As BBC audiences could hardly have failed to notice given Yolande Knell’s intensive coverage of the subject in recent weeks (see here, here and here), the BBC has quite a penchant for reality TV programmes with a Palestinian interest.
However, that affinity apparently does not extend to game shows and in particular not to the latest Palestinian Authority TV Ramadan special in which Palestinians in the street could win $100 for giving the correct answer to quiz questions.
Palestinian Media Watch brings us some examples of the type of questions posed in these official PA TV broadcasts – and the answers deemed ‘correct’.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=vv8S7zu3ucQ#at=11]
PA TV reporter: “On the beach of which Palestinian village did the whale spew out the prophet Jonah? Naturally, it’s a coastal city.”
Man: “Ashdod.” (Israeli city on the Mediterranean coast)
PA TV reporter: Ashdod is the correct answer… You win $100 from [the sponsor] Jawwal.”
PA TV reporter: “Which city did [Palestinian writer] Mustafa Dabbagh call ‘The city that fell from Heaven?'”
Man: “In Palestine or outside of Palestine?”
PA TV reporter: “In Palestine.”
Man: “Maybe Jaffa?” (Israeli city, part of Tel Aviv)
PA TV reporter: “Correct answer. Jaffa. You win $100 from [the sponsor] Wataniya Mobile.”
PA TV reporter: “A lake in Northern Palestine drained by the Israeli occupation. What is the name of the lake?” 
Man: “The Sea of Galilee?” (In north east Israel)
PA TV reporter: “Think.”
Man: “The Hula [Lake].” (The Hula Lake is in Northern Israel)
PA TV reporter: “You’ve earned $100 from the [sponsor] Bank of Palestine.”
PA TV reporter: “Name the Palestinian village in Northern Safed whose name means ‘beetle’ in the Syriac language, and whose residents are mostly Druze .”
PA TV reporter: “The correct answer is Hurfeish, the Palestinian village in Northern Safed whose name means ‘beetle’. Congratulations. You win $100
from [the sponsor] Jawwal.” (Hurfeish is a Druze village in Northern Israel)
PA TV reporter: “What is the highest mountain in Palestine?”
Man: “Mt. Meron.” (Mt. Meron is in Northern Israel)
Another question presented the border from Eilat in the south to the Golan Heights in the north as “Palestine’s” border with Jordan, likewise ignoring the existence of Israel:
PA TV reporter: “[Which] country has the longest border with Palestine and what is [the border’s] length?”
Man: “The country is Jordan and [the border is] 586 [km.]”
PA TV reporter: “Congratulations. You win $100 from [the sponsor] Jawwal.”
(“Palestine” in this measurement includes all of Israel from Eilat until the Golan Heights.)
Not only does the BBC avoid informing its audiences about this type of sadly not unusual official PA denial of Israel’s existence, but we can probably be fairly confident that the promotion of such propaganda to the Palestinian public will not be presented to BBC audiences as either an ‘obstacle to peace’ or one of the ‘core issues‘ to be dealt with in negotiations.
