisweki's UN delivery is an Israeli tank blocking the entrance to the village of Abud. UN workers show their documents telling an Israeli army officer their truck is carrying food.

Watson has carefully framed the situation as one in which Israeli soldiers at checkpoints are harassing Palestinian and UN workers. He then presents a sound-bite that the listener is to understand in that context. Note, however, that the sound-bite shows no evidence whatsoever of any such harassment. On the contrary, after a quick and friendly inspection, the convoy is waved through the checkpoint. Note also that Watson does not introduce it with a statement such as, "There was no evidence of any such problems today."

Unidentified Man #1:

...(Unintelligible) milk. Milk. Why don't you (unintelligible) floor.

WATSON:

The officer climbs aboard the truck and does a quick search and then waves the UN convoy through.

Unidentified Man #2:

OK. You can go.

Unidentified Man #1:

(Foreign language spoken)

WATSON:

In Abud, a crowd of residents who's waiting for the convoy.

Soundbite of People Speaking in Foreign Language

WATSON:

UN workers dump sacks of food off the truck on to the ground.

Soundbite of Sacks Dropping

WATSON:

Here Watson evokes sympathy for the Palestinians who can no longer work in Israel. Nothing is said about the reason for their exclusion from Israel -- the daily terrorist murders being committed there by Palestinians -- nor is any sympathy evoked for the innocent Israeli victims of those murderous attacks.

Each eligible family receives sacks of flour, sugar, rice and some condensed milk, but some of the people here and in the neighboring village of Rantis complain that this just isn't enough to feed their children. Many say they haven't had any income in months since they're barred from traveling to jobs they once held either in the West Bank or in Israel. Twenty-two-year-old Merag Fuadley(ph) says Abud's 2,000 residents risk arrest or worse if they try to drive their cars outside the village.

Mr. MERAG FUADLEY:

I feel like I am a prisoner. Yet, I'm a prisoner because I can't go out of the village.

WATSON:

Watson now lets the UN's Keating go even further and, without any challenge, place the blame solely on Israel. One should remember that UN workers in Jenin in April had claimed that they saw -- with their own eyes -- hundreds and hundreds, even thousands, of Palestinian civilians being massacred by Israeli troops. This was later shown to be a complete and utter fabrication!

The UN's Michael Keating says the aid shipments and handouts are only a short-term solution to the West Bank's problems. 'They key is economic recovery,' he says, 'and that depends on Israel.'

Mr. MICHAEL KEATING (United Nations):

The most useful thing Israel could do is ease closures and restrictions rather than pay for any repair. That would be a far more useful recovery mission than any cash because Palestinians have enormous capacity to recover if they have the opportunity to do so. It has a pretty vibrant private sector, but it's one that is unable to function at the moment.

At the very end of this long segment, no more than a few seconds are given to an Israeli viewpoint. Moreover, note that while everyone else's statements are conveyed using the verb "says,"; the Israeli's statement is presented using the verb "deny." This use of language to discredit and cast doubt on Israelis and lend credence and sympathy to Palestinians is standard practice at NPR.

WATSON:

A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Force denied that humanitarian organizations are refused access to Palestinian communities. The spokesman said aid workers' accounts of being threatened by Israeli troops are one sided. He said Israeli soldiers have found explosives hidden in the ambulances of the Palestinian Red Crescent. 'As long as the Palestinians continue to support terrorism,' he said, 'they have no one but themselves to blame for their current difficulties.' Ivan Watson, NPR News.

EDWARDS:

It's 11 minutes before the hour.

Copyright 2002 National Public Radio. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio.

This transcript was created by a contractor for NPR, and NPR has not verified its accuracy. For all NPR programs, the broadcast audio should be considered the authoritative version. To purchase an audiotape of this piece, please order online or call 1-877-NPR-TEXT.

Valid HTML 4.01!