Posted on August 3, 2006

Palestinian Cartoon Racially Insults Rice

Nicholas Kralev, Washington Times, August 3, 2006

Attacks on the Bush administration’s Middle East policies in the Arab press have culminated in personal insults and racial slurs aimed at Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, with one cartoon depicting her pregnant with an armed monkey.

“Rice speaks about the birth of a new Middle East,” the cartoon’s caption reads, referring to the secretary’s recent remarks about the “birth pangs” of the region.

The image, as well as words such as “raven” and “black spinster” to describe Miss Rice, appeared in Palestinian newspapers controlled by President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

“This is truly ugly,” said a former senior aide to Madeleine K. Albright, secretary of state in the Clinton administration. “It’s unfortunate and not reflective of the Palestinian people, and they should be upset about it. But you have to ignore these things, you can’t respond to them.”

The State Department did just that, saying only that those are “ugly attacks,” but that “criticism comes with public service.”

“We encourage development of a free press, but along with those freedoms come certain responsibilities,” said department spokesman Sean McCormack. “Secretary Rice is focused on doing her job. She knows that the United States is doing the right thing.”

Mr. McCormack also said that Miss Rice “has a great working relationship with President Abbas” and “a great deal of personal respect for him.”

The Palestinian Authority official daily, Al Hayat Al Jadida, published articles last week that called Miss Rice “the Black Lady” and “raven,” according to a translation by Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli group.

“Beware of this black spinster,” the newspaper said. “We don’t want to say ‘the black widow’ out of respect for her femininity and intelligence.”

The cartoon of a pregnant Miss Rice appeared in Al Quds, another Fatah-controlled newspaper regarded as moderate by Washington. Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell gave the publication two interviews during his tenure, in 2002 and 2003.

The press and even government officials in the Middle East have insulted senior U.S. officials before, but nothing comes close to the cartoon, current and former officials said.

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