[iwar] [fc:Who's.winning.the.Net.war?]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2002-06-21 06:16:55
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Fri, 21 Jun 2002 06:16:55 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [iwar] [fc:Who's.winning.the.Net.war?]
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Thursday, June 20, 2002 

TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND
Who's winning the Net war?
Backers of Israelis, Palestinians take battle to Internet
 
Posted: June 20, 2002
1:00 a.m. Eastern
 
By Mandi Steele
 
© 2002 WorldNetDaily 
 
Through the eyes of Israeli sympathizers, the Internet is a haven for
those who support Yasser Arafat, the idea of a Palestinian state and
Islamist ambitions for world hegemony. 
 
Through the eyes of Arab sympathizers, the Internet is a haven for those
who unequivocally support the Jewish state. 
 
No matter who's right, both sides in the debate are taking the war in
the Mideast to cyberspace - with plans for new sites and greater efforts
at networking. 
 
The Jewish Internet Association was created to provide "truthful,
positive information to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli activity
on the Internet." Chuck Chriss, president of JIA, says the number of
pro-Palestinian sites on the Internet outweighs the number of pro-Israel
sites. 
 
"We see many needs in improving the advocacy for Israel," he told
WorldNetDaily. 

 
The quantity of Palestinian and Muslim sites isn't the only problem,
Chriss explains.  The visibility the sites have is another.  Chriss says
that Internet surfers looking for information on Israel will find
anti-Israel sentiment or pro-Palestinian propaganda "high-up" on
search-engine listings.  The sites that include pro-Israel or neutral
coverage of Palestine-Israel relations don't receive the number of
readers pro-Palestinian sites do, says Chriss, so JIA tries to increase
the quality, visibility and quantity of information available. 
 
The Electronic Intifada is a pro-Palestinian online publication focused
on "the war in the media for a fair representation of the Palestinian
point of view." Nigel Parry, co-founder of EI, believes there are
"definitely more" pro-Israeli sites available on the Net, disagreeing
with Chriss. 
 
Not only are there "far more" Israeli websites, says Parry, but they are
better funded, as well.  He believes there needs to be higher-quality
and better-funded Palestinian sites accessible. 
 
The Freeman Center for Strategic Studies and sites like Palestine Facts
and The Search for Truth in the Middle East present a pro-Israel
viewpoint and try to combat the anti-Jewish sites "given life by the
Internet," said Chriss.  Other sites like A Jewish Voice for Peace are
more neutral and only ask for both sides of the Israel-Arab conflict to
renounce the use of force and violence to bring peace to the Middle
East.  Chriss says the pro-Israel and neutral websites present "a more
balanced point of view."
 
Including links to news stories, facts and statistics on the Middle East
conflict, JIA attempts to represent "good" and "responsible" reporting
on their site, says Chriss.  He believes there are times when the news
media seem biased toward Palestinians. 
 
"There seems to be a knee-jerk reaction that's pro-Palestinian,
particularly on television," he said. 
 
Televised media is focused on images, like a Palestinian kid throwing a
rock at an Israeli tank, says Chriss.  He explains that often the images
are taken out of context and viewers don't get the full story of what's
really going on.  Many times, Chriss says, the clashes are the result of
terrorist incidents, and innocents who are killed by Israelis
unfortunately get "caught in the crossfire" of military operations. 
Many news reports don't dig deep enough to bring out the real analysis
of the situation, he says, which leads to anti-Israel sentiment. 
 
Parry believes much of the information written by Israeli media and
pro-Israel groups includes "no critical thinking." They all have an
"Israel can't be wrong" attitude, he says.  If someone gets shot by
Israeli troops, Israeli media always say "it must have been a
terrorist," he said, because they don't want to think that the Israeli
government or soldiers could do anything wrong like shooting an innocent
civilian. 
 
"I've seen it," said Parry.  "It was a regular occurrence for people,
children and young people to be shot."
 
Living in the Palestinian West Bank from 1994-1998, Parry said he
witnessed many clashes between Israel and Palestine. 
 
"The soldiers lives were not in danger.  Sometimes they would dance and
give each other high fives as they were shooting people," he said. 
 
Any time a news story comes out reporting something the Israelis did
wrong, it's labeled biased or anti-Jewish, Parry says. 
 
"If that produces anti-Israeli sentiment, perhaps the issue is not to
complain about the coverage," he said, "but to actually address the
methods used by the Israeli forces."
 
The media coverage of the Middle East conflict is "not so black and
white," Parry said.  He says it's hard to say it's always biased one way
or another. 
 
Chriss also said the coverage is "mixed" a lot of the time.  He says he
tries to find the stories that include truthful representations of the
Israel-Palestine situation, because there are many misrepresentations on
anti-Israel websites.  Sometimes, the facts and statistics given by
pro-Palestinian sites and reports are inaccurate, he says. 
 
Though Chriss says he receives some hate e-mail for what JIA is trying
to do, he's mostly had a positive response from people. 
 
"In general the reaction's been very positive," he said.  "Some of the
most encouraging things I've gotten have been e-mails from Israelis
who've seen what we're doing and just write to say thank you."

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