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<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Arial;text-transform:uppercase'>Writing--and
thinking--about the Arab-Israeli conflict<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal'><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Ethan <span
class=SpellE>Bronner</span> in <span class=GramE>The</span> NYTimes<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
style='font-size:14.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><span
style='font-size:14.0pt'>Ethan <span class=SpellE>Bronner</span></span></b>
(whose post-US election piece from Gaza I sent around and commented on in a
NEWS item entitled, �<a href="http://www.rlrubens.com/bronner.htm">The View
From Abroad:<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>�There is a Place�Call it
America�Where Such a Thing Happens�</a>�; and which I included in a NEWS piece
on my own reflections on the election and the past few decades of American
decline, �<a href="http://www.rlrubens.com/Joshua.htm">Obama, Joshua,
Immigration, Barrios and <span class=SpellE>Favelas</span>, S�o Paulo, and <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>The Genius of America</i>:<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>The Parrot Speaks Out on the State of the
U.S.</a>�) has written an important editorial page piece (included below) in
today�s <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:normal'><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:
normal'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>New York Times</span></i></b> that I
think everyone should read and take a moment to reflect on.</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I have heard it said that the <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:
normal'>Times</i> <span class=GramE>is</span> a regressive agent of the Jewish
media, blind in its fervent and unreflective support of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>At the very same time, I have heard it said
that the <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>Times</i> is liberal pawn of the
far left, na�ve and uncritical in its biased support of the Palestinian
cause.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>Variations on both charges are
leveled stridently and repeatedly.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>�
</span>Unfortunately, it seems that it is not acceptable for anyone to
catalogue actual abuses or to describe problems and shortcomings of positions
without being seen as being a partisan for the other side</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span class=SpellE>Bronner</span> is writing this piece to
underscore how, as he puts it,</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>�both narration and mediation
require common ground. But trying to tell the story so that both sides can hear
it in the same way feels more and more to me like a Greek tragedy in which I play
the despised chorus. It feels like I am only fanning the flames, adding to the
misunderstandings and mutual antagonism with every word I write because the
fervent inner voice of each side is so loud that it drowns everything else out.
</p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>�because their belief in their own
view is so overpowering that anything that contradicts it becomes a minor
detail.</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>There is so little meaningful dialogue that seems possible
on this crucially important world issue, when meaningful dialogue is what is so
desperately required.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>Instead, there is
a seemingly endless barrage of fearful prejudice, vile demagoguery, and
mindlessly repeated, self-justifying polemics and vilifications�rivaled in
destructiveness only by the actual physical attacks launched by both sides.</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I think the current conflict between Gaza and Israel
epitomizes all the problems of that region, historical as well as current; and
it throws into high relief all that is and has been wrong�and vile�about every
party to it.</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The fact is that both the Palestinians and the Israelis
roundly deserve condemnation for the acts violence they are committing against
one another, and especially�on <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>both</i>
sides�for the violence wreaked on innocent civilians; and this in <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>no</i> way contradicts the fact that both
sides have legitimate grievances against each other or that both have
legitimate desires for the preservation of and right to their ongoing political
existence.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>The Israelis simply are <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>not</i> the morally righteous, always
upstanding, well-motivated people that Jews�and particularly American
Jews�insist they at all times are; but the Palestinians are also certainly not
the completely guiltless, eminently reasonable, morally pure, victims that much
of the world wants to portray them as being.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>�
</span>And when we consider the roles of their respective governments and the
positions they have been taking, the situation is even much darker and
ethically questionable.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>This view does <i
style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>not</i> imply that there is a moral
equivalence in every situation; it just insists that it is not as simple as
there are �the good guys� and �the bad guys,� with one side always entitled to
be seen as right regardless of the specifics. </p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The role of the Arab nations of the region is similarly
horrifying at times:<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>from the beginning
of the history of this conflict, these countries�some more and some less at any
