WE PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN:

Arafat Challenged by Political Rivals in Gaza Strip (All Things Considered, 7/23/04)

NPR's Peter Kenyon reports on the situation in the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is facing a revolt by disaffected members of his own political organization. The dissidents are demanding reforms to share power.

NPR has been derisively called National Palestinian Radio for its steady opposition to Israel and support for the PLO, but this report (available later tonight) sounded like it had been cobbled together by George W. Bush and Natan Sharansky. It's built around the premise that the Palestinian people want nothing more than political and economic liberalization but that Arafat stands in the way. It opens with a man in the street interview where the citizen says that what they need is a modern government but that even the minimal reforms they've gotten so far are entirely a function of pressure from the United States. The whole thing was basically an endorsement of what will eventually be seen as the most important moment in the war on terror.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 23, 2004 4:44 PM