🕊️ Middle East: A pause for peace

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⏸️ A Temporary Ceasefire to a Permanent Issue

Where do we even begin with this story? How far back do you want to go? How much context is enough context? For simplicity’s sake, let’s go back to 7th October 2023 when Hamas, the Iranian-backed militia controlling the Palestinian territory of Gaza, launched an attack inside Israel, killing over a thousand Israelis and taking over 200 hostages. This in turn led to a brutal retaliatory assault by Israel on Gaza, which has led to the deaths of (conservative estimates suggest) over 45,000 Palestinians.

Why did Hamas escalate attacks so aggressively in 2023? Everyone has their own theory, of which one states that it was their way of interjecting themselves into the ongoing normalisation of ties that Israel was experiencing across the region, of which Hamas was left out of. Others state that it was in retaliation to Israeli aggression over the years.

The results of all this is that tens of thousands of people are dead, hundreds of thousands are injured and displaced, and an area that was already underdeveloped is now completely destroyed. In the background, several peace negotiators from the U.S., Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and Hamas met to end the war, with them finally agreeing to pause the fighting one day before the new U.S. president takes office. Talk about timing.

Let’s look at how the story broke in two news publications from the region that international audiences are familiar with: Arab News, the most internationally read, pro-Saudi English-language daily, and Haaretz, the most left-leaning, internationally recognised English language Israeli newspaper. I’ll explain my choice of news media at the end of the issue.

ARAB NEWS: Qatar PM says Gaza truce, hostage release deal agreed [link]

📢 What Arab News is saying
The 50-year-old Saudi prince owned Arab News spent most of the article focused on the official statements from the various leaders involved in the reaching of this agreement. The article is sourced from AFP, with some Arab News videos implemented.

📸 Visuals

Three visuals stand out on this page. First, the video at the top of the article. It features 28 seconds of Palestinians rejoicing in the streets. The text in the video informs us that the people are celebrating the ceasefire announcement outside al-Aqsa Hospital, just as we see a young Palestinian bearded man, dressed in a jacket for warmth, clench his fists and wave his arms in the air as he looks up, smiling and shouting, presumably thanking god for the development.

We then cut to a short clip of kids, all dressed in various clothes meant to protect from cold weather, dancing and chanting in the street, as onlookers record them on their phones. The video ends with a child in a red full-sleeved t-shirt sitting on somebody’s shoulders, as they continue to dance and wave their arms with their backs to the camera. There are no subtitles.

The second video, less than half-way down the article, is from the official announcement made by the Qatari prime minister. It runs for 43 seconds and includes English subtitles. The video is a single-camera shot of the PM, standing in front of a dark brown podium, in a dark blue thawb (the garment worn by the PM), with the flag of Qatar taking up the entire left frame of the video.

The third visual is the banner at the top of the page, which boldly declares ‘ARAB NEWS SPECIAL COVERAGE WAR ON GAZA’ in increasing size and impact. The white text sits on top of picture of what we can infer to be an explosion in Gaza, with plumes of white and black smoke making up most of the background to the text. The picture itself has a red filter applied to it, symbolising conflict, blood, and other loss of life.

2. ✍🏽 Words

The headline of the article begins with the word ‘Qatar’, positioning the Qatar PM as the main focus, making sure everybody knows who is announcing the news and where the news is coming from.

Most of the text in the article is quite celebratory. In fact, the first line a reader encounters is a quote from a Gazan, that’s formatted separately from the article. The quote speaks to the relief of the end of hostilities, saying ‘I can’t believe that this nightmare of more than a year is finally coming to an end.’

The body of the article is a laundry list of statements from various leaders. Beginning with the Qatari PM, we hear from the Israeli PM and president (whom the article reminds us is a ceremonial leader), Hamas, Joe Biden, Trump (via social media), ending with the Egyptian president. The theme is the same; everybody welcomes the good news. Biden and Egyptian president El-Sisi also speak about humanitarian aid reentering Gaza, a key focus of most of the pro-Palestine protests across the world since the start of this war.

The article ends with the reiteration of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to Hamas having any governing role in Gaza post-war.

