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Sign above prostitute's door: "Israel" (PA official daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, September 19, 2005)
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| By Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook October 2, 2005 |
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| Israeli market is seen attracting customers away from an Arab Common Market (Courtesy: PMW) |
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The West views diplomatic contacts between once belligerent countries as an important and necessary step towards peace, and accordingly has welcomed the recent diplomatic contacts between Israel and some Muslim and Arab states.
However, these events -- notably meetings between Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Pakistan and other Muslim countries -- has incensed the Palestinian Authority, which vehemently opposes what it calls the "normalization" of relations with Israel.
Palestinian organizations and the controlled media in the Palestinian Authority have undertaken an ongoing campaign of thorough condemnation of these recent diplomatic contacts. The PA official daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, went so far at to visually depict the meetings with Israel as Arabs literally on top of a prostitute called 'Israel,' as in the picture shown in the upper left.
The Palestinian National Committee Against Normalization condemned any movement of Muslim countries towards improved relations with Israel, labeling such a move "a stab in the collective back of the Palestinian people." [Palestine News Network, September 19, 2005]
In addition to the prostitute depiction, the official Palestinian Authority daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, continues publishing cartoons maligning those Arabs and Muslims who seek "normalization" with Israel. The recent meetings, which are far from normalization, are typically depicted as either a betrayal of the Palestinians or as a threat to the Arab and Muslim world.
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