Toilet Paper Perspective: “Palestinians Will Bomb Themselves Anywhere”

By Kelly Hayes-Raitt | September 10th, 2007 | No Comments

When junior high schoolers ask me why I go to the Middle East, I hold up an empty toilet paper roll to my eye, peering telescope-like through the middle. I explain that TV and photo cameras see the world through just such a myopic window. I tell them that when I watch the news or read a newspaper, I ask myself 2 questions: Why are they showing me what’s in this particular limited circle of the camera lens, and what are they not showing me out of the camera’s range?

“Palestinians will bomb themselves anywhere,” a prominent PLO leader told our group today.

What a great come-on, huh? Gotcha to read this far. Looking through just that hole…

What Khaled Araf, a prominent PLO leader who addressed our international delegation organized by the American-Arab Anti-Defamation Committee, said was:

“We want peace. What’s happened now? You will see…Many Palestinians will bomb themselves anywhere. We do not feel we are human.”

Stunned, I asked him to elaborate: “I don’t want violence,” he said emphatically. “It is not good for Palestinians. It is not good for the Arab people. It is not good for America. We want to live as humans. We want to live in peace. There is no order from the PLO [for violence]. But, many Palestinians become frustrated and act without an order.”

It is too easy – especially when language and cultural barriers cloud communication – for reporters under deadlines and editorial edicts to “shorthand” stories, to create soundbites not necessarily intended, to spin stories based on perception rather than complete quotes or intentions.

Me included.

I’m here to find a fuller spectrum of information outside the camera range. But, in the end, I know I, too, will create my own toilet paper circle of perspective.
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