Shabi uses the commentary of journalists who covered the events in Gaza to illustrate her view that the withdrawl was at least partially "a pre-orchestrated piece of theatre."

She cites David Ratner of Israeli paper Haaretz, who describes pre-withdrawl negotiations that took place between settlers and the Israeli army: "They held meeting where the settlers would say, 'let's keep to the agreement, we don't beet up the soldiers, we will lie on the ground holding hands', and the soldiers were saying, 'We will break you apart .. but not using excessive force, and you are not allowed to kick the military." According to Ratner, "the showdown was agreed right down to the details of what the settlers could throw at the soldiers and the police."

Shabi makes the point that now there are fears that the manner in which the Gaza withdrawl was orchestrated was a public relations stunt to cast Sharon and the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in a benevolent light: " some journalists fear ... that settler and government objectives dovetailed into a common purpose of making the Gaza evacuation appear difficult (and therefore unrepeatable). If the media coverage made disengagement look like Sharon's 'painful concession', it made the IDF look like heros."

A new image was given to the IDF, which had previously been mainly known "in the world press as a brutal force, harassing Palestinians ... shooting kids."

Shabi concludes that it is impossible to make any "definitive conclusions" about the reporting of the Gaza withdrawl, to do so in depth research would have to be undertaken.

As is, she writes: "There are journalists who stand firm in the opinion that their coverage was accurate, proportionate and balanced; others believe it is impossible to tell. Some agencies do not wish to get involved in the discussion."

Of all the journalists Shabi consulted "members of the liberal Israeli press seem the most blase about manipulation. 'We get used to everyone bulshitting you all the time ... Like everything else in this country, this (story) was a game to be played and now its finished.' " 

Source: Guardian Unlimited