The Palestinian Authority has launched a campaign on its Voice of Palestine radio station that aims to gain support for its upcoming bid for UN recognition, even among Israelis.
Voice of Palestine General Manager Ahmad Zaki said that the station is set to broadcast frequent messages explaining the reasons and goals behind the bid – in multiple languages. The campaign is intended for audiences worldwide.
Some 26 one-minute messages have been recorded as part of the campaign, each to be aired a few times every day – amounting to hundreds of such broadcasts a day.
The PA has expressed hope the initiative will reach Israeli listeners, which is why some of the jingles were recorded in Hebrew and Russian. It did not say whether it attempted to purchase advertising time on Israeli radio stations, however.
"The Russian message targets the million Israelis who immigrated from Commonwealth of Independent States, imploring them to recognize a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. The establishment of the state will stabilize the region," Zaki said.
The Hebrew message, which calls 'Palestine' the 194th nation in the UN, urges Israelis "to support a two-state solution, so we can live side by side, Palestine and Israel. The choice is yours: peace for a bright future for you and us, or the continued struggle that leads to tragic results.
"Will you let your kids stay in tanks all their lives? You have suffered, and so have we. You can end everyone's suffering," the message, making use of textbook psychological warfare techniques, says.
The messages describe the "Palestinian people's suffering from 1948 to the present" while blaming Israel for closing the doors to peace, are to be aired in English, Spanish and French, among others.
Israel's officials responsible for public relations have not announced a multi-lingual counter-offensive in markets targeted by the PA.
The entire set of multilingual ad spots have been uploaded in a single video on YouTube.
