Palestinian J-School at the U.N.
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Last week, at a United Nations sponsored seminar for budding Palestinian Arab journalists, one of the trainees got up and gave his assessment of the state of American journalism: I’ve been here for a few weeks, he said. This is Jew York.
This was amid a debate in which a host of top-line reporters covering the U.N., rather than allowing the students a glimpse into their world, were forced to answer allegations that the American press is lacking in balance, with strong pro-Israel biases.
One panel member who was appalled at the anti-Semitic remark was Abderrahim Foukara, the bureau chief of Al Jazeera, who is one of the more skilled TV journalists covering the U.N. That is, his coverage might seem biased to some in America, but he knows how to ask tough on-camera questions and challenge authority.
The young journalists at the U.N. program, on the other hand, are steered far from the path that might mold them into dogged reporters, so needed in Palestinian Arab society for such endeavors as exposing Parisian bank accounts where billions of dollars bestowed on their people by a generous world are buried.
The seven-week project is designed to “improve the journalism skills of the students,” the U.N. Development Program’s Hiro Ueki told me. Like many other UNDP projects, this one is mandated by the General Assembly: A seven-week course reserved for Palestinian Arabs to be run separately from a similar program for journalists from developing countries in the rest of the world.
The money spent on UNDP seminars that fly dozens from the region and around the world to discuss “Palestine and the media” in places like Beijing, China, and the dignity in annual days of solidarity with Palestine, guarantee that there is at least one corner in this city no one can call Jew York.
All this doting by the U.N. has along the years assured one thing: The perpetuation of victim status for the Palestinian Arabs. Rather than solving a refugee problem, the agency dedicated to them, and separating them from all other world refugees, helps it to grow. Instead of developing democratic institutions in the Palestinian territories, like the free and fair exchange of ideas, the journalism program – by the mere fact that it is based on victimhood – assures the perpetuation of terrorism.
This was how the world has handled Palestinian-Israeli issues for years. Some in Europe and Washington want to reinvigorate this traditional approach now. Israel for years was using Arafat as an excuse to delay Palestinian independence, they argue. Now he is gone and so are the excuses.
The dangers of leaping into the unknown were seen in Friday’s Arafat send-offs in Cairo and Ramallah. Most TV viewers saw in a live broadcast the chaos that could become the new rule in the territories. (I say most because some satellite links for CNN and other networks were severed by the angry mob.)
The pitfalls of the alternative, seen in Cairo, were under-reported. A friend who participated in the ceremony there, which was described by the press as “dignified,” told me that Egyptian security guards kept out many visiting dignitaries, who were exhausted after flying many hours to attend the ceremony.
At one point, after most Arab rulers entered the mosque, the doors were shut and guests like American assistant secretary of state, William Burns; the U.N secretary-general’s special envoy, Terje Larsen, and the only European head of state, Sweden’s prime minister, Goran Persson, were left out. This was not a snub to non-Arab guests, the Arab League secretary-general, Amre Moussa, who was also locked out, assured my friend.
No, it was merely a display of the total arbitrariness associated with life most Arab regimes bestow on their citizens.
And that is the reason President Bush’s tone on that day in the White House was so important. He insisted that rather than putting the onus on Israel, which wants to continue implementing its disengagement plan, the world should now make sure that the Palestinian territories do not descend into Ramallah like chaos or Cairo like order, but become a full-fledged democracy instead.
Thank to Mr. Bush the serious debate now will be how to achieve that goal, rather than what exactly consists a true settlement freeze. The U.N., meanwhile, will continue to exercise futility by highlighting the special status of Arab victims in Palestine.
Mr. Avni covers the United Nations for The New York Sun.