Media Covers Special Session of Palestinian Parliament

A special session of the Palestinian parliament called to approve the new government of national unity announced by Prime Minister Isma’il Haniyah on 16 March received extensive coverage in the Middle Eastern media the following day.

Palestinian coverage

Palestinian satellite TV relayed the event live from 0915 gmt onwards. The session opened with a 12-minute speech from Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Deputy Speaker Ahmad Bahr, who said that the formation of a national unity government marked “an historical turning point in our political journey”. President Mahmud Abbas then delivered a 15-minute speech in which he expressed the hope that the formation of a new Palestinian government would lead to “tangible moves to end the siege.” He also said that the Palestinian leadership was “ready unconditionally to take the road of just peace through the resumption of negotiations between the government of Israel and the PLO leadership.” Abbas’s speech was followed by an address from Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Isma’il Haniyah.

Pan-Arab coverage

All the pan-Arab television channels – Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiya and the Iranian Arabic language news channel Al-Alam – relayed live the proceedings of the PLC session held to vote on the new government. With the exception of Al-Arabiya – which interrupted its coverage at 1030 gmt to resume its normal programming while Prime Minister- designate Isma’il Haniyah was speaking – all the pan-Arab channels provided unbroken coverage of the event.

After Haniyah had concluded his speech, Al-Alam’s correspondent summed up the main points of his speech, highlighting Haniyah’s remarks on the Palestinians’ “legitimate right to resist” the occupation, his rejection of “temporary solutions” and his call for an end to the detention of Palestinians by the “Zionist” occupation. The correspondent said that the prime minister had presented “a comprehensive programme” to parliament.

The head of the Al-Jazeera office in Gaza also summed up the main points of the speeches given by Abbas and Haniyah, while Al- Arabiya’s presenter read these out.

Today’s PLC session was the top story of the 1100 gmt news bulletins of Al-Arabiya, Al-Jazeera and Al-Alam. Al-Alam carried a report featuring newly-appointed Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa al-Barghuthi, who said that the new government’s top priorities would be to end the occupation, lift “the siege” and bring to an end the insecurity in the Palestinian territories. The report highlighted Israel’s refusal to deal with the new government, but said the formation of the government meant that Palestinians could now “breathe a sigh of relief”. Al-Alam also aired vox pops of ordinary Palestinians, whose main concerns were the refugees’ right of return, insecurity and the international boycott. The channel’s correspondent concluded his report by saying that the government was calling on Arabs and Muslims to “shoulder their responsibility” towards the Palestinians.

Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera devoted less time to the PLC session in their 1100 gmt news bulletins, merely summing up the main points of Abbas’s and Haniyah’s speeches. Al-Arabiya highlighted the fact that the president had said that the Palestinian authority was committed to “signed agreements based on the Arab initiative”. Al-Jazeera quoted Haniyah as saying that his government would work towards setting up an independent Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel in 1967, including Jerusalem.

An editorial in the pan-Arab paper Al-Arab al-Alamiyah asked whether the Palestinians could expect to receive anything from the rest of the world in return for the concessions they had made, and came to the conclusion that Israel and the USA would probably now come up with a fresh set of demands and conditions.

Iranian coverage

The Iranian media – which on 17 March seemed to be winding down in advance of the Persian New Year holiday season – carried mainly brief news reports on the PLC session.

In its 1030gmt news bulletin, Iranian TV’s network one (IRTV1) carried a short straight news story on the formation of the government and the start of parliamentary meetings for the approval of the cabinet. The video showed Palestinian officials holding meetings.

The Iranian news network (IRINN) carried straight news reports in most of its bulletins, though its 0930 gmt bulletin also included an analysis of the reactions of Western government to the new Palestinian government. The commentator warned that it would not be so easy for the West to oppose the new government, in view of the broad support that – in his view – it enjoyed within Palestinian society and the rest of the world.

Iranian radio carried straight reports of the PLC session in its 0430 gmt and 1030 gmt bulletins, but did not otherwise devote any airtime to the event. Similarly, Iranian news agencies carried only factual reports on the formation of the government. Iran’s Student News Agency (ISNA) did, however, mention the “Zionist regime’s” opposition to the new Palestinian government because of its refusal to recognize the state of Israel.

Many Iranian newspapers did not publish on 17 March (the last working day before the New Year holiday period), and those that did tended to cover the Palestinian story in their inside pages rather than on the front page. The government mouthpiece, Iran, carried an editorial saying that the agreement by Hamas and Fatah to form a government of national unity had confounded the West’s expectations.

Official Israeli reaction

Israel was quick to reject contacts with the new Palestinian cabinet. “Israel will not recognize or work with this new government or with its members,” the French news agency AFP quoted government spokeswoman Miri Eisin as saying. Eisin criticized Haniyah for insisting on Palestinians’ right to resistance, instead of recognizing Israel, committing his cabinet to previous Israeli- Palestinian agreements, and renouncing terrorism. She urged the international community not to lift its aid freeze on the Palestinian Authority until these three conditions had been met.

However, one Foreign Ministry official told AFP that Tel Aviv already feared that the “wind is beginning to change among certain European countries who seem ready to restart their aid, which would constitute a victory for Hamas”.

Speaking to Israeli public radio, Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said the question was “to know whether we give money to terrorism or to peace”, while Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh said that a resumption of aid to the Palestinians would be a defeat for “those who go back and do not respect the principles that they themselves established”.

Russian coverage

Russia’s NTV Mir carried a report in its 1000 gmt news bulletin which noted that although the PLC’s vote on the new government was likely to be a formality, this did not mean that recognition by the international community could be taken for granted. The TV pointed out that this would only be granted once the new leadership had shown that it was prepared to comply with international requirements.

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Newsfile. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.