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How rumors hurt the Palestinian cause

Publishing rumors about the death of a Palestinian bus driver is damaging the credibility of the Palestinian press, delegitimizing the legitimate claims of the Palestinian people and fanning the flames of hatred.
A Palestinian woman walks past copies of a pro-Hamas newspaper, Palestine, displayed outside a shop in the West Bank city of Ramallah May 10, 2014. The Palestinian authority had allowed the distribution of the pro-Hamas Palestine newspaper in the West Bank on Saturday after the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip said on Wednesday it had relaxed a ban on Palestinian newspapers published outside the enclave as a gesture of reconciliation to rival group Fatah after their unity deal last month. REUTERS/Moha
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Reports in the Palestinian media about Israel’s scheming and plotting in Jerusalem give the idea that every Israeli, young and old, settler and leftist, is busy conspiring to blow up the Al-Aqsa Mosque and wipe out all the Arabs in the city. On the other side, the Israeli media sends the message that every Palestinian driver is a potential vehicular terrorist until proven otherwise. Rumors become headlines and unconfirmed suspicions are translated into “facts.” All is fair in the propaganda war, the race for victimization and the incitement contest.

The Palestinian media coverage of the Nov. 18 terrorist attack at the synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood has provided more fuel for the fire that threatens to burn every corner of Jerusalem and spread throughout the region.

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