A Palestinian struggle between bad guys and bad guys

Robert Fulford, NP:

The clouds that normally obscure events in the Middle East start to recede when Khaled Abu Toameh begins talking about the future of Palestinians and Israelis. This relationship, the key to his future life as an Israeli Arab, has been the subject of his journalism for more than two decades. What he’s learned contradicts beliefs held by much of the world, and differs sharply from what we expect from someone with his background.

He was in Toronto this week, talking to a few journalists. He’s a Muslim Arab, son of an Israeli Arab father and a Palestinian Arab mother. When he was studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he went to work for Al-Fajr (“The Dawn”), the Palestine Liberation Organization newspaper. He left when he realized it would never print anything but propaganda.

Hoping to be a real journalist, he began working with foreign reporters covering Israel. Eventually, he produced TV documentaries and wrote for Britain’s Sunday Times and other papers. For the last eight years, he’s been the Jerusalem Post’s specialist in Arab affairs. “I am an Arab Muslim and the only place I can write honestly is in a Jewish newspaper,” he says. Other Arab journalists envy his freedom.

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