particular time�have disregarded and manipulated the plight of the Palestinian
people in a way that parallels, and at times even overshadows that of what
Israel has done.</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>And let us not too quickly overlook the negative role of the
United States in all this:<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>from the very
beginnings, we have been in bed with questionable people for the worst of
reasons�we, the great supporters of democracy (it is a darkly funny reality
that Hamas <i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>is</i> one of the few
democratically elected governments in the region!), have chosen as our allies
some of the most despotic dictators and most repressive regimes in the region;
and, while our fervent support of Israel is deeply justified by its history as
the most progressive society and only true democracy in the region, our
providing unparalleled levels of arms and financing raise serious questions
when they are ill-used.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>More
specifically, though, the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>
role during the past eight years has been an unparalleled low point (as it has
in so many other realms, as well).<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>While
the level of it and the meaningfulness of it has waxed and waned over the past
decades, the US had, at times, been a major force in trying to broker a
peaceful and successful resolution to the problems of Israel and Palestine;
but, under the Bush (<span class=SpellE><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'>fils</i></span>)
administration, it was clear that we were a major impediment to solving that
conflict:<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>fanning the flames of discord,
green-lighting�directly, and indirectly by the model and effects our own
actions in the region�the worst and most regressive Israeli positions and
actions, and basically scuttling any meaningful movement towards a peaceful
resolution.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>And, just as the harsh
militaristic interventions of the Bush years has contributed to a strengthening
of sympathy and support for radical political Islam, so, too, has the
progressive reversion to an entrenched hard-line and<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>militaristic response on the part of<span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>Israel engendered more support and sympathy
for Hezbollah after the recent conflict in Lebanon and for Hamas in the current
conflict in Gaza.</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>[And lest you Brits forget, you can <a
href="http://www.rlrubens.com/Suez%20to%20Iraq.htm">click here<span
style='text-decoration:none;text-underline:none'> </span></a>for a link to
Brian Urquhart�s wonderful article from 29 March 2007 in <b style='mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal'><i style='mso-bidi-font-style:normal'><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>The
New York Review of Books</span></i></b>, in which he pointed out that, �some of
the world�s worst current problems are the legacy of British imperialism�; and <span
class=GramE>that<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>� </span>�</span>the empire's
most conspicuous legacy is a series of apparently <span class=SpellE>unresolvable</span>
problems. <st1:City w:st="on">Palestine</st1:City>, Kashmir, and <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cyprus</st1:place></st1:country-region> are in a
class by themselves for their insolubility.�]</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The basic outline of what is necessary for the solution to
the problem has been clear for decades.<span style='mso-spacerun:yes'>�
</span>What is needed is a renewed dialogue�and pressure from the enlightened countries
of the world, and, in particular the US and others of the �Quartet� (US, EU,
UN, and Russia)�to move toward the realization of this goal.</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Here is <span class=SpellE>Bronner�s</span> article about
being a journalist in the midst of these pressures:</p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:#666666'><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/"></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Georgia'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Georgia'>January
25, 2009<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><b><span
style='font-family:Georgia;color:#666666;text-transform:uppercase'>Gaza</span></b></st1:place></st1:City><b><span
style='font-family:Georgia;color:#666666;text-transform:uppercase'> Notebook<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-top:2.25pt;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
mso-outline-level:1'><b><span style='font-size:21.5pt;font-family:Georgia;
mso-font-kerning:18.0pt'>The Bullets in My In-Box <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Georgia'>By <a
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/ethan_bronner/index.html?inline=nyt-per"
title="More Articles by Ethan Bronner"><span style='mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt'>ETHAN
<span class=SpellE>BRONNER</span></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Georgia'><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><st1:City w:st="on"><span
style='font-family:Georgia;color:black'>GAZA</span></st1:City><span
style='font-family:Georgia;color:black'> � Faisal <span class=SpellE>Husseini</span>,
a Palestinian leader who died at the start of this decade, used to tell a story
about his first visit to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
The 1967 war had just ended, borders were suddenly opened and he took a drive
to Tel Aviv, where at some point he found himself detained by an Israeli
policeman. Questions and answers ensued. At one point the policeman said to
