Mudar Zahrán, exiled in Great Britain, states anyway that “the reality in Jordan must first be changed”. Exclusive interview of Ynet Español.
By Leandro Fleischer, YNET ESPANOL
Mudar Zahrán (45) is a Jordanian-Palestinian writer who leads the Jordanian Opposition Coalition group. The persecutions he has suffered due to his strong criticism of King Abdullah II led him to exile in Britain. This Arab intellectual is also a firm detractor of the Palestinian leadership.
In exclusive statements for Ynet Español , Zahran affirms that Trump’s peace plan “will be successful,” since he says that “the Palestinians have changed” for the better and calls on Israelis not to trust what the press or leaders say. of the Palestinian Territories and Jordan. However, he points out that in order to make more progress, it is necessary to remove King Abdullah II.
Why do Palestinians reject Trump’s peace agreement?
The Palestinians do not reject it. Most of them, both in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as those residing in Jordan, who represent the majority of the population of this country, are in favor of making any changes that can take them out of the miserable situation in which they live. I don’t know why you assume they reject it.
The writer asks his interviewer not to let himself be “influenced by the polls,” since, he says, “there is no such thing as an independent survey in the Palestinian Territories or Jordan.”
Why do the president of the Palestinian Authority and the Jordanian king reject him?
– Despite not knowing anything about the peace plan, they dismiss it because President Trump made it clear that he wants to end the conflict so that Israelis and Palestinians can live better. And that is not in the interest of either President Abbas or King Abdullah; both have benefited economically and politically thanks to the war and the complications of this situation. Just as the owner of a store does not want to be closed because he would run out of income, these two leaders do not want the conflict to end because they run out of power.
Do you think the ‘Agreement of the Century’ will succeed?
– Yes, I have no doubt, because the goal of it is to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. The Palestinians and Jordanians have already begun to disbelieve the lies of the press controlled by their governments. In fact, there is an Intelligence cable from the US State Department leaked by [the media organization] Wilileaks called ‘The Great Opportunity’, which states that most Palestinians and Jordanians are willing to give up their ‘right in return ‘in exchange for civil liberties in Jordan.
Regarding the so-called ‘right of return’ of the Palestinians to Israel, Zahran explains that “they are not really as interested in him as is believed.” And he says the situation in Gaza and the West Bank changed. “Look around; there is no longer any Intifada (Palestinian uprising), despite the fact that Abbas and Abdullah press for there. How many throw stones and attack soldiers? Some dozens? Remember that in the past there were about 300,000 people active during the First Intifada, and about 150,000 in the next. ” “It is time for Israelis to understand this situation and stop reading articles by journalists who say that Palestinians only want to kill Jews. They have to play with the rules of today, not with those of before, or they will lose the game, ”he warned.
The Jordanian-Palestinian writer is very optimistic about President Trump’s peace plan, which he predicts, “will be successful,” although he clarifies that for the situation to progress, “reality must first be changed in Jordan.” , because, he says, “the regime in this country controls the Al-Aqsa Mosque (Temple Mount), and has caused problems there. Abdullah also has its hands on the ‘right of return’ and refuses to give citizenship to the Palestinians in Jordan, a territory that represents 78 percent of Palestine. Therefore, as long as the king remains in power, nothing can be fixed. ” Zahran also mentions the links between the Jordanian king and Islamic terrorists. “Let’s not forget Abdalá’s alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood and with Hamas, which he considers the arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Palestinian Territories, ”accuses the king of being behind the unrest on the Temple mount. Zahran concludes by saying:“For the good of all, the time has come for the king to quit,”
I corrected the last line of this article because it was not understandable. Now it is.
I asked Mudar to ask the author to get YNET to publish it in Hebrew and in
English.
Or I might use the quotes in a new article which I will write.
This article in JNS, summarizing an article in MEMRI, supports Mudar Zahran’s claims that Arab public opinion has begun to shift in Israel’s favor, at least in some Arab circles that are more concerned with the real Iranian threat rather than the imaginary Israeli threat:
@ Adam Dalgliesh:Yidiot & Israel HaYom are Hebrew first publications with relatively minor English operations.
Their primary market is the Hebrew speaking market. It appears apparent that that more money is invested in the Hebrew operation.
Just a glance at Ynet Hebrew and Ynet English shows they have lots of different articles. Ynet in English during the day ( I glanced a few times because of your questions) has had the same static main article about Anti-Semitism. Ynet in Hebrew cover article has been about El Paso shootings at Walmart. It has changed numerous times and been updated a lot.
The Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel are the opposite. English first and others languages are newer to them.
@ Bear Klein: Bear, I realize you are just having fun, but just for a moment, let me comment seriously on your suggestion. While we must rely on the press to keep us informed about what goes on, they are among the world’s most secretive institutions. They never disclose their internal editorial decision-making processes to anyone. It is much easier to learn what the CIA or the Mossad is up to (because the press sometimes informs us) than it is to learn what the press is up to. For that, we have to read between the lines. What we can figure out about the press’s objectives mainly comes from detecting their political bias, which is usually pretty easy to do, even though all the media giants make pro forma denials and claim their news is “fair and balanced.” But it seems a reasonable guess to me from being able to detect the leftist bias of the Yediot English-language internet paper, it is a reasonable assumption that a similar bias pervades all editions of Ynetnews. After all, together with the print version, Yediot Ahronot, they are all just difference language editions of the same newspaper. Clearly, someone in over-all charge of the newspaper decides that some stories are more “suitable” to some language speakers than to other language speakers. But exactly whyYediot’s editorial staff decides why certain stories are suitable to some language readers, but not other language readers, we will never know. But it is a reasonable guess that in such an extremely politicized institution as a media giant, the motives are likely to be political.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:Translating an article on a professional level is NOT easy to do. I would venture to guess that both timing of translation (slowing publications in 24/7 news cycle) and cost issues plus gauging if interest levels different audiences are paramount issues for a business like Yidiot to consider.
Then nefarious unclear motivations are certainly more fun to conjure up and write about. When you find the smoking gun proof of who “dun it”, let us know I am certainly intrigued who and why they are behind curtain number 2 or is it number 3. Anyone just having fun with you, kindly do not get upset.
Ynetnew’ s failure to publish the interview with Mudar Zahran in the English edition (I don’t know about the Hebrew edition, can you check it out for us to see if the interview is there?) is unlikely to have occurred without a decision by the Yediot chain’s senior editorial staff. What might have happend is that the Spanish speaking reporter who interviewed Mudar in Barcelona, where he frequently hangs out on vacations, insisted on sending in her write up of the interview to the Sapanish edition editor, who decided to stand by her reporter and publish the story. But very likely the over-all publisher and editors of the Yediot chain are no fans of Mudar, who is aligned with the Israeli right, and therefore would not allow it to be published in the other editions of Ynetnews.
@ Bear Klein: Bear,Ynet is completely owned and controlled by Yediot Ahronot. They could publish all of their articles on the internet in all language editions of ynetnews if they chose to do so. That they don’t choose to do this is suspicious. For example, they published an article in the Hebrew edition of the internet paper in which one of their respected military correspondents, citing unnamed sources high up in the military, claimed that the IDF was unprepared for a full-scale war. It never appeared in the English edition of Ynetnews. But the Arab and pro-Arab press picked up on the story and published summaries. The only reaon I can think of why they would exclude such an important story from their English edition was that they didn’t want the American public, particularly the American Jewish public, to know that Israel was unprepared for war. Bu their efforts to keep this information secret failed to prevent the Arab press, which of course has people who are fluent in Hebrew working for it, from reading it and publishing it.
@ Adam Dalgliesh:
General Comment:
1. Yidiot Achranot is the 2nd largest newspaper in Israel after Israel Hayom. It owns Ynet its internet publication. These publications use their own reporters and they are not translations of each other. Example Shaked was interviewed by Yediot Achranot the other day but except for a reference in the English Ynet ot the interview it was not carried there. Found nothing dis-honest about this but their standard way of operating.
I personally do not attach motivations to their method of operation. From what I know of the YnetEspanol (Spanish) it has a really small readership.
They are left to center-left leaning publications. Yair Lapid comes from Yidiot.
I have noticed that Ynetnews has the strange practice of publishing stories in one of its languages but not in the others. This is not the first time this has happened. Sometimes the report concerns a matter of great importance to Israel. Strange and dishonest practice by Ynetnews.
Possibly Ynetnews decided not to publish this in its English edition because they did not want to give Mudar Zahran too much favorable publicity.
Could Ted, Bear, Edgar or anyone check to see if the Ynetnews in Hebrew (Yediot Arrant) published the story?
From today’s Jerusalem Post.
Mudar gave it to me translated. He probably got Google to do it. He is saying what I have been telling you all along. The Coup first and then the deal of the century.
Ted, Who translated this article for us?The original of this article is in Spanish. It is not in the English version of Ynetnews.