The Revenge of AlJazeera: on its war with the Abu Mazen's collaborationist regime

Politics aside, AlJazeera Arabic is an excellent channel. Forget about all the political biases that afflict all news media, Aljazeera makes more effort to check in political biases than mainstream US media, like the New York Times. To compare Al-Arabiyya with AlJazeera is like comparing Muhammad Dahlan with Nelson Mandela. The comparison in itself is unfair to both sides. The other day, I kept AlJazeera on for a while working out and I was most impressed with the depth and scope of its international coverage. I mean, they would have a report from the US and then they would interview some Arabic speaker about some aspect of US politics, and then they would move to the elections in Mauritania, and on and on. If you switch while watching AlJazeera, you are most like to see a long and tedious report on Michael Jackson on Al-Arabiyya TV (the station of King Fahd's brother-in-law). Yesterday, AlJazeera was on and they had a flash about shooting outside of the Capital in DC. I switched to Fox New and they did not have anything on the matter for five long minutes. Don't get me wrong: I have my own criticism of AlJazeera and wrote about them here. But it is all relative: if I am to pick a newscast in any language that I can understand, I would not hesitate to select AlJazeera "mid-day" newscast. There is nothing like it: and the BBC which I used to like has been deteriorating and mimicking US network, albeit with more dignity. The reason I write about all this is the war between the tyrannical regime of Abu Mazen and Aljazeera. As you all know, the Abu Mazen collaborationist regime shut down AlJazeera offices (and I am glad that the Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the closure). But you need to read the Orwellian official statement that was issued by Salam Fayyad (the same guy who was dubbed "reformer" because he strictly follows orders from the World Bank and from Elliott Abrams). The statement justified the closure in the name of "the Supreme Palestinian interest". The language used was the same as that used by Saddam Husayn's regime or the regime of Enver Hoxa. It was classic terminology of tyranny. And it was quite amusing to see the PA talk about biases of Aljazeera when the blatant pro-Dahlan bias of Al-Arabiyya TV is admired by the same collaborationist regime. Azmi Bisharah spoke very well on the matter on Al-Jazeera yesterday: he said that the closure should be analyzed in terms the growing tryannical powers of the Abu Mazen collaborationist regime. He also reminded viewers that the Abu Mazen regime acts very much like the tyrannical Arab regimes and that its behavior during the Israeli terrorist war on Gaza was symptomatic: even public demonstration of sympathy with the people of Gaza were banned by the collaborationist regime. I recently spoke to a colleague who teaches at a universtiy in the West Bank: she described to me the behavior of the Dahlan gangs during the protests in solidarity with Gaza. She said that the oppression and repression in the West Bank has become quite effective. She watched as Dahlan gangsters/army moves to beat up and quickly overpower each demonstrator by himself/herself. She said that people are now afraid to speak out. As Azmi Bisharah said yesterday, the West Bank office of AlJazeera only hosts Fath propagandists because the Abu Mazen collaborationist regime only allows voices of support for the regime. It is fair to say that the Abu Mazen collaborationist regime has decided after the last parliamentary election to rule by force, and by force along. This is why they are now so upset with Faruq Qaddumi: because he is the most senior Fath person and represents dissent within the movement. Why did I title this post "The Revenge of AlJazeera"? Well, because you better not launch war on AlJazeera: they can really sway Arab public opinion more than Hasan Nasrallah and Yusuf Al-Qaradawi combined. And just as Saudi Arabia and Jordan regretted to try to demonize AlJazeera: which fought back with full force and effectiveness, the PA will regret its war on AlJazeera, especially that the Palestinian people favor AlJazeera and Al-Manar from surveys I have seen. Al-Arabiyya is regarded as a Dahlanist propaganada outlet and it does not even try to give voices to both sides. You watch in vain to see references on AlArabiyya to the important accusations of Qaddumi. So AlJazeera fought back with full force yesterday: giving most extensive coverage to the interview with Qaddumi and to the accusation, while continuing to give room for the views of Fath propagandists: Husayn Ash-Shaykh was allowed to yell and babble yesterday, for example. Now as for Qaddumi: as I said before, I have no respect for the man who waffled and weasled on the matter of Oslo. Arafat knew how to shut him up. Qaddumi also should be asked the legitimate question: why were you silent all those years. His answer that he was hoping for "verification" does not fly with me. Also, read the interview (linked in this text) with AlJazeera: he still refers to Abu Mazen as "Brother Abu Mazen". You accuse him of plotting with Sharon to kill Arafat and then you call him "brother"? Don't get me wrong: I do believe that it is likely that Abu Mazen and Dahlan were involved in many Israeli plots but the evidence that Qaddumi provides does not sound credible: less credible is the fact that Qaddumi waited until Abu Mazen moved the Fath conference to the "inside" before revealing the plot. The problem is with Fath itself: it is now the primary arm of collaboration with Israel. Today, PFLP's `Abdur-Rahim Malluh embarrassed Abu Mazen by saying the statement that was attributed to the PLO's Executive Committee (against Qaddumi) did not represent the Committee which has not met in two weeks. And Malluh is usually referred to as Abu Mazen's man within what is left of the PLFP and his son serves in the Dahlan force. OK, I have to run and post other things. Bye.