Arab television channels beam Palestine unrest around the globe

The six-week Palestinian rising has had a deeper resonance in the Arab world than did the first intifada which lasted for six…

The six-week Palestinian rising has had a deeper resonance in the Arab world than did the first intifada which lasted for six long years.

Arab satellite television channels have made the difference. They have brought the images and voices of the intifada into homes, offices, shops and cafes throughout the Middle East and North Africa and carried them as far afield as Indonesia and Pakistan.

Arab viewers no longer rely on Western satellite channels such as CNN and BBC World and can choose between a variety of competing local channels.

Commentary is in Arabic rather than a foreign language. Neither local authorities nor programmers censor the violence of the clashes between Palestinians and Israelis or the remarks of commentators and eyewitnesses.

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Qatar's independent al-Jazeera channel, dubbed the "Arab world's CNN," has opened up broadcasting in the region.

The channel has earned a top rating for its news coverage, discussion programmes and for being the first Arab station to permit frank criticism of Arab rulers.

Al-Jazeera is also the first Arab channel to invite an Israeli, Mr Yigal Carmon, a counter-terrorism expert, to present his country's position. Mr Azmi Bishara, an Arab member of Israel's Knesset, said that al-Jazeera has restored the "credibility of the Arab media".

Stations from Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Egypt, Dubai and Saudi Arabia as well as al-Jazeera have offices in East Jerusalem. Their cameramen are generally in the thick of the confrontations between Palestinian stone-throwers and the Israeli army and their correspondents interview victims and political personalities.

Material broadcast by the Palestine Authority's satellite channel is often carried by local Arab stations. For example, Saudi television carried a moving interview with an elderly Palestinian farmer, brandishing a broken bough, whose apple orchard had been destroyed by Israeli settlers.

Another channel which has taken off during this period is the Lebanese Hizbollah's al-Manar, which began satellite broadcasts only in September.

For many Arabs, al-Manar (the Lighthouse) has become the "Voice of the intifada". AlManar, al-Jazeera and other channels invite viewers to telephone in comments. This has caught the attention and imagination of many who rarely watched political programmes. An Arab informant who has travelled round the region since the intifada erupted said, "I have never seen people so angry."