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| Middle East |
| UK blasts PA ploy over Christmas card |
| 2003-12-28 |
| Slightly edited, but otherwise quite entertaining. A diplomatic row has erupted between the Palestinian Authority and Downing Street over a letter of greetings British Prime Minister Tony Blair is said to have sent to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Last week the PA’s official news agency, Wafa, reported that Blair, like many world leaders, had extended Christmas greetings to Arafat. Blair’s purported message included the wish that Palestinians "realize their hopes in establishing an independent Palestinian state," Wafa said. But Downing Street said it was unaware of any Christmas greetings being sent to Arafat by Blair. A spokeswoman for Blair in London said: "We are not aware of such a message being sent, so I’m not sure what they’re reporting, to be honest. The prime minister doesn’t usually send out messages at this time of the year. It is not something that we do. I’m afraid we’re not aware of any specific message being sent." The denial has embarrassed the Palestinian leadership, which on Saturday issued a statement retracting the original story. The statement, carried by Wafa, said: "Before we say anything, we wish to apologize for making a mistake by reporting that Mr. Blair had sent a cable of greetings to President Arafat in which he expresses his hope that the Palestinian people would realize their hopes of establishing an independent Palestinian state." OK, we were caught out in a lie! The statement said in its corrected version of the story that Blair had sent a "traditional greeting card" in response to a similar greeting card from Arafat on the occasion of Christmas. I thought Blair’s office had denied sending any seasonal Greeting. This looks like the replace a big lie with a small lie and non-one will notice theory. The statement said that the Palestinians could not understand why the British prime minister’s spokeswoman had to deny the story in such an enthusiastic manner. Sounded pretty factual to me but then what do know I’m just a westerner who can follow a logical argument which this aint!"Most probably this denial stems from the fear of being accused of anti-Semitism, an accusation which the West is usually afraid of, although the contents [of the greetings] did not include anti-Semitic [remarks] or similar things." The palestinian press agency were quite right to point this out. It is the only factual and newsworthy item here. Hinting that the British government’s denial was the result of pressure from Israel, the statement went on to ask, "What did Wafa say in its original story? Why all the fuss and who’s behind it?" The statement concluded by lashing out at the position and tone of the British prime minister’s spokeswoman. "The British spokeswoman should have talked about a greeting card without going into the details of an all-out denial with a feeling of guilt," it said. "The hopes of the Palestinian people and their independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital, are legitimate. Britain is first and foremost responsible for the nakba [catastrophe; the term used by Palestinians to describe the creation of Israel in 1948]." In Ramallah, a senior PA official described the British denial as "tasteless." Of course I see it now! The paleos are arbiters of good taste- suicide belts are going to be soooo 2004 He said Arafat was upset with the way the British prime minister chose to deal with the issue. "There was no need for such a strong denial, because we are talking about greetings, not political statements," he added. "I’m really hurt by this and this really doesn’t help my (lack of) credibility" |
| Posted by:phil_b |
| #6 She's a 'human rights' lawyer - wadja expect!? |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2003-12-28 7:38:00 PM |
| #5 JT's right - Cherie's a terror lover from way back. Paleo booster in particular, so it might've happened as she suggested |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-12-28 2:03:50 PM |
| #4 It's not inconceivable that Blair's lovely wife, Cherie, snuck one of their Christmas cards out of the box and sent it to Yasser...but it's marvelous to see Tony come out publicly and disavow this, because as Zhang Fei said, he had been pretty pro-Paleostinian in the past. Let's hope Dubya gave him a good talking to when he was Over There. |
| Posted by: Jennie Taliaferro 2003-12-28 1:51:42 PM |
| #3 PA spokesperson: "Most probably this denial stems from the fear of being accused of anti-Semitism, an accusation which the West is usually afraid of, although the contents [of the greetings] did not include anti-Semitic [remarks] or similar things." phil_b: The palestinian press agency were quite right to point this out. It is the only factual and newsworthy item here. Don't see how that observation is factual. Does Blair currently hope that a Palestinian state is established soon? Maybe not. The denial may be an indication that he is backpedaling from what previously appears to have been the British position. The Palestinian assertion may have been a way of testing Blair's commitment to a Palestinian state, which now appears to have diminished considerably. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2003-12-28 1:43:29 PM |
| #2 we are talking about greetings Ah how sweet. Exchanging season's greetings with a terrorist. Well here's mine: "Dear Chairman Arafat, I wish you an extremely short New Year! God Bless" |
| Posted by: RW2004 2003-12-28 8:02:01 AM |
| #1 Entertaining. Yes. Telegraph (only UK paper I bother to scan) Beeb, Reuters, al-Jizz are mum. Another "Saddam-OBL Gay Wedding" @ Jerusalem Post? Or, are the Paleos smart enough to invent something like this for public consumption while dumb enough to think it won't spread out? Now that it's out in an English-language text, there may be more amusement in watching what (if any) Newton's Third Law effects there are. Watch this space. |
| Posted by: Glenn (not Reynolds) 2003-12-28 6:51:45 AM |