Det finnes en rekke gode nettsteder og blogger med grundig informasjon fra Midtøsten. Hvis en ikke har tid til å følge med på mer enn én blogg daglig, er Michael Totten et godt forslag. Han begynte som vanlig blogger, men tilbringer nå mer tid på reportasjereiser i Midtøsten og Europa enn hjemme i USA. Veletablerte medier som Wall Street Journal, New York Times og Commentary Magazine har forlengst fått øynene opp for ham og trykker regelmessig hans artikler.

En av de mest omtalte artiklene hans den siste tiden er referatet fra et foredrag av Jerusalem Posts journalist Khaled Abu Toameh. Toameh er en av få, modige palestinske journalister som åpent forteller om hva som foregår av mediesensur, ensretting, korrupsjon og forfølgelse av demokrater i de palestinske områdene.

Toameh forteller om hvordan han forsøkte å få sine vestlige kolleger interessert i dette:

My argument is as follows. The fact that Arafat was crooked didn’t surprise us Palestinians. We were only surprised by the fact that the international community kept giving him money and refused to hold him accountable when he stole our money. Why didn’t they invest something? They didn’t want to believe it.

When I tried to alert my foreign colleagues in 1995, 1996, and 1997, to the fact that there was corruption in the Palestinian Authority, many of them asked me if I was on the payroll of the Jewish Lobby. I wanted to know where was this Jewish Lobby? If there was one maybe they would pay me.

I told them: «This is what I am hearing. The writing is on the wall. Come and listen to what Palestinians are saying.» And they told me they weren’t interested in that story. They told me they wanted anti-Israel stories because it made their lives so much easier. They told me they didn’t want to write anything bad about Palestinians, that Arafat was a man of peace and should be given a chance. I heard this from major American journalists, by the way. Leading American journalists. I don’t want to give you their names right now, but I was really frustrated. And angry.

Listen. For all these years we’ve been attacking the military occupation. So why is it that when I tell you something that Arafat is doing, suddenly you don’t want to report it and think it’s Jewish propaganda? Most of these journalists did not even want to make any effort.

Referatet er langt og spenner fra Oslo-avtalen til den nylig avsluttede krigen mellom Israel og Hamas. Dette er obligatorisk lesning.