Khaled Abu Toameh is an Arab Muslim Palestinian Israeli who has been working for the Jerusalem Post for 13 years. He started his career as a journalist one week after graduating from high school. He first worked as a field reporter then as a correspondent and later an editor for an Arab newspaper.
After studying at Hebrew University he landed a job as an International correspondent for the Post. He does not feel uncomfortable about working for a Jewish organization, he says, because the Israeli government offers freedom of the press and does not harass journalists for voicing controversial opinions.
Abu Toameh takes international journalists into Gaza, explaining that there is limited freedom of speech and press in Gaza and its residents are very suspicious of non-Palestinian journalists. He also has written for many international newspapers and has received several international awards for his news coverage. During the Second Intifada he reported on the situation in Gaza because Jewish journalists could not enter safely.
The Palestinian government in Gaza today does not boycott the Israeli media, notes Abu Toameh; rather they understand that they can more effectively send a message by talking to media sources. Ironically, more Israelis boycott Israeli media than Palestinian, he adds, because they feel that the media is too anti-establishment. Ha-Aretz, the leading left-wing newspaper in Israel, publishes stories that are more anti-Israel than they are anti-West Bank or anti-Gaza, claims Abu Toameh. He adds that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is as much in the media as it is on the ground and that Palestinian demonstrations have often been canceled because the media was not present.
Since the peace process began in 1993, the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) and Israel has gotten worse, Abu Toameh observed. The PLO originally stated, after its formation in 1964, that its ultimate goal was to destroy Israel. They fought militarily until 1992 and when they could not destroy Israel by military means opted for political compromise through the two-state solution. The Oslo Agreement, he pointed out, was designed to establish such a two-state entity.
After PLO support in Gaza collapsed, its citizens, through a democratic election in 2006, voted Hamas into power. The PLO fled to the West Bank and took power there. It became the Palestinian Authority (PA) and currently it controls Palestinian enclaves in the West Bank with the support of the Israel Defense Forces. On a basic level, the difference between Hamas and the PA is that Hamas still calls for the complete destruction of the state of Israel while the PA says it is willing to work out a compromise with a two state solution.
Q&A with Khaled Abu Toameh
Q: Why didn’t the peace process succeed?
A: People and organizations gave money to the PLO to prepare the Gaza Strip for statehood. The government was corrupt and stole the money, so the people lost faith in the PLO and the PLO collapsed in Gaza.
Q: How did Hamas take power in Gaza?
A: When Palestinians lost faith in the PLO they turned to more radical ideals like those of Hamas. In an election they voted for Hamas.
Q: How did the PLO get to the West Bank?
A: When the Hamas took power, the PLO fled the Gaza Strip and the Israeli government aided them in crossing into the West Bank.
Q: How has the PLO become more successful in establishing themselves in the West Bank?
A: Since the PLO took power there, their donors have held them more accountable. As a result the PLO has invested in infrastructure to benefit Palestinians in the West Bank.
Q: Are there restrictions on Palestinians living in the West Bank?
A: Yes, but the restrictions have significantly reduced the number of terrorist attacks against Israelis.
Q: What are the main issues for Israeli Arabs today?
A: The three main issues are employment, infrastructure and public funds.
Q: How do you respond to the claim that Israel is an apartheid state?
A: Israel is not an apartheid state. There is discrimination, but there is in any society and every government has its strengths and its flaws.
With whom do Israeli Arabs side in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
A: They go both ways since it is matter of our state versus our people.
Q: What do Israeli Arabs think about living in Israel?
A: Despite the problems they are much more comfortable living in Israel than they would be in any Arab country or state.
Q: How are Gaza and the West Bank viewed internationally?
A: They are often incorrectly perceived as part of Israel. Some people think that Israelis occupy Gaza, but all Israeli Jews pulled out of Gaza in 2005 and if anything, Gaza is “occupied” by Hamas.
Q: How do you and your family associate yourselves with Israel?
A: We are Israelis. We are much more immersed in Israeli culture and society than in Palestinian culture or society.
Q: What are some of your concerns for your children?
A: A citizen is a citizen is a citizen. Teens want to feel that Israel is their state. People worry about the future and their ability to get jobs, but the Israeli government has been working on an affirmative action plan so there are more jobs available for Palestinians.