CNN chief accuses Israel of terror

[Gość: Hans]

CNN chief accuses Israel of terror

Oliver Burkeman in New York and Peter Beaumont in Jerusalem
Tuesday June 18, 2002
The Guardian

Ted Turner, the billionaire founder of CNN, accuses Israel today of engaging
in "terrorism" against the Palestinians, in comments that threaten to lead to a
further decline in the news network's already poor relations with the Jewish
state.
"Aren't the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?" says
Turner, who is vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN, in an
exclusive interview with the Guardian.

"The Palestinians are fighting with human suicide bombers, that's all they
have. The Israelis ... they've got one of the most powerful military machines
in the world. The Palestinians have nothing. So who are the terrorists? I would
make a case that both sides are involved in terrorism."

His remarks were last night condemned by Ariel Sharon's government, which
called them "stupid". Andrea Levin, director of the American pro-Israeli media
watchdog Camera, said the comments were a "reprehensible" attempt to "blur the
line between perpetrator and victim".

In his first British interview since the September 11 attacks, Mr Turner - who
broke philanthropic records in 1997 when he donated $1bn to the UN - argues
that poverty and desperation are the root cause of Palestinian suicide
bombings.

But Daniel Seaman, a spokesman for the Israeli government, said: "My only
advice to Ted Turner is if people assume you are stupid, it is just best to
keep your mouth shut rather than open your mouth and confirm everyone in that
view."

Mr Turner also admits that he was wrong to call the September 11
hijackers "brave" in a speech in Rhode Island that sparked outrage. "I made an
unfortunate choice of words," he says, adding that his ownership of the Atlanta
Braves baseball team meant the word was never far from his mind. "Look, I'm a
very good thinker, but I sometimes grab the wrong word ... I mean, I don't type
my speeches, then sit up there and read them off the teleprompter, you know. I
wing it."

Mr Turner is moved to tears at one point in the interview by the "depressing"
combination of conflicts like that in the Middle East and the state of the
environment, which he says demands massive global attention - "or, you know ...
it's goodbye".

A senior minister in Yasser Arafat's cabinet told the Guardian he welcomed Mr
Turner's comments. Many Palestinians complain just as bitterly of a pro-Israeli
bias in CNN's coverage - mocking it as the "Zionist News Network" - as Israel
complains of a pro-Palestinian one.

"I feel it reflects a more consistent approach," said Ghassan Khatib, Mr
Arafat's newly appointed labour minister and until recently director of the
Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre, a Palestinian media monitoring unit.

"One of the problems in trying to reduce the violence has been the focus of so
much international attention on Israeli rather than Palestinian civilian
deaths, although four times as many Palestinians have been killed."

CNN has been a punchbag for both sides. A widespread perception of bias among
some Israelis and US supporters of Israel has prompted several boycotts by
pressure groups, urging viewers to switch to Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel.
But three months ago, in an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Mr Arafat
slammed down the phone after accusing her of anti-Palestinian bias. "You are
covering with these questions the terrorist activities of the Israeli
occupation and the Israeli crimes," he said. "Be quiet. Be fair. Thank you, bye-
bye."

CZYTAJCIE:
mywebpage.netscape.com/xlexmark/CONTENTS.html