{"id":144644,"date":"2019-10-07T12:01:51","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T11:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=144644"},"modified":"2024-09-23T14:41:55","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:41:55","slug":"in-media-newspeak-a-peace-plan-for-palestine-israel-is-anything-us-proposes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2019\/10\/in-media-newspeak-a-peace-plan-for-palestine-israel-is-anything-us-proposes\/","title":{"rendered":"In Media Newspeak, a \u2018Peace Plan\u2019 for Palestine\/Israel Is Anything US Proposes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Header from the Kushner \u201cpeace plan<\/em>\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

30 Sep 2019 –<\/em>\u00a0Prior to the elections in Israel\/Palestine in September\u2014marred by blatant racism<\/a> posturing as the \u201cdemocratic process,\u201d with millions of Palestinians<\/a> living under varying degrees of Israeli rule unable to vote due to their ethnicity\u2014Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu generated headlines for repeatedly pledging to annex nearly a third of the illegally occupied West Bank, in violation of international law, to gain support for his and the Likud party\u2019s reelection (New York Times<\/strong>, 9\/10\/19<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s refusal to release details<\/a> before the September election on presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner\u2019s \u201cVision for Peace\u201d plan, which would supposedly resolve the enduring conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, was only the latest demonstration of the farce the administration\u2019s \u201cpeace plan\u201d has always been for Palestinians.<\/p>\n

However, corporate media coverage of \u201cVision for Peace\u201d continued to transmit the perspective of US official sources, constantly referring unironically to the proposal as a \u201cpeace plan,\u201d \u201cpeace initiative\u201d or \u201cpeace process.\u201d The more difficult and honest approach to reporting on the so-called \u201cpeace plan\u201d\u2014by analyzing the plan on its predictable outcomes, rather than its professed objectives\u2014wasn\u2019t taken, despite the media\u2019s own reporting indicating how the plan could never lead to peace.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/strong>\u2019s \u201cKushner Presents Vision of a Middle East at Peace but No Details How to Get There\u201d (6\/25\/19<\/a>) tellingly only referred to the Trump administration\u2019s proposal as a \u201cpeace plan\u201d in its photo captions, and instead described it as an \u201ceconomic plan\u201d or a \u201cWhite House plan\u201d in the text of the article, when it reported on the economic component of Kushner\u2019s plan to raise \u201c$50 billion in regional investment projects over the next decade.\u201d Perhaps this is due to it reporting that the plan has been met with \u201cwidespread skepticism\u201d and has already been \u201crejected by the Palestinian leadership,\u201d who claim that the US can\u2019t be \u201can honest peace broker after taking several pro-Israel measures,\u201d such as \u201crecognizing the contested city of Jerusalem as Israel\u2019s capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others have observed how Kushner\u2019s \u201cPeace to Prosperity<\/a>\u201d plan resembles a real estate developer\u2019s brochure<\/a>, mentioning \u201chuman capital\u201d and \u201cproperty rights\u201d without mentioning \u201chuman rights,\u201d along with buzzwords like \u201cunleashing economic potential\u201d and \u201cenhancing Palestinian governance.\u201d Other pro-Israel measures omitted from the article that make it impossible to accept the US as an honest broker include the Trump administration\u2019s support for Israel\u2019s illegal annexation<\/a> of the Syrian Golan Heights (FAIR.org<\/strong>, 4\/4\/19<\/a>), the closure of the Palestinian diplomatic post in Washington, the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem and the slashing of aid to Palestinian refugees (Guardian<\/strong>, 6\/25\/19<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Wall Street Journal<\/em> (8\/1\/19<\/a>) said Jared Kushner was promoting \u201chow a peace plan could benefit the Palestinian economy\u201d\u2014on a trip that involved meeting with no Palestinians.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When the Wall Street<\/strong> Journal<\/strong> (8\/1\/19<\/a>) reported on the Kushner team\u2019s meetings in Israel and other Arab countries to promote his \u201cpeace plan,\u201d it depicted Kushner as a good-faith negotiator and peacemaker trying to \u201cbreathe life into Middle East peace efforts.\u201d This despite reporting that he and his team were snubbing Palestinian leaders and their demands, as Kushner\u2019s team was evading a guarantee of full statehood for Palestinians in favor of a vacuous \u201cautonomy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Journal <\/strong>noted that Kushner didn\u2019t bother meeting with \u201cany Palestinian officials\u201d on this trip, and reported how Palestinian officials have long demanded an independent state on the boundaries that existed before the 1967 war, along with East Jerusalem as its capital and the right of refugees to return to land currently in Israel, which is \u201cgenerally echoed\u201d by \u201cArab countries.\u201d That Kushner has never seen the Palestinians as genuine negotiating partners has never been more obvious since he expressed his colonialist dismissal of Palestinians as incapable of self-governance (Axios<\/strong>, 6\/2\/19<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Times <\/strong>(6\/23\/19<\/a>) insisted on referring to the Trump administration\u2019s \u201cVision for Peace\u201d as a \u201cpeace plan,\u201d \u201cpeace process\u201d or \u201cpeace initiative\u201d throughout its article, despite quoting statements that contradict such benign motives from sources \u201cprivy to Kushner\u2019s work,\u201d like former Israeli Defense minister and \u201chard-liner\u201d Avigdor Lieberman:<\/p>\n

Lieberman said the term \u201cpeace process\u201d was irrelevant in the explosive region. \u201cYou will never see, at least in the next generation, any peace in the Middle East.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The LA Times<\/strong> utilized this Newspeak even as it offered the assessment of Daniel Benjamin, the director of Dartmouth College\u2019s John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Trump administration\u2019s policy for the region is to give the Israelis everything that Netanyahu wants and set up a scenario in which the Palestinians are forced to reject it,\u201d thus providing the White House with \u201cthe excuse it needs to continue a basically punitive policy towards the Palestinians,\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>The New York Times (6\/1\/19<\/a>) referred oxymoronically to \u201ca staunchly pro-Israel peace plan \u2014 one that snuffed out the goal of a two-state solution, for example.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

