EclectEcon

The ledes of the coverage of George Bush's statements in the Middle East were truly horrid. From the opening paragraph in the coverage by Washington Post,

JERUSALEM, Jan. 10 — President Bush said Thursday that Palestinian refugees should receive compensation for the loss of homes they fled or were forced to flee during the establishment of Israel and declared that there should be an end to Israel's "occupation" of lands seized in war four decades ago.

Bush tied his remarks about ending the occupation to statements expressing concern for Israel's security. In fact, he expressed an understanding that so long as Israelis are experiencing rocket attacks and suicide (and other) bombings, there would good reasons for Israel not to want to pull back to the pre-1967 borders. But we see that only much later in the story:

"These negotiations must ensure that Israel has secure, recognized and defensible borders."

He also said,

"I can also understand that until confidence is gained on both sides, why the Israelis would want there to be a sense of security."

These are important qualifications to "end the occupation." The stories could just as easily have led with "Bush defends Israel's right to security," and have captured the essence of much of his speech.

If I were an Israeli leader, I would say something like this:

We, too, want peace in our land. We have tried time and again to negotiate a withdrawal from the west bank territories, but every time we reach an agreement, the arabs renege and our security is threatened once again. Until the rest of the world can guarantee our security, we must hang onto those territories and maintain the security fence.

And as for compensation, keep in mind that most of the arabs who fled Israel nearly 60 years ago did so not out of fear of the Jews. They did so because the arab nations (in particular, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt) told them to leave, promising they would drive the Jews into the sea in a few days. I.e., don't blame Israel for most of the dislocations.

I understand that paying compensation is probably preferable to the "right of return" that the region's arabs are demanding. But if there is to be compensation, make the surrounding arab nations pay it. And not just because of the bad advice they gave in 1948, but also because they refused to allow, much less encourage, the refugees to integrate into their new countries. But of course the western media don't mention these little items.

For a solid analysis of Bush's speech and of the situation, see this.

For more on media anti-Israel bias, see this about the BBC.