[iwar] Coordinating PR a problem for coalition

From: televr (yangyun@metacrawler.com)
Date: 2002-04-02 20:32:33
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] The meaning of Elligible Receiver"
Previous message: Peter Noorlander: "Freedom of Expression Handbook and on-line database of significan t cases"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Message-ID: <a8e0l1+6tc0@eGroups.com>
User-Agent: eGroups-EW/0.82
From: "televr" <yangyun@metacrawler.com>
Mailing-List: list iwar@yahoogroups.com; contact iwar-owner@yahoogroups.com
Precedence: bulk
Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 04:32:33 -0000
Subject: [iwar] Coordinating PR a problem for coalition
Reply-To: iwar@yahoogroups.com
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Background / Sharon and Peres try to coordinate a PR message
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres met in a
bid to coordinate Israel's PR campaign, as the IDF's military
offensive in the West Bank moved into its fifth day. But whatever the
two men agree should be Israel's message to the international
community - if they can agree at all - it appears world leaders are
already divided into two distinct camps: The Americans who have been
demonstratively uncritical of Sharon and have placed much of the blame
on Yasser Arafat for the present crisis, and the Europeans who have
increasingly flayed Sharon and expressed sympathy for the Palestinians
since the the prime minister launched "Operation Protective Wall" last
Friday.

In many of his recent appearances, President George Bush has placed
much of the onus for the escalating violence on the Palestinian
Authority chairman. While calling on Sharon on Monday to keep "a
pathway to peace open," Bush said there "will never be peace so long
as there is terror, and all of us must fight terror… I'd like to see
Chairman Arafat denounce the terrorist activities that are taking
place, the constant attacks."

European leaders have offered a very different reading of the
conflict, highlighting Sharon's actions as a major obstacle to
defusing the violence. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said
Tuesday that his government wanted "an immediate withdrawal of Israeli
troops from Ramallah."

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin was far more blunt, suggesting
that Israeli policy was responsible for the current situation, because
it "provokes despair among the Palestinians, who have no more
prospects, whose living conditions in the territories are absolutely
impossible."

Jospin also tried to deflect Israeli and U.S. criticism of Arafat as
being responsible for the ongoing terror, saying that to him it seemed
that "those who back these attacks are not really close to the
Palestinian Authority."

European Union foreign ministers scheduled an emergency meeting for
Wednesday evening - their first such meeting since the one they held
in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks - during which they said they
would issue a call for an immediate Israeli withdrawal from
Palestinian towns and cities.

Criticism in Europe is likely to become even more fervent as reports
increase of Israeli human rights violations in the West Bank. United
Nations special envoy to the region, Terje Roed Larsen, told the BBC
on Tuesday that Israel was making it almost impossible for UNWRA to
operate in the territories, and that a humanitarian crisis was developing.

At least one European leader, though, appeared fed up with both Sharon
and Arafat. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, a
frequent visitor to the Middle East, suggested the region would be
better off if both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders stepped aside.

"Neither is a saint, and sometimes I'm inclined to think that perhaps
a new generation of persons in Israel and Palestine could in the 21st
century come up with a solution," Solana told Spain's Cadena SER
Radio. "They have faced many battlefields, and it hasn't escaped me
that there is something personal between Arafat and Sharon."

That U.S.-European dichotomy is reflected, to a degree, in the
relationship between Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres - a fact
which tends to blur Israel's PR message. Any attempt to coordinate a
PR line between Sharon and Peres - a meeting to this end was held
Monday evening - is complicated, writes Ha'aretz diplomatic
correspondent Aluf Benn. "Sharon wants to isolate the Palestinian
Authority Chairman, Yasser Arafat, and Peres is calling for this
isolation to be eased," Benn explains.

Peres did manage to convince Sharon that it would be wise to talk of
the "campaign" against terror, rather than of a "war," which is
conducted between armies and states. "The word 'campaign,'" writes
Benn, "is also intended to strengthen the comparison Israel is trying
to make between its operation in the territories, and the gobal
campaign against terror being waged by the U.S."

The effort to coordinate PR messages, however, has not succeeded in
blurring the differences between Sharon and Peres. Shortly after the
meeting ended, Peres appeared on Channel One Television, explaining
that isolating Arafat had been a mistake from a media point of view,
since it had deflected the spotlight away from the suicide bombings
and onto the fate of the besieged Palestinian leader.

"When you put tanks in place," Peres said, referring to the armored
vehicles surrounding Arafat's Ramallah office, "you also have to be
aware of where the television cameras are."
By Ha'aretz Staff 2 April 2002



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
HOW to SEE & RECORD EVERYTHING!
TINY Camera for Under $80 BUCKS! PRICE BREAKTHROUGH --> CLICK!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/w7toOC/.o6DAA/yigFAA/kgFolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

------------------
http://all.net/ 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] The meaning of Elligible Receiver"
Previous message: Peter Noorlander: "Freedom of Expression Handbook and on-line database of significan t cases"
Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] [ attachment ]
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : 2003-08-24 02:46:31 PDT