Death and Violence in the Mid East

There's a very good article by Edward Said in Al-Ahram this week. His call for elections is quite relevant and urgent now.

Without question, there's going to be some very dark days ahead in Israel/Palestine as Sharon is sure to exploit the recent attacks in Jerusalem. Nothing can be said to contextualize these bombings without sounding banal; they're horrific, monstrous, and need to be stopped as soon as possible for the benefit, and safety, of everyone in the region.

Lamentably, though, the only time the media seems to get into an uproar about a Mid-East "crisis" is when Israelis are killed. Palestinians have died at the ratio of ~3:1, but I doubt many casual observers of the media know this. See this graph for elaboration. Also, B'Tselem has more updated "casualty figures," here.

I'm sure many people would consider this a very poor time to bring up such facts, but the disparity in media coverage is most transparent following a suicide bombing. We all sit and stare at the TV in disbelief - often with that 'oh, no, not again' look - empathizing with the Israelis, and trying to understand their plight (an impossible task). I am struck, however, with the feeling time and time again that we rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to peer into the lives of a Palestinian population which endures a different type of violence, although one that is just as deadly, if not more so.

Suffice it to say, the bombings are, in a perverse way, spectacles; virtually every other aspect of Middle East violence is consigned to a sideshow. Only a moron could not see that this has a tremendous effect on the way people in this country perceive the conflict.