Today’s lesson in media bias: Watch a wire service outright lie to its readers. First up, the Saudi peace initiative, which is essentially dead in the water due to the Arabs’ insistence that Israel agree to it before they can then begin to make changes to things they find objectionable. (And right now is a good time for a “WTF? You want me to sign the agreement and THEN say I don’t like it? WTF?”)

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa urged Israel on Sunday to accept a 2002 Arab peace initiative as a basis for peace negotiations, and insisted that Arab leaders meeting in Saudi Arabia later this week will not alter the proposal’s land-for-peace offer.

By the way, as to the AP’s contention that the Saudis keep hinting they’re going to change it: Uh, no.

Egyptian and Saudi leaders have said they want the offer to stand as is, and Syrian Vice President Farouk al Sharaa has been touring Arab countries urging no changes.

So now that we have the setup, let’s look at the latest AP story to see yet more out-and-out lies presented as truths.

JERUSALEM Mar 26, 2007 (AP)— Under U.S. pressure to answer increasing Arab flexibility on Mideast peace, Israel has agreed to resume face-to-face talks with a moderate, Western-backed Palestinian leader who is sharing power with Islamic Hamas militants, a U.S. official said Monday.

Someone needs to tell me where the increased flexibility is, because I seem to have missed the memo. However, the AP is lying in the second paragraph, too.

Also Monday, Israel welcomed the idea of a regional peace summit, although no such meeting is set, and Saudi Arabia suggested it would consider changes in a dormant peace initiative that could make it more acceptable to Israel.

This article is dated Monday. The articles above were published on Sunday. So the AP is utterly ignoring what it published on Sunday and directly contradicting it in Monday’s stories. I can’t wait to see what Tuesday will bring. I’m going to take a guess: The Arabs are being flexible, but the Israelis are refusing to budge.

What anti-Israel media bias?

Part two of the interview with Adil Zeshan, ex-Muslim, the usual Blog News, and my piece on why the Saudi 2002 “peace” initiative is a trap for Israel. (Yes, that’s a common theme these days, because the meme pushing the plan is exploding.)

I have no idea why sometimes it’s up, sometimes it’s down. I assume it’s a server issue with Hosting Matters, and that they will fix it, as they always do.

It just sucks right royally that it’s happening during a noon Instalink.

Update: Apparently, it was the Instalink. Crashed the server.

Have you noticed the new meme in the media? There is a “growing international momentum for peace.”

It emerged quite suddenly. Its source? The so-called “unity government” of Fatah and Hamas. What has, in actuality, changed?

Nothing.

No, not nothing. Hamas spokesmen are being quiet at the moment. After previous agreements, Hamas could always be counted on to say “We will never recognize Israel.” They have finally understood that if they will only shut their mouths for a few weeks, pressure could be brought to bear on Israel so that blame could be put on Israeli intransigence, rather than the world having to recognize Israel’s refusal to deal with genocidal terrorists. If the Hamas leadership would only stop saying they’re going to continue to murder Jews, world opinion could once again focus on Israel’s refusal to resettle the five or six million officially-designated palestinian “refugees” (which include third-generation American citizens, their American-born spouses, and any children of that marriage as UN-recognized “refugees” that have the “right” to return to their homes in what is now Israel).

Well, now that Hamas terrorist leaders have finally shut their collective mouths, and the Arab world is getting on with its full-court press at getting public opinion to turn against Israel for refusing to negotiate a peace agreement. Already, the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia have declared that Israel must accept the Saudi agreement as is, with no changes whatsoever. After hinting for a period of a few hours that they may allow the Saudi initiative to be changed, the Arab League has once again insisted there will be no changes to the 2002 Saudi initiative. They have agreed to the initiative, and Israel must comply with their terms.
In other words, peace negotiations mean that Israel must say yes to everything the Arab side demands.

When Israel understandably refuses to agree to this, it will be spun in the world media as Israel’s refusal to negotiate. It will not be acknowledged as the Arab refusal to negotiate. “Accept these lists of demands” is not a negotiation. It is a diktat. Except in this case, it is a diktat by the defeated to the victor. Only Israel, in all of history, is expected to accept the terms of the nations they defeated. Only Israel, in all of history, is not given the right to negotiate settlements—her mission is to accept the orders of the world, based on what the Arab side insists is their “right.”

In this century of rights, from human rights to women’s rights to children’s rights to animal rights, only Israel has no rights on the world stage. Only Israel.

Even though the unity government is a sham, and everyone knows it, the “growing momentum for peace” steamroller is about to mow down Israeli objections. Abbas is urging the U.S. to pressure the Israelis into giving broad concessions. Jordan’s King Abdullah is urging the Israelis to “respond positively” to the plan. Some would say that they have already done so, with Ehud Olmert saying that the plan shows promise and is a basis with which to proceed further. But Olmert has rightly said the “right of return” clause is a nonstarter. But it will be Olmert, and not the Arabs, who will be blamed for refusing to negotiate.

The UN Secretary General is urging Israel to give the “unity government” time to perform. I have already given them time, and found the unity government wanting. In the last 48 hours alone, there have been bombings, firebombings, stabbings, weapons smuggling, and kassam rockets launched at Israel.

