What it's like to be the only Palestinian journalist in the briefing room

Palestinian journalist Said Arikat has been covering United States foreign policy for several administrations. Arikat, who is a correspondent for an occupied East Jerusalem-based newspaper called Al Quds, often goes viral for his sometimes tense exchanges with US State Department officials during their regular briefings.

Arikat recently sat down with TRT World to talk about the Israeli war on Gaza, shifting US foreign policy and how he keeps calm and carries on as the only Palestinian in the briefing room.

TRT World: How long have you been doing this work?

Said Arikat: Well, I've been going to the State Department for the better part of a quarter of a century. So I've been doing it for a long time with the exception of a short hiatus, five years, in which I served as the United Nations spokesman in Iraq between 2005 and 2010. I've been doing this since the late 1990s, basically.

I have seen the Democrats and Republicans, maybe four or five different administrations. Let's see, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and then, of course, the two terms of (Barack) Obama and one term of (Donald) Trump, and now this.

TRT World: Does it change?

Said Arikat: I think I would be too pretentious to think that it is the same. There are fundamental differences, and especially on the Palestinian issue now in terms of what they do. The US policy on the ground, it's a different thing altogether. But in rhetoric, yes, there is quite a difference, especially with the previous administration.

Until the Trump administration, the US rhetoric was pretty standard on the Palestinian issue. So they would say they're opposed to (illegal Jewish) settlements, or they would say they support a two-state solution.

Then we had a fundamental change with Trump and (former US Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo, who basically said that settlements were not illegal, that the settlements were not inconsistent with international law and that the Palestinians have to forgo their right to return and so on.

So now we have not seen what the Biden administration promised to do. They did not fulfil their promises. They did not. From the very small steps like reopening the PLO office in Washington to the reopening of the American consulate in East Jerusalem, none of this happened. And of course, we have not seen any of the (peace) talks restarted.

And then finally, we saw this horrific war that has been totally supported by the administration.

TRT World: How often do you go to the press briefings?

Said Arikat: I go to the press briefings almost every day. You know, whenever the press briefing takes place, I go and there aren't very many Palestinian journalists in town. So I go there not to advocate, but to ask and probe on a very important issue. Obviously, it is very important because there's a great deal of consideration on this issue by any administration.

And so I try to be there to ask questions that pertain to my city. I am from East Jerusalem. My newspaper is in East Jerusalem. It's been published there since 1951. That's a very long time.

TRT World: We've seen some of the answers that the State Department has given to questions. How do you just not throw your shoe (like an Iraqi journalist once famously did)?

Said Arikat: I get asked quite a bit, how do you keep calm? And it's difficult. I mean, there are times that I feel like throwing my shoes or just getting up and leaving.

But I understand where they're coming from. I mean, I worked as a spokesman for the United Nations, so I know that you have to basically propagate the party line. The administration doesn't really have many answers. But I have to state it for the record, I have to be there for the record as much as it can be frustrating.

You have to go on. It's not like in 2011. I asked a great deal about the Arab countries, the Arab Spring and so on. So it's not really just Palestinian-centric. I covered the area. I cover security issues. I cover foreign policy. I raise issues and questions on Ukraine, on Türkiye>, and many other places.

But my focus is of course, the Palestinian issue, because it is also omnipresent and just in terms of drama is larger than life.

TRT World: Are you usually the only Palestinian in the room?

Said Arikat: Most of the time, yes. There are other Palestinian journalists who come from time to time, but they work for other non-Palestinian organisations. But I would say, overwhelmingly, I'm the only Palestinian.

TRT World: You have been described as the voice of Palestinians in DC or the voice of Palestinians at the State Department. How do you feel about that?

Said Arikat: I wouldn't go that far. I'm not really the voice of the Palestinians. The Palestinians have enough voices to speak on their behalf. I try to do my job.

It just so happens that I write for a Palestinian newspaper and it is always involved. There are times when, for whatever reason, the paper is unable to publish because of (Israel's) occupation or there are times when my colleagues are unable to go from point A to point B in Jerusalem, and there are times when they are shot and killed.

