Jemima Khan

Guardian

Wednesday November 1, 2000

Generally, I am skeptical about conspiracy theories. However, I feel the current furore in the Muslim world about western media coverage of events in the Middle East is justified.

First, I watched horrified as Israeli soldiers shot, in cold blood, Mohammad al-Durra, a 12-year-old Palestinian boy. His father tried to shield his cowering son while begging the assassins in vain to hold fire. Equally shocking was the senseless killing of the Palestinian ambulance man who then arrived. I watched this scene on several news channels and all reported that the boy was caught in crossfire. This was blatantly untrue and the captured images showed clearly that the firing was one-sided and unprovoked. The Palestinians claim that father and son innocently went shopping to Gaza. Israel claims they were violent protesters. But even if they were, since when did the hurling of rocks warrant gunfire?

I was equally appalled by TV images five years ago when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a restaurant in Israel packed with children, but the difference is that those reporting the blast were as outspokenly horrified as I was by the images of mutilated children's bodies.

In this case, however, far from condemning the brutal public execution of a young boy, I was amazed to read the western press condemning Palestinians for "sending their children out to die" for the sake of "scoring media points". That doesn't explain the shooting of an 18-month-old baby girl in the back seat of her father's car. Or how another 12-year-old boy was shot in his own garden.

Then two Israeli soldiers were filmed being brutally killed by Palestinian protesters. It made shocking viewing. The news channels reiterated the Israeli claim that they had mistakenly "strayed into Ramallah". Yet Ramallah is a city under total Israeli military siege and is completely blockaded except for one entrance, which is entirely under the control of Israeli military checkpoints. They were clearly undercover hit squad agents who had deliberately infiltrated a funeral march. They were recognized, and although Palestinian police attempted to protect them, the furious mob invaded the police HQ and killed them in full view of the international media.

This was presented immediately as justification for subsequent Israeli aerial attacks, and increased block ades. No one can condone the frenzied killing of these two Israeli soldiers and the perpetrators will certainly be called to account - unlike the soldiers responsible for killing the 12-year-old Palestinian boy.

But why did Madeleine Albright present her immediate condolence to the families of these two Israeli soldiers, when more than a fortnight has passed without any such comments for the families of the dozens of killed Palestinian civilians?

And she persistently refers to "violence on both sides" (regardless of the obvious disparity between a nuclear state and a lightly-armed police force. At the last count, there were 126 Palestinian fatalities, 35% under the age of 15, 4,000 Palestinian casualties and seven Israeli fatalities). In the presidential elections Al Gore and George Bush were forced in one of their first debates to compete in an almost farcical fashion over who would be more loyal to Israel. Gore, the clear winner, who has built his career on support from the Jewish lobby, said he would pressure Yasser Arafat to stop "provocative acts of violence".

Hillary Clinton, who a year ago called for a Palestinian state, has been forced into a complete U-turn in her Senate campaign. The Jews have been remarkably successful as a people, despite historic adversity. As a result, the Israeli lobby in the US is rich and influential. The media are largely controlled by the Jews, as is Hollywood and they account for more than half the top policy-making jobs in the Clinton administration.

Driving to pick up my son from school yesterday, I was horrified to see a freshly painted red sign on a wall: "Kill all Jews. Jihad". And a statement has just been issued from a London based Islamist group that "all Jews and Americans have now become targets in the Muslim lands as a result of American policy". Abhorrent as this kind of extremism may be, it is a direct result of what Muslims see as gross injustice, due to overwhelming Jewish influence in US politics and the media. The situation can only worsen, with an increase in fundamentalism.

Many of my friends are Jewish, as was my paternal grandfather. The sad part is that I know the majority of them desperately want peace in the Middle East, but that peace can only be achieved once the US acts as an honest broker, and the US media as impartial commentators.

Jemima and Imran Khan live in Islamabad