❓ What it means
Good news! Everyone agrees that it’s good news. After making sure that all parties involved in the agreement agree that this is good news, the article makes sure the reader doesn’t forget the following details:

1. The first video and the first sentence in the article articulates the joy and celebration that the people of Gaza feel about this development. If they are happy, it seems to say, then this is a victory.

2. The headline makes it clear that Qatar, and by extension the Arab nations, have played a pivotal part in bringing peace, regardless of whomever else takes credit (I’m looking at you , D.C.).

3. Humanitarian aid is coming back to the people of Gaza, as the fighting stops.

If there’s one overwhelming message that this article wants to make sure it gets across it’s that the worst is finally over, peace is back in fashion, and everybody is in agreement after tens of thousands of deaths. It is time to hope again.

⚠️ Why it matters
The oil-rich Arab states, namely Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, have become a lot more politically involved in the last decade or so. While previously they were happy to outsource military and political discourse to the United States and other Western powers, they have recently become very involved in conflicts in ways beyond sending humanitarian aid (think Syria, Yemen, Libya). Now, they provide military assistance and training, troops, intelligence, and of course, infrastructural investment.

To be fair, this might have been the norm previously as well, but it’s only in the last decade that they have become very open about their ambitions. This could partly be the natural progression of rich countries moulding the world in their own image. It could also be that they aren’t very sure they can trust their allies (i.e. the U.S.) to have their own best interests at heart.

Qatar has been a leader on this front. They first became the home of the largest U.S. military base in the region. Then, they provided a base for Hamas leadership (by request of Barack Obama) from where they could negotiate with the rest of the world. They also sent hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Hamas, with Netanyahu’s blessing. They also provided a base for the Taliban to negotiate with the U.S. prior to the American retreat from Afghanistan in 2021. On top of this, Qatar hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup, owns Paris Saint-Germain football club in Paris, and Harrod’s and The Shard, the tallest building in the UK, in London (amongst many other things, including Asia Square Tower 1 in downtown Singapore). And let’s not forget Al Jazeera.

Qatar has also been accused of funding extremist Islamist movements in the Middle East, which was part of the reason why Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt closed off their land, sea, and airspace to Qatar and Qatari registered vehicles, effectively blockading Qatar (check out the map of the region to understand why) from 2017 to 2021. The diplomatic crisis ended as quickly as it began, and what was achieved is still a bit of a mystery.

However, this latest development, and Qatar’s active involvement in the negotiations for peace in the conflict, is clearly in line with the neighbouring Arab countries. It is unlikely that the pro-Saudi Arab News would have given Qatar such prime of place in this story were it not a development in agreement with the Saudi government. The article presents a united front of the Arab region, with Qatar being the public face of it.

HAARETZ: Gaza Cease-fire and Hostage Deal Reached Between Israel and Hamas, Officials Say [link]

📢 What Haaretz is saying
The 106-year-old famously left-leaning publication has a much longer article compared to Arab News. Being more locally focused on Israeli news and objectives, the article spends a lot of time talking about the Israeli hostages still with Hamas. There is also a lot of statements shared by unnamed Israeli sources in the government with Haaretz, which gives the reporting a unique insider perspective.

1. 📸 Visuals

Haaretz uses several visual elements to tell the story. First, the top of the article has a carousel of four images - the first image is one of Israeli protesters embracing in Tel Aviv, the second is Palestinians celebrating in Khan Younis, the third is a photo of Joe Biden with his Secretary of State in the foreground, and finally a photo of Israeli protesters in action in Tel Aviv. The protesters in the first and fourth photo are all demanding the return of the Israeli hostages.

Soon after, there is a text box titled ‘The Phases of the Cease-Fire Agreement’ which briefly outlines the key highlights of the agreement in play.

The article contains four more photos of Israeli protestors demanding the return of the hostages. This is further supported by the headshots of the 33 hostages who are expected to be released during the truce, including their names. The photos are a mix of young men, old men, young women, and babies.

Finally, the article shares a variety of social media posts - from Biden, Trump, and Gazan journalists, all celebrating the good news. Biden and Trump take credit for the ceasefire in their posts.

2. ✍🏽 Words

There is a lot of time spent focusing on the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. The article takes effort to name them, and keeps coming back to how this truce is meant to help get the hostages back home. In fact, one of the first things mentioned in the subheading is about how the hostages are to be released. The entire focus of the article, therefore, is solely within Israel, and caters primarily to Israeli interests.

