Navigate to News section

Palestinian Authority Speaks Hebrew

On new news-service website

by
Sara Ivry
June 19, 2009

The editors of the new Hebrew-langauge version of WAFA, the Palestinian Authority’s news service, will “focus on what interests the reader” without “incitement or demagoguery,” they write in their introductory letter. The Hebrew site launched yesterday, and it’s far more attractive than the English- and French-language counterparts. In addition to news updates (Mahmoud Abbas heads to Syria and Saudi Arabia), there’s coverage of sports, arts and culture, and the economy. Women’s issues, too, will get treated, or so suggests a still-empty section of the site. The raison d’etre of the Hebrew edition? For its reader to “get to know his Palestinian rival, as the Palestinian knows his Israeli rival.”

Mutual understanding—an admirable objective; in which case perhaps the word “neighbor” would have been un peu plus diplomatique.

Sara Ivry is the host of Vox Tablet, Tablet Magazine’s weekly podcast. Follow her on Twitter@saraivry.