Positive article about "settler and peace activist" in official PA daily

http://palwatch.org/main.aspx?fi=157&doc_id=8653

Official PA daily:

"He was the Rabbi of the Tekoa settlement... worked vigorously towards a peaceful solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict... founder of the peace movement, 'Land of Peace,' whose members are both settlers and Palestinians."

by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

Rabbi Menachem Froman of the Israeli town of Tekoa in the West Bank passed away a week ago. The Palestinian Authority daily newspaper seldom prints positive articles about Israelis and almost never portrays those they call "settlers" in a positive light. However, the PA daily recently published a very positive article on its front page about Rabbi Menachem Froman and his efforts to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The article was originally published by Agence France-Presse.

In 2010, the official PA daily reported on a solidarity visit by Rabbi Froman to mosques in the West Bank.

Palestinian Media Watch documents instances in which the PA portrays Israel in a positive light.

The following is the article from the official PA daily:

Headline: "Settler and peace activist Rabbi Menachem Froman has passed away"

"Yesterday, well-known Israeli Rabbi Menachem Froman, who maintained friendships with Palestinian officials, passed away at the age of 68 after a long battle with the [cancer] disease - as reported by the Israeli media.

Menachem Froman was born in 1945 in Mandatory Palestine. He was the Rabbi of the Tekoa settlement located in the southern part of the occupied West Bank and worked vigorously towards a peaceful solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to Rabbi Froman, the Jewish and Muslim spiritual leaders are the most appropriate people to find a solution which will lead to peace, since this conflict has a religious nature.

Based on this view, he maintained ties with PLO leaders, specifically with historical leader Yasser Arafat, and also met with leaders of the Hamas movement.

Froman is the founder of the peace movement, Land of Peace, whose members are both settlers and Palestinians. He criticized the violations committed by the most extreme settlers against Palestinian targets, and visited a few vandalized mosques to express solidarity.

Rabbi Froman used to stress that he is willing to live in a Palestinian state in the event that Jewish settlements in the West Bank would be evacuated.

Froman, who fell ill with a type of cancer, hoped to 'be capable of contributing to peace until his final breath.'"

[Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 5, 2013]