[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Minister Abed Rabbo/ in response to a CBS TV broadcast documentary

Mon Oct 7 10:59:32 CDT 2002

FYI

>Reply-To: "pmc" <pmc at palestine-pmc.com>
>From: "pmc" <pmc at palestine-pmc.com>
>To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:@linux.palestine-pmc.com;>
>Subject: Minister Abed Rabbo/ in response to a CBS TV broadcast documentary
>Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 15:53:28 +0200
>Organization: Palestine Media Center
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>In response to a CBS TV broadcast documentary entitled ãThe Arafat 
>Papers; Papers seized from Yasir Arafatâs compound seem to show his 
>link with Iran and Iraqä, Minister of Culture and Information, 
>Yasser Abed Rabbo sent a letter to the CBS team to express 
>disappointment at the documentaryâs contents, which were clearly 
>biased and unsupported by hard fact.
>
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>
>
>
>Below is a transcript of the letter:
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>Mrs. Leslie Stahl
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>60 Minutes,
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>CBS
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>
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>Monday, October 6, 2002  
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>Dear Mrs. Stahl,
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>
>It is with the utmost shock that I write to you and to Mr. Donahue, 
>the producer of 60 Minutes after viewing what was aired on CBSâs 60 
>Minutes (at 7:00 PM ET) on Sunday, September 29, 2002, under the 
>Headline: ãThe Arafat Papers; Papers seized from Yasir Arafatâs 
>compound seem to show his link with Iran and Iraqä.
>
>
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>What is most shocking in all of this is really the low, almost 
>record set standards of ethical and professional journalism and T.V. 
>coverage that Mrs. Stahl has allowed herself to descend to, by 
>dragging a respected network with a long history of professionalism 
>and well respected principles in the ethics of journalism, such as 
>CBS, so that it would be viewed as a mouthpiece for a well 
>pre-planned and prepared propaganda scheme by the Israeli armyâs 
>intelligence units.
>
>
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>What is more shocking is that even if we assume that either out of 
>naivety, or out of goodwill, Mrs. Stahl had fell into the trap that 
>was set-up for her by the Israeli government and its armyâs 
>propaganda machine; She-as a professional journalist with a long 
>experience in covering conflicts would have naturally sought to get 
>some, (at least one short statement) from the accused party; i.e. a 
>representative of President Arafat, or a representative of the 
>Palestinian Authority in response to a whole hour of ãfabricated 
>Israeli intelligence charges backed by forged documents öthat really 
>prove nothing- against President Arafat, against the Palestinian 
>struggle for freedom, and against what is considered to be nearly 
>unanimously agreed-upon, a just struggle for freedom, liberty, 
>independence, and statehood.
>
>
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>Allow me now to just point to some of the seriously problematic 
>points in your documentary, both from an ethical point of view and a 
>professional journalistic point of view.  Such points undoubtedly 
>build up into a serious legal case against your coverage which 
>amounts to a serious charge of defamation, which will be soon a 
>subject of a court suite ö already under consideration by the 
>Palestinian Authority against 60 minutes- and unfortunately against 
>its CBS producers:
>
>
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>-  The Headline:   ãThe Arafat Papers: papers seized from Yasir 
>Arafatâs compound seem to show his link with Iran and Iraqä
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>Questions that need to be answered and verified by CBSâs Lesley Stahl:
>
>
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>1:  Did Mrs. Stahl actually see and witness in person the documents 
>mentioned in her 60 Minutes documentary when they where physically 
>seized in Arafatâs office? Then did she witness öalso in person- 
>their confiscation from President Arafatâs office?  And finally did 
>she witness öalso in person- their transfer into Israeli custody by 
>members of the Israeli army?
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>
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>If the answer to all of the above is no, and we are definite that it 
>is no- unless Mrs. Stahl was part of -or a live witness- of the 
>Israeli armyâs commando team that raided the Muqataâa building in 
>Ramallah, then what proof does she has to present -that stands 
>beyond doubt- that the documents shown in her documentary by Israeli 
>army intelligence officers are authentic and not forged and actually 
>belong to President Arafat?!
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>If the answer to all of the above is Yes, then where is the visual, 
>audio, or even documented proof that the documents she presented in 
>her documentary and that she claims (or even claims that Israeli 
>army intelligence officers claim) has been actually seized at 
>President Arafatâs office.  There is no doubt that in order to prove 
>the authenticity of her claim that these documents genuinely belong 
>to President Arafat and the Palestinian Authority, she needs much 
>more visual and audio evidence than the mere claim by the Israeli 
>armyâs intelligence officers that she had interviewed and presented 
>to viewers as an undisputed proof that they were öin fact- seized 
>from the offices of President Arafat. 
>
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>Mrs. Stahl allows herself to fall to some of the most ridiculous and 
>unbelievable charges that no sane mind can believe, including 
>claiming that the Palestinian Authority and President Arafat have 
>been involved in the illegal selling of Iraqi oil.  One must wonder 
>what Palestinian port was used to smuggle the Iraqi oil from?!  We 
>are also supposed to believe that the word of an Israeli 
>intelligence officer who presents no other proof other than his word 
>that President Arafat pays for Saddamâs Palestinian operatives, as 
>if Saddam Hussein needs Arafat to finance his operatives?! Even at 
>times when the Israeli intelligence officer being interviewed by 
>Mrs. Stahl is casting doubts about his own information, Mrs. Stahl 
>attempts to get him to try to claim that the information is true by 
>putting words in his mouth.
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>Mrs. Stahl and CBSâs 60 Minutes unfortunately indulged in a cheap 
>and unfounded attempt to try to draw a link between President Arafat 
>and the Iraqi and the Iranian regimes, exactly at the time that they 
>know that the American Administration is preparing for a war against 
>Saddam Husseinâs regime.  They have presented 60 Minutes as a cheap 
>propaganda stage for the Israeli government and their occupying 
>army.  We believe that what was done by 60 Minutes is pure 
>defamation that deserves to be put on trial.
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>The Palestinian Authority will therefore consider preparing a legal 
>case against Mrs. Stahl, 60 Minutes and its CBS producers.
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>Truly Yours,
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>Yasser Abed Rabbo
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>Minister of Culture and Information
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>Palestinian National Authority
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>Ramallah, Palestine
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>E-mail: minister at palestine-pmc.com
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>Tel No: + 972-2-2407721\9
>
>Fax No: + 972-2-2407730
>
>

-- 

Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu
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