Will the real Palestinian spokesperson please stand up?

It's difficult to know what to say about today's responses by Palestinian groups to the latest suicide bombing in Eilat, which has so far claimed three dead.

Tom Gross points out that

the international media is this morning failing to note that dozens of other would-be bombers have been prevented from entering other parts of Israel in recent months due to Israel’s security fence. The media reports today have also failed to note that rockets continue to be fired almost daily into Israel from the Gaza strip.

Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are among those groups that have claimed responsibility for this morning’s murders in Eilat. The U.S. government, European Union and the government of Ehud Olmert have all recently given money to Fatah. Israeli Police are currently searching for other bombers believed to be on the loose in the Eilat area.

A Hamas spokesman called this morning’s attack on ordinary Israelis “natural”.

The Palestinian Maan news just announced in Arabic that the suicide bomber is Mohammed Fasial al-Saqsaq, aged 21 from Gaza.

And in the last few minutes on the main webpage of Fatah, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, together with al-Quds Brigades and the “Army of Believers” claimed “full responsibility” for the attack and declare that al-Saqsaq is a “hero Shahid (martyr)”.

There's a photo of Yasser Arafat alongside the Fatah web page announcement.

Meanwhile, the BBC News web page announcement mentions the claim by Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and its allies without making it clear that they are part of Fatah. Instead, we get a quote from a Fatah spokesman for the Palestinian Authority's President Mahmoud Abbas telling us how much he regrets this attack which his own party's website is glorifying as the act of a hero:

A senior aide to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack.

"We reject these acts and we do not believe that they are in the interest of the Palestinian cause and that they blacken the image of the Palestinian people," Yasser Abed Rabbo told AFP news agency.

Comments

[Stephen]

The real Palestinian spokesperson could stand up, dance a jig, play the bagpipes, and proceed to ride around the press conference on an elephant: the mainstream media would continue to studiously ignore it.

[Inna]

The BBC has also failed to "notice" what the UN Secretary General said of the bombing, which was:

The Secretary-General condemns in the strongest possible terms today’s suicide bombing at a bakery in Eilat, Israel, which killed three people and wounded another. Such acts of terrorism are a violation of international humanitarian law and can never be justified. The Secretary-General sends his deepest condolences to the families of the victims of this attack.

The Secretary-General is also alarmed at announcements that further attacks against Israeli civilians are being planned. He calls for swift action by Palestinian security forces to bring to justice those responsible and prevent further attacks.

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2007/sgsm10862.doc.htm

I have a feeling that had the Secretary General said something about "cycle of violence" or some other such &*(, the BBC would have run several stories on the pronouncement.

Regards,

Inna