FAIR has documented how the New York Times <\/strong>has been one of the most credulous media outlets in covering the Israeli\/Palestinian conflict (e.g., FAIR.org<\/strong>, 5\/16\/19<\/a>, 4\/26\/19<\/a>), and its coverage of the Kushner plan is no different. Although the Times<\/strong>\u2019 \u201cTrump to Open Middle East Peace Drive With Economic Incentives\u201d (5\/19\/19<\/a>) reported on Netanyahu\u2019s plans to annex part of the West Bank (which would make a two-state solution impossible), and Kushner rejecting an independent Palestinian state, that wouldn\u2019t stop its later reporting from dubbing the Trump administration\u2019s proposal a \u201cpeace plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Times <\/strong>(6\/1\/19<\/a>) continued to unironically refer to the US proposal as a \u201cpeace plan\u201d or \u201cpeace initiative,\u201d even as it observed that Trump planned to \u201cthrow his full weight behind Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s campaign to save his job as prime minister of Israel\u201d\u2014without mentioning that Netanyahu is facing multiple indictments<\/a> for corruption. It also had no problem analyzing the \u201cpolitical calculus\u201d behind the Trump administration\u2019s plan:<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump, eager not to alienate evangelical voters or influential pro-Israel donors<\/a> like the casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, is unlikely to present a plan that would put Israel or Mr. Netanyahu in an awkward position. For both leaders, therefore, the political calculus will argue for a plan that makes as few demands of Israel as possible.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Corporate media refused many other easy opportunities to discredit the Trump administration\u2019s professed desire for peace. How could a genuine peace agreement be reached when the officials in charge of the plan, like Kushner, US ambassador to Israel David Friedman and former chief negotiator Jason Greenblatt, were all supportive of and bankrolling Israel\u2019s illegal settlements, and have overseen some of the most punitive anti-Palestinian measures in US history (Jacobin<\/strong>, 7\/9\/19<\/a>)? How could peace be achieved when the staunchly pro-Israel US plan involved approving Netanyahu\u2019s plan to annex parts of the West Bank considered to be the \u201cfood basket<\/a>\u201d of Palestinians, and rendering a viable Palestinian state impossible by fragmenting it into isolated enclaves within Israel (Intercept<\/strong>, 9\/11\/19<\/a>)?<\/p>\n

Corporate media also gave scant coverage to the absurdity of a \u201cpeace plan\u201d that tries to sell potential investments in Gaza and the West Bank as a \u201chot IPO<\/a>,\u201d and doesn\u2019t mention Israel\u2019s illegal occupation strangling the Palestinian economy (CounterPunch<\/strong>, 11\/20\/15<\/a>). The UN has found that the Palestinian economy would be at least twice as large if it weren\u2019t for the occupation (Al-Jazeera<\/strong>, 9\/9\/16<\/a>), while companies doing business in the settlements contribute to and profit from<\/a> land confiscations and violations of the rights of Palestinian workers (Al-Jazeera<\/strong>, 1\/9\/16<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Although there has been vigorous debate between those who support a two-state solution to the Israel\/Palestine conflict (Guardian<\/strong>, 11\/2\/12<\/a>; Nation<\/strong>, 7\/2\/14<\/a>) and a single, multiethnic, democratic state, advocates for a one-state solution continue to be marginalized in the corporate media discussion (FAIR.org<\/strong>, 6\/1\/18<\/a>), despite gaining ground among Palestinians<\/a> and other people abroad. Rather than treating the denial of democratic rights to Palestinians as a human rights problem, the extension of those rights is portrayed as a threat to Jewish Israelis (FAIR.org<\/strong>, 2\/1\/19<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Seen from the perspective of those advocating a one-state solution, US and Israeli support for annexing parts of the West Bank is simply an acknowledgment of the reality that Israel\/Palestine can only have one government, and a confirmation that democracy is the only path to peace. Whichever path one favors, it should be clear that in media Newspeak, \u201cpeace plan\u201d is a propaganda term that only refers to whatever Washington is proposing at any given time.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joshua Cho is a writer based in New York City.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 fair.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

30 Sep 2019 \u2013 The corporate media\u2019s coverage of Kushner’s \u201cVision for Peace\u201d transmitted the perspective of US official sources, constantly referring unironically to the proposal as a \u201cpeace plan,\u201d \u201cpeace initiative\u201d or \u201cpeace process.\u201d The more difficult and honest approach to reporting\u2014by analyzing the plan on its predictable outcomes, rather than its professed objectives\u2014wasn\u2019t taken, despite the media\u2019s own reporting indicating how the plan could never lead to peace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":112002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,54],"tags":[772,120,1030,87,267,1029,260,487,866,504,88,263,234,767,291,771,444,86,1027,427,85,109,287,103,107,985,572,292,126,1026,118,172,1025,75,886],"class_list":["post-144644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","category-palestine-israel-gaza-genocide","tag-apartheid","tag-conflict","tag-fatah","tag-gaza","tag-geopolitics","tag-hamas","tag-history","tag-human-rights","tag-indigenous-rights","tag-international-relations","tag-israel","tag-matw","tag-media","tag-middle-east","tag-military","tag-nakba","tag-nonviolence","tag-occupation","tag-oslo-accords","tag-palestine","tag-palestine-israel","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-racism","tag-religion","tag-social-justice","tag-torture","tag-un","tag-violence","tag-wall","tag-war","tag-west","tag-west-bank","tag-world","tag-zionism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275165,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144644\/revisions\/275165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}