| The Middle East
| UN |
‘‘The ball is now in Israel’s court’’
Mr Nasser Laham, of the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency, talks to SIGNAL about the
situation on the ground for Palestinian journalists and where he sees potential for progress in
the short to medium term.
What is your own personal and professional background?
I am Editor-in-chief of Ma’an News Agency (MNA) since it was
established in 2005. I have worked in the field of media since
1996 as both anchor and correspondent. I have served 5 years in
Israeli jails. I have a BA in psychology and sociology from Bethlehem
University and an MA and PHD from Lahaye University, Netherlands.
I speak English and Hebrew fluently.
Could you explain the work of the Ma’an news agency?
MNA publishes news in Arabic, English and Hebrew. As an
independent Palestinian news service, we try as much as we can to
be impartial and objective when we report on the Arab-Israeli conflict
and the Hamas-Fatah conflict. We are open to criticism and we keep
trying to improve our performance to become as close as possible to
professionalism, objectivity and impartiality. When we report about
the two major conflicts in our region, we try to make sure we give
both sides opportunity to comment. We have good relations with
Israeli journalists. We quote Israeli media outlets and they quote us
as an independent news service.
 
How hard is it for Palestinian journalists to provide balanced and
objective commentary on events in the region?
Palestinian journalists nowadays are mature enough and
professional enough to give a balanced and objective coverage of
events, especially independent journalists. They learned quite well
how avoid inciting language and how to use moderate terminology
acceptable by international standards. However, in certain cases,
like the latest Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip, journalists
find it very difficult to hide their feelings when innocent people
including children, women, and elderly people are being killed, and
journalists are human at in the end of the day.
With the current rounds of talks at a standstill, what is your view
on the Palestinian position at present?
I am sure the Palestinian leadership will insist on its position and will
not resume negotiations until Israel stops all settlement activities.
Just as the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat refused at the
last moment to make any further concessions, President Abbas will
not make more concessions. The ball is now in Israel’s court.
With the building of the ‘Wall’ continuing - what is your response to
Israeli assertions that it is being built purely for security reasons?
The best answer I can think of for this question is that given by
former US president Jimmy carter in his “Palestine: Peace Not
Apartheid”. The Israelis use security as a pretext to annex more
Palestinian territories and the proof is very clear and simple; most
of the wall’s route deviates from the Green line [the border between
Israel and the Palestinian territories recognized internationally] into
the occupied Palestinian territories, which Israel annexed illegally
after the six-day war in 1967. I don’t need to
remind people that the International Court
of Justice ruled that the wall is a violation
of international law. If a landlord decides to
build a fence around his property or home,
it is self-evident that the fence will be built
on his property and not on the neighbours’
properties.
Furthermore, if the Israelis are that careful
about security, why do they deploy such a
large number of troops at the hundreds of
checkpoints spread across the West Bank
inside and between Palestinian cities and
villages. Palestinians who suffer everyday
and internationals who visit the West Bank
and have the opportunity to travel from
southern West Bank to central and northern
districts know that the security claim is
nonsense.
Have you noticed any improvements on a
civil/professional basis between Israel and 
Palestine? Is there professional respect
between Israeli and Palestinian journalists
for example?
 Palestinian and Israeli journalists have
matured enough to show professional
respect to each other. Israeli journalists visit
Ma’an repeatedly, and we hope Palestinian
journalists can have the opportunity to visit
offices of Israeli media outlets, but that
seems difficult because they need permits
from the Israeli authorities and they are
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very difficult to get. Over ten years, I have
presented a very popular TV show called
“review of Israeli press” which indicates that
both Palestinian journalists and audience
are interested in Israeli media.
How do you think the West Bank can unite
with Gaza to become a cohesive and stable
state?
That unity seems difficult to achieve
especially when both rivals insist that they
never erred. A real sign indicating that unity
is possible has not been seen yet. That sign
can be seen, and unity can be achieved if
Hamas and Fatah leaders, who caused that
rivalry and enabled it to increase, stand
up and confess that they have erred and
harmed their people. That is the only way to
reach unity; if rivals start to reconsider what
they did and where they erred and look for
ways to make up for their wrong doings.
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What are your views on the Hamas Government in Gaza?
I have always described the Hamas takeover in Gaza in June
2007 as a “coup” and each time I said that Hamas’ hard-liners
were angry. I never said that Hamas staged a coup before
14 June 2007 because what was happening then was armed
conflict between trends within Hamas and Fatah while the
Palestinian Authority’s police and security services were still
sovereign in Gaza.
 
An Israeli journalist told our magazine that “Operation ‘Cast
Lead’ was very effective and destroyed the desire of Hamas to
fight.” What is your view of this?
Either that commentator is one-sided, or he is fooling himself
or hiding the truth. The fact that Operation Cast Lead failed to
free or even find any information about captured Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit gave Hamas enough catalyst to boast its abilities.
Above: The Neither could that offensive prevent the firing of projectiles from
destruction of a Gaza into Israel. On the contrary, Hamas gained more support
mosque in Gaza, at international and Arab country level, and Israel lost more
during Operation and more of its deterrent power which the Israelis have always
‘Cast Lead.’ boasted about.
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What is your view of the 2006 Israeli-Lebanese conflict? Do you

believe further conflict is inevitable with Hezbollah openly rearming
and Israel constantly gathering intelligence on the Lebanese
situation?
Further confrontation between Israel and Hezbollah is still expected
and the weird part of it is that Israel views Hezbollah as Iran’s wing
in the region, while Hezbollah views Israel as the US’ wing in the
region. Thus, the two are fighting on behalf of Iran and the US, so to
speak.

Where do you see the Palestinian State in the next 5-10 years?
I don’t see a Palestinian state within the coming 5-10 years, but I
rather see a Palestinian entity subordinate to Jordan or Israel in the
West Bank, and another Palestinian entity in Gaza, which will be
subordinate to Egypt.

Do you believe the international community, particularly the

EU, could do more to help in the current situation?
The international community, particularly the EU can facilitate Top: A checkpoint at the Israeli security barrier.
the separation of the Palestinians from Israel which is something
inevitable because the alternative for that will be one state for both Above: Palestinian journalist reporting from Gaza City.
the Palestinian and the Israeli peoples.

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