A Palestinian state -- of despair

An appeal to pity is a logical fallacy and propaganda technique designed to evoke and win over the sympathies of an audience when the facts alone fail to convince.  Reuters has employed this technique over many years and in literally hundreds of stories on the Middle East conflict in an effort to manipulate its readers into adopting patronage toward the Palestinian Arabs.

For example, did you know that the Palestinians and their leader Mahmoud Abbas are:

"dejected... hopeless... despondent... pessimistic... crippled... and helpless"?

Sure, just ask Reuters correspondent Tom Perry who explains why the Palestinians are feeling so... well, depressed:

A resumption of Middle East peace talks inspires little hope among Palestinians who say the prospect of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel seems no more than a dream.

And who or what is to blame for this state of despair?  Perry interprets for us:

They say their hopes have been eroded by Israeli policies, the United States' failure to force Israel into concessions and the failings of their own leaders, who have grown ever weaker and more divided since Yasser Arafat's death in 2004.

Perry makes no mention of the unprecedented concessions (quoting Hilary Clinton) issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in acceding to a Palestinian state and in establishing a moratorium on Jewish residential building outside the 1949 Armistice Lines (a right enshrined in the Palestine Mandate).  Concessions that were met with intransigence and further demands by Abbas.

Nor does Perry reference any of the multitude of other concessions and good-faith efforts by Israel, the US, the UN, or the British over the last 80 years to facilitate Palestinian statehood.  Efforts answered by the Palestinian Arabs with the most heinous and savage acts of violence.

And note the absence of any semblance of personal responsibility for the failure to achieve statehood.  After all, it couldn't possibly be an embrace by the majority of Palestinians of the rejectionism, antisemitism and terrorism as endorsed by their elected leaders that has delayed Palestinian nationhood, could it? 

In a story of over 700 words (which includes interviews with six Palestinians), Perry devotes a total of 3 words to reporting on Israeli sentiment surrounding the talks:

... despondency reflects deep pessimism among Palestinians, mirrored in Israel, on the prospects for a new round of U.S.-mediated peace talks that are due to begin in September.

And of course, there are no interviews with Israeli Jews who, in Reuters universe, remain ever anonymous, faceless, and mute.