Where, pray tell, is the difference from last week, when pretty much the exact same things happened, but in different places? The difference is that the world has accepted the sham of the “unity government.” The difference is the world is using this sham to advance the cause of peace at all costs, because of course, if Israel were at peace with her neighbors, all would be right with the world.
Watch the meme gain momentum. Watch the results come in over the next few days. Watch, as Israel will be vilified for refusing “peace.”

It isn’t peace that Israel refuses. It is the terms of surrender, which once again the defeated Arab armies are trying to impose on the victors. In this topsy-turvy world, the world gets angry with Israel every time she insists on refusing the terms of defeat. One would think that it would finally sink in that Israel will not be a partner to her own destruction. But then, one would have to be ignorant of the history of the past sixty years.

Once more, what time is it? That’s right. It’s Israeli Double Standard Time.

Watch the meme momentum grow.

I really don’t tire of saying “I told you so” on Israel-related issues, because unfortunately, this glass-half-full girl sees a half-empty glass when she looks at Israel’s prospects of peace.

Reuters reports that the Arab League will not make the requested changes. Let’s see how long it takes AP to play catch-up.

RIYADH, March 26 (Reuters) - Arab foreign ministers agreed on Monday to relaunch at their summit this week a five-year-old initiative for peace with Israel but without any of the alterations sought by the Jewish state.

“The Arabs have agreed to reactivate the Arab initiative without changes. We reiterated that all Arab nations will adhere to the initiative as it is,” Abdelelah al-Khatib told Reuters after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the Saudi capital.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters the plan would be presented to the United Nations and the Quartet of Middle East peace brokers for their endorsement.

The 2002 peace plan to be reendorsed at the March 28-29 summit by heads of state offers Israel normal ties with all Arab states in return for full withdrawal from all land occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

A draft text of the resolutions obtained by Reuters reiterates a call “to all Israelis to accept the initiative and seize the current opportunity to return to the direct and serious negotiating process at all levels.”

Now, how will this be spun by the media? By blaming Israel’s refusal to negotiate with the Arabs. Watch for it.

First, we have a story written by Salah Nasrawi, regular AP Middle East correspondent, titled “Arabs Said Open to Peace Offer Changes.”

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister suggested Monday that Arab leaders would be willing to consider changes in their 2002 peace offer to Israel to make it “compatible” with new developments.

The statement from Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal came as Arab League foreign ministers convened Monday to prepare for a leaders summit later this week, expected to focus on how to revive Middle East peace efforts. Arab leaders have, until now, publicly rejected Israeli calls for them to make changes to the 2002 Arab peace offer.

But al-Faisal, in his opening remarks, suggested change was likely.

“It is expected from us to take notice of new developments, which require additions and developments in whatever is offered for our leaders about the issues and problems in order for their resolutions to be compatible with what is dire and new,” al-Faisal said.

“The kingdom is keen that this summit should come out with one Arab voice toward issues of destiny, and in particular the Palestinian issue,” he added.

And here’s what is reported going on behind the scenes:

Several other Arab diplomats said privately Monday that Arab leaders were seeking fresh ways to moderate their position without being seen as giving in to Israeli or American demands to change the 2002 offer.

The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, said Arab countries including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia would be proposing “a repackaging” of the deal.

Under that repackaging, the Arab leaders would insist that Israel accept the 2002 Arab peace plan in principle before returning to any talks, but also would agree that the Palestinians and Arab countries would be ready to soften their conditions once negotiations began, the diplomats said.

And here’s yet another sign that the Arab nations may be ready to give up insisting on the “right” to flood Israel with millions of descendants of the 1948 refugees:

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, who spoke Monday at the foreign ministers’ meeting in addition to al-Faisal, did not insist in his speech that the plan could never be changed. That was viewed as significant.

Wow. Is that true? The Arabs are finally ready to admit that the palestinians can’t return to their former homes, bringing with them three or four generations of descendants, and that they must find another solution?

Not so much. Because buried deep in this story, written by AP Diplomatic Writer Anne Gearan is one teeny, tiny paragraph that is of the utmost importance to the facts of both stories:

A senior Palestinian diplomat involved in preparations for the Arab summit said he didn’t expect major changes in the Saudi initiative.

And that is followed by the final paragraph of the story:

“These articles are going to be a direct call to Israel to accept the Arab peace initiative, as it is, and that Arab countries will commit themselves in front of the international community to start a mutual implementation of this Arab initiative,” he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

This is a rather important fact, and belies the headlines and angles of both articles. Buried in the final two paragraphs are the words of the palestinians, who are effectively saying they will not give up the so-called “right of return”—code for the influx of descendants of palestinian refugees that would overwhelm Israel and effectively destroy her. (A point that no one ever brings up, but that is quite salient, is: How the hell do they expect to clothe, feed, and house what would be a doubling of the Israeli population? It’s a nonstarter from every direction. But I digress.)

Don’t expect anything from the summit, if it occurs. Palestinian intransigence on the issue of refugees simply cannot be overestimated.

Let’s just keep track one day at a time.

Here’s what the peaceful palestinians did so far today.

Palestinian operatives set off a bomb by the security fence near the Gaza Strip on Monday.

No one was hurt in the incident.

And:

2 Palestinians arrested for transporting weapons
Border Police on Monday arrested two Palestinians near Bir Zeit who were transporting 200 knives, 15 axes, and nine sets of binoculars in their car, Israel Radio reported.

The two were transferred to security forces for questioning.

I’m sure the weapons were for peaceful purposes.