The Palestinian Authority has launched a television channel targeting Israel's 1.6 million Arab citizens. Named F48 – short for Falastin 1948 (Palestine 1948) - the channel will air mainly cultural and social affairs programs designed to forge a connection between the descendants of the Arabs who stayed in Israel after it was established in 1948 and those who left or were expelled.
The daily Haaretz reported Wednesday that the channel will be controlled by the PA and funded by it and the PLO.
Production companies will film shows from Arab population centers within Israel – in the Galilee, Negev and the north-central region known as the "Triangle", then transfer the footage to F48’s broadcasting room in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The first test program will be aired on June 18, the first day of the month-long Ramadan fast, which is a prime television viewing period in the Muslim world.
“The Palestinian leadership understands and is really beginning to grasp that there won’t be a diplomatic solution, not in the foreseeable future,” one Palestinian official told Haaretz, adding that this is leading to a change in the Palestinian leadership’s policy.
Previously, Palestinian citizens of Israel were completely removed from the decision-making process in the Palestinian movement, but that trend has begun to be reversed in the last few years, the official added, noting that the momentum has increased in recent months with the emergence of the Joint Arab List, representing Israeli Arabs in the Knesset, which was greeted enthusiastically in the Palestinian Authority.
The complexity for many Arab Israelis is reflected in the results of a survey published this week, which examines levels of tolerance among Israelis aged 12 to 18.
The majority of Arab youth surveyed reported feeling part of Israeli society in some way, with approximately 40 percent saying they feel part of Israeli society "to a large or very large extent". On the other hand, just over one-third of ultra-Orthodox Jewish youth said they feel part of Israeli society "to a certain extent" or less.
The survey also shows that 35 percent of Jewish Israeli youth have never spoken with an Arab youth – and 27 percent of Arab Israelis reported never having spoken with a Jewish youth.
Some 45 percent of the Jewish youth surveyed, as reported by The Jerusalem Post, are not willing to learn in a mixed class with Arabs, while only approximately 39 percent of Arab youth are not willing to learn in a mixed class with Jews.
Prof. Kobi Metzer, President of the Open University of Israel, said of the findings, "At a time when we are witnessing an increase in instances of intolerance, racism, discrimination, and violence, education must play a key role in shaping Israeli society as a democratic, open and enlightened, society, in which the equal treatment of different sectors in society does not fade away in the face of sectorial labeling."
'Jews are barbaric monkeys'
Meanwhile, the latest broadcast of a children’s program on official Palestinian Authority television shows a young girl reciting a hate poem filled with degrading expressions and insults against Jews, Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) reported on Monday.
On the show called "The Best Home", a Palestinian girl invoked Qur’anic language by calling Jews “barbaric monkeys,” “the most evil among creations,” and those “who murdered Allah’s pious prophets.” Jews are also said to be “throngs… brought up on spilling blood… impure… [and] filth.” The girl continues her recital saying she is not afraid of the Jews’ “barbarity” because Jerusalem will “vomit out” the impure Jews.
The expression “barbaric monkeys” is taken from a verse in the Qur’an that says, “…those whom Allah has cursed and with whom He became angry and made of them apes and pigs,” PMW reported. The Qur’an also teaches that the Jews murdered Allah’s prophets, with the verse, “Say, then why did you kill the prophets of Allah before, if you are [indeed] believers?”
http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/73532-150603-palestinian-authority-launching-tv-channel-for-israeli-arabs
No comments:
Post a Comment