him, �As a proud Zionist, I must tell you ....� At which Mr. <span
class=SpellE>Husseini</span> burst out laughing. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>What�s so funny? the policeman asked. �I have never in my life,�
Mr. <span class=SpellE>Husseini</span> replied, �heard anyone refer to Zionism
with anything but contempt. I had no idea you could be a proud Zionist.�<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>I have written about the Arab-Israeli conflict on and off for more
than a quarter-century and have spent the past four weeks covering <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>�s war in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:City>. For me, Mr. <span class=SpellE>Husseini�s</span>
story sums up how the two sides speak in two distinct tongues, how the very
words they use mean opposite things to each other, and how the war of language
can confound a reporter�s attempts to narrate � or a new president�s attempts
to mediate � this conflict in a way both sides can accept as fair. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>Among <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>�s
Jews, there is almost no higher value than Zionism. The word is bathed in a
celestial glow, suggesting selflessness and nobility. But go anywhere else in
the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place> and Zionism stands for theft,
oppression, racist exclusionism.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>No place, date or event in this conflicted land is spoken of in a
common language. The barrier snaking across and inside the <st1:place w:st="on">West
Bank</st1:place> is a wall to Palestinians, a fence to Israelis. The holiest
site in <st1:City w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:City> is the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Temple</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Mount</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>
to Jews, the Noble Sanctuary to Muslims. The 1948 conflict that created <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> is one
side�s War of Independence, the Catastrophe for the other. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>After Israel�s three-week air, sea and land assault in Gaza, aimed
at halting Hamas rocket fire, it is worth pausing to note how difficult it has
been to narrate this war in a fashion others view as neutral, and to
contemplate what that means for any attempt by the new Obama administration to
try to end it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>It turns out that both narration and mediation require common
ground. But trying to tell the story so that both sides can hear it in the same
way feels more and more to me like a Greek tragedy in which I play the despised
chorus. It feels like I am only fanning the flames, adding to the
misunderstandings and mutual antagonism with every word I write because the
fervent inner voice of each side is so loud that it drowns everything else out.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>George Mitchell, the former Senate majority leader who is Mr.
Obama�s new special envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, could find something
similar when he arrives here. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>Even though an understanding crystallized a decade ago over the
outline of an eventual solution here � Israel returning essentially to its 1967
borders and a Palestinian state forming in the West Bank and Gaza � the two sides�
narratives have actually hardened since attempts to reach a peace foundered. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>So Mr. Mitchell, who once led a commission tasked with finding a
solution to the conflict, will begin this latest effort grappling with two
separate wars fought here, based on two very different sets of assumptions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>Opponents of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
feel the <st1:City w:st="on">Gaza</st1:City> fighting has demonstrated (again)
everything they have always believed � that <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
is a kind of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sparta</st1:place></st1:City>
that dehumanizes the Palestinians and will do anything to prevent their dignified
self-determination. The ways in which Israel attacked � the overwhelming force,
the racist graffiti left on walls � are what one has come to expect of that
state, they say; those Hamas rockets were no challenge to the Israeli military
behemoth, and, after all, who could blame the resistance fighters for launching
them to protest the blockade and everything else about Israel�s longstanding
occupation? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>Those for whom Israel is the victim and never the aggressor
likewise saw in this war a reaffirmation of their beliefs � that Hamas, an
Islamist terror group, hides its fighters behind women and children; that
Israel�s army was an exemplar of restraint and respect, holding its fire when
civilians were in sight, allowing tons of humanitarian aid in even while at war
(what other army would be so decent?). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>Abroad, people care deeply about this conflict. That should make
it easier for a reporter to cover, because the actors and place names and history
are familiar. But it turns out that like the actors themselves, the audiences
have utterly distinct and contrasting sets of assumptions. Every time I fail to
tell the story each side tells itself, I have failed in its eyes to do my job.
That adds up to a lot of failure.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>What�s more, the competing war narratives are part of a larger
narrative disconnect. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>One side says that after thousands of years of oppression, the
Jewish nation has returned to its rightful home. It came in peace and offered
its hand to its neighbors numerous times only to be met with a sword.
