In just one year in Bosnia, thirty of my colleagues died. There is a little Somme waiting for all innocent journalists.
Robert FiskRead
The [Israelis] believed - they were possessed of an absolute certainty and conviction - that 'terrorists' were in Chatila. How could I explain to them that the terrorists had left, that the terrorists had worn Israeli uniforms, that the terrorists had been sent into Chatila by Israeli officers, that the victims of the terrorists were not Israelis but Palestinians and Lebanese?
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the complexity of narratives surrounding conflict, particularly the misconception of identifying terrorists and victims based on preconceived notions.
Robert Fisk's quote delves into the deeply entrenched beliefs and convictions held by the Israelis regarding the presence of terrorists in Chatila. It illustrates the challenges faced when confronting a dominant narrative that simplifies a complex situation into binary categories of good and evil, instead emphasizing that the reality of conflict often includes unrecognized truths about the roles different groups play and the identities of victims and perpetrators.
Themes
ConflictNarrativePerceptionTruthVictimsTerrorism
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a discussion about the media's portrayal of conflicts.
More from Robert Fisk
All quotes βWar is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.
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U.S. journalists I don't think are very courageous. They tend to go along with the government's policy domestically and internationally. To question is seen as being unpatriotic, or potentially subversive.
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The biggest problem I have in journalism is being quoted or misquoted and then being asked to defend something I haven't said.
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There is nothing so satisfying as to be shot at without effect.
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After the allied victory of 1918, at the end of my father's war, the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my entire career β in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad β watching the people within those borders burn.
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