Palestinian media adjusts to reconciliation deal
The divided Palestinian media has toned down its factional rhetoric in line with the reconciliation deal, but doubts remain about whether the new cordial atmosphere will stick.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The future of Palestinian media seems ambiguous now that the unity government is to assume power in the Gaza Strip. New media outlets set up by the Hamas government have emerged amid bias on the part of most local media outlets to the political factions that fund or support them.
The official and partisan media outlets that are affiliated with the two political adversaries, Hamas and Fatah, have changed their discourse with each other upon the signing of the reconciliation, and have started hosting figures from the opposing camp in their news programs and talk shows. Moreover, the two governments have allowed the newspapers printed in Jerusalem and Ramallah to be distributed in the Gaza Strip, and the newspapers published in Gaza to be printed and distributed in the cities of the West Bank.
Although Palestinians are optimistic that allowing the distribution of newspapers will make a difference in the tone that had been adopted by the media outlets toward the conflict between Hamas and Fatah over the course of seven years, there are fears among many specialists who believe that this change is just formal, not actual.
Hassan Jabr, a correspondent for the Palestinian Al-Ayyam newspaper in Gaza, expressed fear that this change could merely be a temporary result of the current political cohesion between Hamas and Fatah. As soon as the differences between the two reappear, their affiliated media outlets might reflect that, he said.
