The media has long promoted Fatah — in contrast to Hamas — as the party of Palestinian political moderates seeking peace with Israel, while glossing over evidence to the contrary. An example of this was coverage by some media outlets of the Sixth Fatah General Congress, the first such conference in twenty years, which has just concluded. 
The Palestinian Authority and its president, Mahmoud Abbas — moderate, or relative moderate? The Washington Post recently referred to Abbas' Fatah movement as "Hamas' relatively moderate rival." But "relative" to Hamas does not mean "moderate." 
Following Hamas' violent takeover of Gaza, Israel is called upon to bolster Palestinian "moderates"– i.e. the Fatah movement and its leaders–as a bulwark against the Hamas extremists. But how moderate is Fatah? CAMERA published a letter in USA Today setting the record straight on the nature of Fatah and the PLO.
In the intense media coverage accompanying Yasser Arafat's death, the man known to many as the "father of modern terrorism" is benefiting from an "extreme make-over," as some news reports and columns airbrush history to exclude his actual deeds.