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Source: http://www.suntimes.com/output/otherviews/cst-edt-jay01.html
Arafat's Rule a Nightmare for Palestinian Journalists
(Chicago Sun Times) Jay Bushinsky - The Palestinian Authority, which President Bush, among others, hopes will grow into an independent, peace-loving state adjacent to Israel, pays off its Arabic mass media to toe its political line. And if West Bank or Gaza Strip editors or reporters defy its dictates, they risk jail terms without prior access to courts of justice, or physical assaults and destruction of their professional equipment. The PA's first decade of existence has been a nightmare for Palestinian journalists, especially the independent thinkers and analysts among them. ''All of our newspapers receive money from Chairman Arafat - some more and some less,'' a veteran Palestinian colleague said in a moment of candor. His adherence to journalistic principles that are taken for granted in the free world cost him two stints behind bars - the last one in the lockup Arafat operated within his ''Muqata'' compound in Ramallah until it was demolished by Israeli forces. ''When my wife came to visit me behind bars and saw the conditions there, she prayed for its destruction.'' He recalled her joy at seeing it in ruins and saying, ''Allah has answered my prayer!''