Saturday, March 01, 2008

Blocking it out

It's not clear that the White House or State Department (with Condi Rice apparently still sticking blithely to the "peace process") really understand the impact of the latest Gaza crisis on public opinion in the Middle East. In particular, they don't seem to have thought about the implications of the fact that the media in the Middle East run far more graphic images of the aftermath of Israeli attacks (or wayward Hamas rockets) than anything that would be aired on western news outlets. 10 minutes of al-Jazeera and the front page of any Arab newspaper can be a stomach-churning experience.

Now, are they being "inflammatory"? Well, this stuff is actually happening. Arab fury might be more restrained if there was more outside acknowledgement of what is going on in Gaza.

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