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A
summit like no other?
The media circus
descends on Beirut
By Tarek Atia
(cairolive.com, March
27, 2002)
As Arab leaders met
in Beirut for today's Summit, the
media circus, meanwhile, was in full swing. For the first time ever, CNN
decided to dedicate quite a bit of its attention to the gathering of
Arab statesmen, sending its ace reporter, Christianne Amanpour, to
interview Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa. Moussa called
Israel's occupation of Palestine "morally repugnant" and
compared the Palestinians to any other people who were being oppressed
by an occupying force. Bringing the matter closer to home for the
Western viewer, the Arab League Secreatry General told Amanpour that the
resistance of the Palestinians was no different than when the French,
for instance, resisted occupation of their country.
In other
media-related events, an Al-Jazeera interview scheduled with Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was cancelled at the last moment -- but
there were conflicting reports as to whether it was canned as a result
of unreasonable conditions set on the interview by the Israeli Prime
Minister's office, or whether it had anything to do with the formal and
widespread protest by Arab journalists and officials against the idea of
the interview itself.
In Ramallah,
meanwhile, prominent US film director Oliver Stone visited Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat on Tuesday. Stone is apparently working on a
documentary of some sorts about Arafat.
Related
stories:
The
summit begins
Al-Jazeera
selling
sweet potatoes?
Setting
the Beirut agenda
Deciding
what to do
Friedman's
peace plan?
Moussa's
message to Sharon
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