The Palestinians No One Talks About

by Khaled Abu Toameh • April 29, 2015 at 5:00 am

The international media continues to ignore the "plight" of the Palestinians living under the rule of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as well as a number of Arab countries, especially Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.
"The Palestinian Authority does not want democracy." — Mother of Jihad Salim, assaulted by Palestinian interrogators who asked him why the Islamic Bloc won student elections at Bir Zeit University.
The international community pays attention to Palestinians only when they are "victims" of Israel. The continued obsession of the media with Israel allows the Arab countries, as well as the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, to proceed with their systematic violations of human rights and freedom of speech.

A Palestinian woman, shopping at an open-air market in Gaza, complains to Al Jazeera News about a new tax being imposed by Hamas, April 25, 2015. (Image source: Al Jazeera video screenshot)

The international community seems to have forgotten that Palestinians live not only in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but also in a number of Arab countries, especially Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

Western journalists covering the Israeli-Palestinian conflict regularly focus on the "plight" of Palestinians who are affected by Israeli security policies, while ignoring what is happening to Palestinians in neighboring Arab countries.

These journalists, for example, often turn a blind eye to the daily killings of Palestinians in Syria and the fact that Palestinians living in Lebanon and other Arab countries are subjected to Apartheid and discriminatory laws.

A Palestinian who is shot dead after stabbing an Israeli soldier in Hebron receives more coverage in the international media than a Palestinian woman who dies of starvation in Syria.