So the issue itself is always there. But to call myself representative of the Palestinians, that would be too pretentious. And that is a big shoe for me to fill.

TRT World: Then why is it important for you to attend all these meetings? What is it that keeps you coming back each day, despite the kind of answers that you get?

Said Arikat: Well, believe it or not, because I write every day and no matter what happens, there is always plenty of stuff to write about. But also you have be out there. It's like fishing. You've got to get something from time to time.

I've managed over the years to get them to say things that maybe they didn't want to say, or I would push them to say stuff that they didn't want to say. So I have to go there day after day very simply to do my job because I'm a State Department correspondent.

TRT World: What impact do you think this is having with the questions you ask?

Said Arikat: Well, I think they do have an impact. I have met all the secretaries of state for the past more than two decades and at least they are polite enough to say, we appreciate your questions. They all told me that at one time or another, and maybe those who did not like me much either.

But it's not only me. I have colleagues who are always there because the issue is so omnipresent, because the issue is important. They also ask lots of questions. So together, I think they do make an impact. I mean, let's face it, US foreign policy is tied to the US role in the world.

And it's very intricate. It's involved with security, it's involved with the economy, it's involved with Germany. The United States keeps 700 bases around the world. So it is the hegemon, so to speak.

So together we can at least get them to express stuff that otherwise they would not express or say stuff that otherwise they would not, and in that respect, yes, it does have an impact.

TRT World: What's the difference in the answers you've been given since Oct. 7? What do you think of the official narrative of the US when it comes to the war?

Said Arikat: I think that without a doubt, Oct. 7 changed a great deal of the narrative because the United States, as well as many of its Western allies, European allies and so on, they deal with it as if that's when history began.

But history began way before Oct. 7, to be quite honest. I mean, I've been asking the same question basically for a very long, long time, about the occupation, the settlements, about killing of journalists, about my colleagues and so on.

So it's not something that suddenly happened. But the change in narrative did happen because it was a big event, no doubt about it. Oct. 7 was a huge event. And it would not be realistic to say things did not change. They did change dramatically.

And we have seen the first week when people were almost shocked by the enormity of what Hamas and the Palestinian movement did. And it was not expected. It was unexpected they were able to do this.

There was a great deal of perceived or expressed horror by the world in response to what Hamas did and so on. So it did change that. It created a situation where the United States was compelled to send in, you know, aircraft carriers, for instance, an aircraft task force into the region. We saw that this may flare up and become a much wider war.

And it can still be a much wider war. But the focus of the administration, no doubt, has been on Oct. 7 and onward and everything that the US policy has been embroiled in is really how to mitigate the conditions that came out as a result of Oct. 7, with the exception of the settlements.

We saw the administration last Friday, Secretary of State (Antony) Blinken, talking about the settlements, and he said that they are inconsistent with international law, which really undid something that his predecessor Pompeo had done back in 2019.

So this is probably the only exception, of course, that Oct. 7 also forced many people around the world to reexamine the Palestinian issue, talk again, and give some importance to the two-state solution to talk about it and so on.

So yes, things are changing. It's the Gaza issue, the war that Israel is waging on the Palestinians. Without a doubt, it takes a great deal of the oxygen. It sucks the oxygen in the briefing room. So we talk about it a great deal. Ever since then, for the past four and a half months, I would say without hesitation that the most talked about issue is the Palestinian issue.

TRT World: And it's not just Gaza. Like Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, there's a lot happening there, too.

Said Arikat: Yes, absolutely. And, you know, thank you for raising the point, because that's exactly what I raised. I say in the West Bank, it's been happening every day. I have a personal story of a young cousin of mine who was shot and killed back in June 2020. And the Israelis still hold his body. I mean, his mother has just gone crazy because she wants to have closure.

So this is an ongoing issue. It's something that goes on day in and day out. I'm from a village right outside Jerusalem called Abu Dis. It is constantly being attacked by settlers and soldiers all the time.

