but we were ready for our close-up!

Al-Jazeera has gotten caught in the cross-fire between Hamas and Fatah, a battle that is heating up, unfortunately:

Three cars belonging to the al-Jazeera news network were torched in Ramallah on Saturday night.

Incredibly, the arsonists were angry at the absence of media coverage:

Sources in the city told The Jerusalem Post that Fatah supporters were behind the torching of the al-Jazeera cars.

The sources said the Fatah supporters were angry with al-Jazeera because it had not covered an anti-Hamas demonstration in the city by Fatah earlier in the day.

Anyone who doubts the extraordinary power of the media in the worldwide conflicts we’re engaged in should think long and hard about this incident.

Without regional and international media coverage (which Al Jazeera provides), the conflict between Hamas and Fatah is reduced to exactly what it is: gang warfare between local groups of thugs who hold their people hostage while they fight to see who will have the right to line his pockets with the most shekels (because that is how things will turn out: peace will be bought—mark my words).
Publicity is the lifeblood not just of Hollywood and Washington and New York. We need to get wise to the media-savviness of the people who live outside our borders. We don’t pay enough attention to that.