When is the Post detached? When the Terrorists kill their Own.

Friend of the blog, Leo Rennert, gives additional insight to the Post coverage of the Jerusalem checkpoint bombing. Thanks, Leo.

Something struck me as rather odd reading Molly Moore's article about a Palestinian "militant" setting off a bomb near an Israeli checkpoint that ended up killing two Palestinians and a score of others, mostly Palestinians. (Aug. 12, page A17).

What was odd about it is that it was reported in cold, detached, statistical terms. Usually, Moore's pieces overflow with sympathy for Palestinian victims of violence. But in this case, there were no quotes from bereaved Palestinian relatives or friends. Or explanations of how the bomber, out of supposed frustration or personal despair, set out on his killing spree.

So I got to wondering what accounts for this rare un-Moore-like Moore article. And then it dawned on me that what made this incident different is that this was a case of Palestinians murdering Palestinians. If Moore had followed her usual approach, she would have had quotes from family members of the dead pointing a finger at fellow Palestinians. And that just wouldn't do. It would shatter Moore's predilection for casting the conflict as one of an overly aggressive Israel creating havoc with Palestinian lives. In Moore's script, it's pull out all the emotional stops when there's the slightest opening to blame Israel, but put a veil over Palestinian sins.

In identifying the dead, she mentions only Salah Abu Sneinah, 60. She doesn't even tell readers that the other murdered Palestinian was Ayed Mustafa, 45. Nor does she mention that three other members of Abu Sneinah's family were wounded, including a child, Mahdi, 6, who was described as being in serious condition. No such oversight would have been likely in a Moore report about Palestinians killed by Israeli forces. Bottom line: Palestinian lives matter less to the Post when Palestinians kill Palestinians than when they die in clashes with Israelis.

But there was still another egregious omission in Moore's report. Remember the much criticised Israeli security barrier? The Post has been in the forefront of reporting all the terrible disruptions it does and would inflict in the lives of West Bank Palestinians. Yet, in this instance, Moore failed to report that the bombing occurred near where the construction of the fence was halted by a recent order of Israel's Supreme Court, which ruled that Israeli officials must go back to the drawing boards and find an alternate route that's less disruptive for Palestinians. And the Israeli government immediately complied and halted further work on the barrier. What Moore failed to point out is that if the barrier had been completed in this section, which includes the most common route from Ramallah to Jerusalem, the bomber in all likelihood would not have succeeded and Palestinian lives would have been spared.

So it turns out that the incomplete barrier, which already has saved countless Israeli lives, also would help, once completed, to save Palestinian lives. But for the Post to acknowledge that an Israeli security measure to protect Israelis would also prevent the killing of Palestinians would require Moore to take an entirely fresh look at the conflict. She also would have had to report that, just a day earlier, an official report by the Palestinian Legislative Council, blasted Arafat for not reining in group like the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which claimed credit for the bombing that killed the two Palestinians. Not a word about that in the Post either. Far better to stick with the old stereotypes.

LEO RENNERT