So this is an issue that is ongoing, independent of Gaza. Gaza has a special place because there is resistance. It was perceived as being on its own, although it was really besieged. People did not think of Gaza as occupied territory. But it was because the Israelis control the sky, the air, the sea and all the entrances and the exits from Gaza.

We may have a ceasefire, but that does not mean that the conflict will end. It does not mean that the tragedy will end, as we have close to 2 million people just dislocated, displaced. And there's the onset of disease, there's famine. We're about to deal with famine in Gaza and so on.

So this issue will continue to be there for a long time to come.

TRT World: You frequently share the videos of your question and answers and many have gone viral, with millions of views. Why do you think so many of your videos went viral like this?

Said Arikat: Well, look, without a doubt, the Gaza war has garnered a great deal of interest all throughout the world. And I teach a course on media at American University, and social media has really changed the world.

I'm an old-fashioned guy. I enjoy opening a newspaper and feeling the newsprint in my hand. But how many of you in the younger generation do this? So social media is there, and that's why we have seen this interest, because people are able to see the news as it happens. Social media allows you to see it in real time.

A couple of days ago this young military officer (Aaron Bushnell) immolated himself, burned himself alive in front of the Israeli embassy. The whole world saw it as it happened. So that creates a great deal of interest. And I must admit that these videos of me get posted by many young volunteers. And they get spread because they see value in them.

And I think that there is a lot of value not only in my issue, but other issues that pertain to Türkiye and Syria or pertaining to Azerbaijan and Armenia or Russia and Ukraine have the same thing. You will find a great deal of interest.

And it's just that social media is making the world more aware of what's going on.

TRT World: Do you have any words of inspiration? This young man who immolated himself had hit a breaking point and a lot of people must be feeling this way.

Said Arikat: I can't even begin to imagine what his parents might feel. I mean, this is really different from any other form of protest. We've seen this happen maybe a couple of times. We saw it in Tunisia. It ignited the Arab Spring. And to see it in America by a military officer who is actually serving in the military was totally unexpected.

So to his parents, his family, I extend my deepest condolences to them. They must be in shock. There are ways to protest. I'm not an advocate of committing any kind of violence onto oneself or unto others. And as a form of protest. But it does that. I mean, it gives a glaring spotlight to this issue, though I myself definitely don't like to see this happen anywhere, to anyone.

I think we should be able to protest and make the point, without resorting to desperate measures.

TRT World: Do you have any particularly memorable exchanges from the State Department in mind?

Said Arikat: There are many. Definitely when (Palestinian American Al Jazeera journalist) Shireen Abu Akleh was assassinated by the Israelis.

She used to be with us in the room, and I said, she was with us right here. That's as compelling as anything can be. And for the United States to basically involve itself in a cover-up, it's unconscionable. So that will always be there.

But as a poignant moment for me, there are times when the Israelis attacked little kids, young Palestinian girls and so on, and took their bicycles. I raised this issue. I remember one time I said, can we take $100 from the $40 billion that we give (to Israel)?

We have to give this little girl. I mean, those are the kinds of things that you feel compelled to raise. Here we are on the day the United States approved $40 billion. This was during the Obama administration. And then we see the Israeli soldiers just go out there and take a bicycle of an eight-year-old girl and break it.

And I asked, can you take out of the $40 billion, can you take $100 to compensate this little girl?

So, there are these things, but I think the most compelling moment to me is when Shireen was assassinated and then we saw that the US administration basically bought the Israeli narrative and closed the case.

TRT World: Most days listening to you, I was thinking, how do you prepare your questions? Because they are always very precise.

Said Arikat: I don't sit and really prepare my questions just because I follow what's going on. I know the things that are important to me. I ask my questions, not for any kind of showmanship or any kind of 'I got you' moment.

I ask my question because I believe that this question needs to be asked. I'm not there to compete with anyone or to score points or to provoke. I've provoked spokespeople before, but not because I went there with the intention to provoke. Not at all. I ask my question because I feel that these questions need to be asked like that.