The AFP reports:
Jewish settlers beat up Palestinian boy near Hebron
Bilal Daana was attacked by a group of settlers near the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba near Hebron. They beat him up and threw stones at him, the Palestinian medics said.
The boy was taken by Israeli soldiers to a checkpoint at the entrance to Hebron from where he was transferred to the local Al-Ahli hospital.
The incident was the latest in a surge of settler attacks on Palestinians, peace activists and Israeli soldiers since the authorities dismantled a settlement outpost near Hebron last month.
In other words, the headline and last paragraph convey what is essentially an allegation by palestinian medics as fact.
Interestingly enough, not all of the palestinian media outlets are reporting this incident, including Ramattan News and WAFA.
Meanwhile, here is how the palestinian Ma’an News reports it:
Israeli settlers wounded six-year-old Palestinian Bilal Da’na from Hebron after pelting the young boy with stones near the illegal Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba, Palestinian sources in Hebron said.
Notice the difference between this version and the AFP version?
In the AFP version, the palestinian medics claimed that the “settlers” “beat him up and threw stones at him,” whereas the Ma’an version mentions only “pelting..with stones.” Which is it? Surely if the “settlers” had really beat up the child, the palestinian media would have mentioned this.
Sounds to me like the palestinian medics elaborated for the sake of the international media. And the international media were more than willing to report their version as fact.
Time may tell whether or not this palestinian boy was indeed injured by Jewish residents of Kiryat Arba. What is clear, though, is once again, the mainstream media are not reporting fairly or accurately.
