US Press
The New York Times headlines Israeli rebukes of Saturday's settler attacks
Graphic: Times of Palestine
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American readers learned about Saturday in the occupied West Bank through the reaction of Israeli officials to it.
The New York Times published its report late on Saturday night under the headline "Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinians, Drawing Sharp Rebukes", and summarised it for its readers this way: the intensity of the assault prompted condemnations from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and other officials.
Both halves of that sentence are accurate. Netanyahu did condemn what he called criminal acts of violence at Qusra and Jalud by a handful of rioters, and Israel's foreign ministry called the same violence disgraceful and criminal. What the framing does is make the Israeli response the news and the attack the occasion for it.
What the same day looked like from the village#
The attack itself has a documented shape. Dozens of settlers surrounded a Palestinian house at Ras al-Ain west of Qusra with people inside, threw stones, and set fire to surrounding land; the Qusra mayor, Abdel Azim Wadi, said an ambulance that reached the scene was held. In the neighbouring village of Jalud, settlers attacked a Palestinian woman and an NBC News crew filming an interview with her.
The Israeli army removed the settlers from the house and confiscated vehicles. It also detained the Palestinians who had been inside, released them hours later at another village, and told Ynet the next morning that no allegations of violence were known to it.
Why the difference in emphasis is worth naming#
A condemnation is a fact and belongs in the story. The question a Palestinian reader is entitled to ask of any American front page is what the condemnation has changed.
The outpost above Ras al-Ain has stood for months. Three families have been besieged there since early August. The closed military zone declared after the clashes restricts Palestinian movement while settlers continue to move through the area, as residents told Ynet on Sunday.
The Times reported an attack and the rebukes it drew. The record beside it shows the rebukes have not yet reached the ground where the attack happened.
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