Fateful Triangle

Israel and Palestine: Historical Backgrounds258flag) and some that was defamatory of the Israeli army (a calendar witha demand for release of prisoners in the Ansar concentration camp inLebanon). 1425.5 Israeli Inquiries and American SuppressionCoverage of events in the occupied territories is far more comprehensivein Israel than in the U.S., but it too is impeded, in part by censorship, inpart by “internal censorship.” See chapter 2, section 1. TV journalists(including Rafik Halabi; see note 48) complain that they are kept awayfrom 90% of the serious demonstrations in the territories and that theyare not permitted to film much of what is happening, including soldiersfiring at demonstrators, etc. 143 “Only a small part of the actions of thesettlers, in or out of uniform, reaches the Israeli press,” AmnonKapeliouk reports: “facts about harassment and maltreatment ofPalestinians are not published,” sometimes, because editors feel thatthey are “too hard to bear,” as one decided when “settlers caught an oldman who had protested when his lands were taken and shaved off hisbeard—just what Polish anti-Semites did to Jews.” 144A great deal of information about human rights violations, particularlyin the occupied territories, has been made available by the IsraeliLeague for Human and Civil Rights. Its Chairman from 1970, Dr. IsraelShahak, has compiled a personal record of courage and commitment tohuman rights that few people anywhere can equal, and has beenuntiring in exposing the facts about the occupation and circulatinginformation, much of it from the Hebrew press, where severaloutstanding journalists (frequently cited above) have attempted toprovide an honest record—sometimes, some say, using materialprovided by Arab journalists who hope to be able to reprint the storiesClassics in Politics: The Fateful TriangleNoam Chomsky