what+every+American+needs+to+know+about

what every American needs to know about

"what every American needs to know about ." //IF Americans Knew// . 29 Sep. 2000. Web. 7 Sep. 2010. . - “Recent studies of U.S. media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict reveal that the media reported Israeli children’s deaths at rates 7 to 40 times greater than Palestinian children’s deaths.” pg. 1 - “At least 82 Palestinian children were killed before the first Israeli child. Why is there such an immense differential in reporting on deaths related to the ethnicity of the victim? Why are so few Palestinian children’s deaths being reported to the American public?” pg. 1
 * Examples: - “In 2004, when 8 Israeli children were killed and 179 Palestinian children were killed, NBC reported on 100% of Israeli children’s deaths and on 10% of Palestinian children’s deaths, ABC on 100% and 11%.” pg. 1

- “The Associated Press is the major source of international news for U.S. news media. Virtually all AP news reports about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict go through its bureau in Israel.” pg. 1 - November 1, 2004 "Israeli military forces occupying the area had just killed a 12-year-old Palestinian boy who had been throwing stones from approximately 300 meters away. A soldier had shot the boy in the throat with live ammunition." pg. 1 - Back in the U.S., we looked up AP coverage of the killing of this child. We found

1. “Israel currently has [|121 Jewish-only settlements and 106 ‘outposts’] on confiscated Palestinian land.”
2. “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” - - Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 3. “The establishment of the settlements leads to the violation of the rights of the Palestinians as enshrined in international human rights law. Among other violations, the settlements infringe on the rights to self-determination, equality, property, an adequate standard of living, and freedom of movement.” 4. “The Israeli governments have implemented a consistent and systematic policy intended to encourage Jewish citizens to migrate to the West Bank…settlers and other Israeli citizens working or investing in the settlements are entitled to significant financial benefits.” 5. “Israel has used a complex legal and bureaucratic mechanism to take control of more than fifty percent of the land in the West Bank. This land has been used mainly to establish settlements and create reserves of land for the future expansion of the settlements.” 6. “Particularly evident is Israel’s manipulative use of legal tools in order to give the settlement enterprise an impression of legality. In so doing, Israel trampled on numerous restrictions and prohibitions established in the international conventions to which it is party, and which were intended to limit infringement of human rights and to protect populations under occupation.” 7. “While facilitating Jewish settlement, the planning system works vigorously to restrict the development of Palestinian communities. The main tool used to this end is to reject requests for building permits filed by Palestinians.” 8. “Israel prohibits the Palestinians as a group from entering and using these lands, and uses the settlements to justify numerous violations of the Palestinians’ human rights, such as the right to housing, to earn a livelihood, and the right to freedom of movement. The drastic change that Israel has made in the map of the West Bank prevents any real possibility for the establishment of an independent, viable Palestinian state as part of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination.” 9. “Israel has created in the Occupied Territories a regime of separation based on discrimination, applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on their nationality.” 10. “In the late 1800s a group in Europe decided to colonize this land. Known as Zionists, they represented an extremist minority of the Jewish population. Their goal was to create a Jewish homeland, and they considered locations in Africa and the Americas, before settling on Palestine.” American TV


 * 1) “Then there’s politics. Since the 1940s, our leaders have supported pro-Israeli positions.”
 * 2) “TV entertainment shows and movies almost always make it clear that an Israeli’s life is worth more than an Arab’s, especially a Palestinian Arab’s. How often have you seen Palestinian aggressors killing Israeli civilians? But have you ever seen a movie showing Israeli settlers or soldiers gunning down Palestinian civilians?”
 * 3) “Like movies, American TV news reports also focus selectively on a small minority of radicals who chant “Death to America!” as they burn Uncle Sam in effigy.”
 * 4) “These Arab and Muslim villain images gratuitously equate 1.2 billion people as clones or mindless utensils of Ayatollah Khomeini, Moammar Kadafi, Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Fair play?”
 * 5) “Violent news reports of extremists keep driving home the myth: Most Arabs are evil. Such deliberate distortions provide all the excuses image-makers eager to exploit the issue need to ratchet up their Arab-bashing.”
 * 6) “Since 9/11, TV producers have saturated viewers with Arab blackguards; they prowl law enforcement, intelligence agency and courtroom dramas: “The West Wing,” “JAG,” “The Agency,” “Law & Order,” “Judging Amy,” “The Practice” and the TV movie “The President’s Man: A Line in the Sand.”
 * 7) “in more than 100 nations every day, viewers see American movie stars — Arnold Schwarzenegger (“True Lies”), Samuel L. Jackson (“Rules of Engagement”), Kurt Russell (“Executive Decision”) and others — blowing Arabs to smithereens.”
 * 8) “Yet these TV shows give prejudice a free pass when attacks on mosques, harassment in schools, physical violence, loss of jobs, rude profiling at airports, even arrest and imprisonment in violation of civil rights are increasingly the daily experience of Arab and Muslim Americans.”