The PLO Rx: Give Blood, Threaten Cameramen, Call Me in the Morning

While Chatterbox is delighted to learn that Yasser Arafat has donated blood in the name of the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, he is growing impatient over the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize recipient’s apparent reluctance to countermand a threat made by Arafat’s Cabinet secretary, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, to a cameraman who on Sept. 11 filmed for the Associated Press Palestinians in Nablus celebrating the American carnage. According to the AP, Rahman told the AP’s Jerusalem bureau that the Palestinian National Authority, of which Arafat is president, “cannot guarantee the life” of the cameraman if the footage airs. (In USA Today, Matthew Kalman reports that Rahman threatened other news agencies, too.) At the cameraman’s request, the footage did not air, though AP and other footage of similar celebrations in east Jerusalem and elsewhere have been shown on TV. (Click here, scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on “Worldwide reaction to the attacks–9/11/2001” to view some.) Nor have still photos of the Nablus demonstration taken by an AP photographer been distributed. If Arafat doesn’t remove the AP fatwa soon, Chatterbox may have to drop a dime to the Norwegians. You don’t want to be around these guys when they get mad.