Opposition to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>,
this side argues, stems from Muslim intolerance, nationalist fervor and rank
anti-Semitism, all fed by envy at the young state�s success. Every time I write
an article about the conflict that does not mirror this story line � if, for
example, I focus on Palestinian suffering or alleged Israeli misdeeds or quote
a human rights group like Amnesty International � I have proven myself to be a
secret sharer with the views of the enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>As one recent complainer wrote, �To read your paper, all the
questions and criticism are directed at <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and it is all based on a
collection of anti-Semitic organizations masquerading as humanitarians.�<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>The other side tells a different story: There is no Jewish nation,
only followers of a religion. A group of European colonialists came here, stole
and pillaged, throwing hundreds of thousands off their land and destroying
their villages and homes. A country born in sin, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
has built up an aggressive military with help from <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Washington</st1:place></st1:State> in the grips of a powerful Jewish
lobby. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>Every time I fail to allude to that story � when, for example, I
examine Israel�s goals in its Gaza war without implicitly condemning it as a
massacre, or write about Israel in ways that do not call into question its
legitimacy � I have revealed my affiliation and can no longer be trusted as a
reporter.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>Since the war started on Dec. 27, I have received hundreds of
messages about my coverage. They are generally not offering congratulations on
a job well done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>�Thanks to you and other scum like yourself,� said one, �<st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>
can now kill hundreds and you can report the whole thing like it was some
random train wreck.�<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>�<span class=SpellE>Bronner</span> ,� said another, �you�re back
to your usual drivel about only the poor filthy Arabs � who voted for the Hamas
people who got them into this predicament � with incessant indiscriminate
rocket fire on innocent Israelis.� <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>There are also blogs and chat sites on both sides that spend time
accusing all the journalists here of having agendas because our articles
mention facts or trends that they consider a diversion from the real story. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>Because <st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region>
barred foreign journalists from entering <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:City>
until the war ended, The New York Times relied on my Palestinian colleague
here, <span class=SpellE>Taghreed</span> el-<span class=SpellE>Khodary</span>,
for on-the-ground coverage of the fighting. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>We would speak several times a day as she cautiously went out. Her
first stop was usually <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><span
class=SpellE>Shifa</span></st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Hospital</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
to get a sense of civilian casualties. Early in the war, at the hospital, she
witnessed the murder of an alleged Israeli collaborator by Hamas gunmen. They
shot him in the skull more or less in front of her. One of the gunmen told <span
class=SpellE>Taghreed</span> that she should never mention what she saw to
anyone. She told him there was not a chance she would stay silent, then made
some calls to find out about other such events and sent me the information,
which we published the next day. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>A couple of Arab bloggers went after <span class=SpellE>Taghreed</span>
with the worst insult they could come up with � Zionist. She was a Palestinian
Uncle Tom doing the bidding of her white-man bosses at a newspaper that, as one
reader said in an e-mail message, �is fully complicit in the atrocities that <st1:country-region
w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region> commits against Palestinians in <st1:City
w:st="on">Gaza</st1:City> and the <st1:place w:st="on">West Bank</st1:place>.
You make it sound guiltless and reasonable. That�s your assignment.�<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>At the same time, Israeli officials and their backers declared
that keeping reporters out of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:City>
was the right move because no independent journalism could possibly occur in an
area run by Hamas, which controls every utterance here. Have any of these
people ever read <span class=SpellE>Taghreed�s</span> work? Or any of our work
out of here?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>Many have but it doesn�t matter because their belief in their own
view is so overpowering that anything that contradicts it becomes a minor detail.
As another reader put it, �Basically, you are aiding terrorists and causing the
increase in bloodshed while telling one-sided stories, totally ignoring the
whole picture.�<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>He did say one thing I agree with: �You should not be a reporter
if you are not telling the whole story, not just the parts that sell.�<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:10.0pt'><span style='font-family:Georgia;
color:black'>I would offer a mediator the same advice. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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