By: Orouba OthmanPublished Monday, March 31, 2014
Gaza: It is not only some political leaders who exploit the cause of Palestinian resistance fighters, even satellite TV channels do it. An example was displayed by Palestine TV that is run by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). The channel pretended to grieve martyred Hamas activist Hamza Abu al-Haija by featuring dramatic scenes on the screen. They entreated the Palestinians to forgive the PNA for its involvement in the killing of the martyr by the occupation forces in Jenin camp in the West Bank on 22 March.
The program Li Ajlikom (For You), presented by Manal Seif on Palestine TV last Thursday evening, began with a scene of the martyr at home with dramatic music in the background. For 14 minutes, the program dedicated to the prisoners, took its audience on a journey inside Abu al-Haija's life. The program trumped up crude emotions, ignoring the fact that the occupation had coordinated the operation to kill Abu al-Haija with the PNA's security apparatus. The station reached a climax in feigned lament for the martyr when it considered itself a main actor in the Jenin battle with Abu al-Haija, who died with two other martyrs,Yazan Jabarin and Mohammed Abu Zeina.
Li Ajlikom began by replaying an old interview with the martyr. The camera zoomed into his eyes full of tears and anguish for his father, who is serving nine life sentences for belonging to the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades. The program aired statements by the martyr talking about his longing for his father, and showed pictures of him with his friends and relatives. Next it moved to a segment about Abu al-Haija's resilience against the Zionist Alimam unit, which killed him after a crippling siege. The program showed the martyr's assassination without mentioning that it will have an opposite impact on the viewer.
The perpetrator had called on the PNA to remain in their headquarters until 22-year-old Abu al-Haija was killed. The program exonerated the PNA, despite the compelling evidence about its role in the assassination.
The program also failed to speak about the young man being hunted down by the PNA in his final years. PNA security forces had attempted to arrest him more than 20 times after having done so 10 times in the past. For five minutes, the song "You fascinated my soul, O martyr" rang loud, while the voices of the Jenin refugee camp condemning the PNA's involvement in the assassination of the three martyrs were muted. In the segment focusing on his funeral, the program deliberately muted the sounds of angry voices roaming the streets of the camp.
The assassination of Abu al-Haija came only a month after the martyrdom of Motaz Washha, who resisted the occupation's mightiest force alone, while the PNA refused to help him. The only action the security forces took was to carry his body in the military funeral they organized for him. But Palestine TV turned a blind eye to the truth of his killing and its Palestinian perpetrator. In both cases, the PNA had killed the two martyrs and marched in their funeral while Palestine TV’s job was to cover their tracks.
In the hospital
During Li Ajlikom, broadcast last Thursday, the cameraman and the presenter went to the hospital where Abu al-Haija's mother was admitted. Over the song "Ajmal al-Ommahat" by Marcel Khalife, the presenter approached the mother whose son's martyrdom added to her illness. With a short message, the mother congratulated her husband and her two sons Imad al-Din and Abdul-Salam, who are detained in the occupation's prisons, for Hamza's martyrdom. The program also interviewed the martyr's two sisters, a friend, and the wife of prisoner Abbas al-Sayyid who said they were proud of the young man.
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This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.