There is a long statement from Biden, again mentioning hostages, along with another long statement from the Israeli president, who again reiterates his support for bringing back Israeli hostages. Following this, there is a detailed explanation of how the hostages will be released, with a day-by-day schedule of the release as outlined in the agreement. To Haaretz’s credit, there is a lot more information about the specifics of the agreement in the article.

There is also a brief mention of how Hamas almost derailed the agreement, before withdrawing their objections. Towards the end, there is a laundry list of statements from world leaders, including Trump, the Egyptian president El-Sisi, the British PM, a clutch of U.S. senators, the German foreign minister, all of whom speak about bringing back hostages to Israel. There is also a brief statement from the Houthis in Yemen, who are fighting their own war against Israel and others. The article ends with reactions from Gazan journalists thankful for the development.

❓ What it means
Where’s Qatar? Even the headline credits ‘officials’ as the ones who have announced the ceasefire agreement. Who those officials are is anybody’s guess, but judging by the lack of mentions of Qatar in the article (there are essentially two), it’s clear that the focus here is to remove any association with Qatar when it comes to the success of this agreement. From reading this article alone, you’d think that it was the Americans and the Israelis who did all the work.

Second, what of the Palestinians? There is a brief mention of humanitarian aid entering Gaza (credited to Egyptian president El-Sisi), of reactions from Gazan journalists, along with a single picture of Palestinians celebrating. However, their entire future and fate is completely ignored.

Finally, why so many photos of Israelis protesting? Haaretz has been severely critical of Netanyahu’s handling of the conflict, and of his time in political office even before the conflict. The protests, which are heavily featured in the article, can be taken to be a rebuke of Netanyahu and his rule, and a push to ensure that in the midst of these new developments, Israelis and others should not forget that there is a section of the public who want Netanyahu out.

⚠️ Why it matters
Haaretz is arguably the most internationally read Israeli news publication. Their influence is unique and when they speak, people generally listen. However, they are also under pressure within Israel having taken a strong anti-Netanyahu editorial stance that is not universally loved.

For an international audience reading this news, the implication is two-fold: one, that the most important victims in this conflict are the Israeli hostages (never mind the 100,000 injured Palestinian civilians), and the second that Netanyahu hasn’t really solved the issue in any meaningful way.

The anti-Qatar bias is interesting though. There was a point a few months ago when Qatar was accused of exacerbating the conflict by ‘funding’ Hamas in the past. In January 2024, Netanyahu called Qatar’s role in the negotiations as ‘problematic’. The Qataris, in response, were ‘appalled’. Qatar is known to have given aid to Gaza and has paid civil servant salaries of those working in the Gaza Hamas-led government, though all with the agreement of Netanyahu.

At one point Qatar had even said that they were not going to help with negotiations until all sides came to the table in good faith. Looks like that finally happened. Still, Haaretz seems to be on the same page as Netanyahu on this issue: the less credit given to Qatar, the better.

WHAT’S GOING ON? 

🔍 The truth, but not the whole truth

I wanted to analyse the story from how it was locally reported in the two ‘belligerents’ as Qatar called them, to understand what was being reported to the people who are involved in the conflict. While I couldn’t get access to Israel’s most read news media, Israel Hayom, which was in Hebrew anyway, and Palestinian publications are all in Arabic, I instead found publications that were locally produced but for a more international audience.

How Haaretz and Arab News tell the story has an impact on how the rest of the world understands the news. Who you read will likely display your own bias for sources of information, and colours your support in this conflict.

Factually, both are right, in their own way. Arab News is focused on celebrating this as an achievement of Arab political pressure and power, showcasing how the Arab world can be a power for good, with the capabilities to solve complex geopolitical issues. There is also a focus on aid reaching the Palestinians. Haaretz instead is focused on how this development helps brings back the trapped Israeli hostages in Gaza. And perhaps how this is also a testament to the failed leadership of Netanyahu.

The truth, as always, is somewhere in between.
Read widely. Question thoroughly. Decide accordingly.

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Was this forwarded to you? Signpost is a free weekly newsletter analysing what the media says, what it means, and why it matters. It’s free to subscribe. Alternatively, you can add me on LinkedIn.