Let’s look at the ledes on the various wire service articles about the current round of peace talks.
Earlier, Reuters:
Israel and Palestinians launch peace talks in discord
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinians said on Wednesday they had demanded a halt to Israeli plans to build on occupied land when negotiators launched peace talks aimed at reaching a deal on Palestinian statehood by the end of 2008.
No mention at all of the rocket attacks from Gaza, until about the thirteenth paragraph.
Later, Reuters:
Israel and Palestinians launch peace talks in discord
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The first peace talks in seven years between Israel and the Palestinians opened in discord on Wednesday with the Palestinians demanding a halt to settlement building and Israel calling for a crackdown on militants.
You would think that perhaps, based on that change in the lede, that Reuters would identify the rocket barrage that wounded a girl in Sderot this morning, and put it high up in the article. You would be wrong. The mention of the rocket barrage has not moved from the thirteenth graf.
The AP has changed the lede somewhat, too. Earlier:
JERUSALEM (AP) – The first formal peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians in seven years got off to a rocky start Wednesday, with the Palestinians lambasting Israel for a new construction project planned in disputed east Jerusalem and Israel accusing the Palestinians of creating a “tense atmosphere.”
The Palestinians have said the planned construction in the Har Homa neighborhood, along with Israeli military activity in the Gaza Strip, have threatened to undermine the new peace talks.
The Palestinian delegation “introduced the issue of Har Homa and expressed our outrage,” said negotiator Saeb Erekat.
No mention of the rocket attacks until the fifteenth paragraph of the story, and not a word about them in the lede.
But the AP editors must have decided they really need to mention the attack of the “crude, homemade” rockets, especially because someone got hurt. Later:
JERUSALEM—The highly anticipated renewal of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians got off to a rocky start Wednesday, with the Palestinians criticizing Israel for a construction project planned in disputed east Jerusalem, and Israel complaining about continued rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinians have said the planned construction in the Har Homa neighborhood, along with Israeli military activity in the Gaza Strip, have threatened to undermine the new peace talks.
The Palestinian delegation “introduced the issue of Har Homa and expressed our outrage,” said negotiator Saeb Erekat.
Notice how the lede changes almost not at all. The rocket attacks stay unmentioned again until paragraph fourteen. The number of rockets has been upped to twenty, which indicates that the editors are, indeed, on top of the news—but that they are not willing to grant rocket attacks as high a priority as building houses on disputed (by the Palestinians) territory. The real threat to the peace talks? Not acts of war. Buildings. Not Palestinian terrorists. Israeli “settlers.” Not the PA. Israel. Always Israel.
It is a wonder that anyone in the world believes that Israel is at all in the right. Because it’s certain that the media never do.