The wire services do this kind of thing constantly; a headline that demonizes Israel…

Two Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza…

…leads to an article that describes an attempted Palestinian terrorist attack. It’s business as usual for Reuters Palestinian propagandist Nidal al-Mughrabi, who’s been at this for years, has refined deceptive reporting to a science, and operates with impunity in the corrupt environment of Reuters.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said soldiers opened fire on two militants near the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya. “They were planting an explosive device near the fence,” she said.

UPDATE at 7/28/07 8:06:26 am:

That was fast. They’ve now changed the headline: Israeli troops kill two Palestinian gunmen in Gaza.

But of course, another technique they use to keep these smears alive is to silently change the headline on one version of the article, but leave the original out there: Two Palestinians killed by Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

UPDATE at 7/28/07 8:20:24 am:

The updated article also reveals that these two innocent Palestinian gunmen were members of “moderate” Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization. But wait… I thought Hamas had run them all out of Gaza?

A spokesman for Fatah’s al-Aqsa Marytrs Brigades said the thwarted attack was meant to send a signal that the group had no intention of abiding by the platform of Abbas’s new government in the occupied West Bank.

Led by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the new government dropped the phrase “armed resistance” from its platform on Friday, angering Hamas Islamists and other militants in Gaza.

Abbas lost control of the coastal strip last month when Hamas routed his secular Fatah forces. Abbas responded by sacking a Hamas-led government and appointing Fayyad’s.

“Our message is that the Zionist occupation is continuing its aggression and therefore the resistance will continue,” said Abu Thaer, a spokesman for the al-Aqsa Marytrs Brigades in Gaza.

“We tell Fayyad that his platform is a political platform. Palestine was occupied militarily and we will liberate it militarily,” the spokesman added.

UPDATE at 7/28/07 9:49:32 am:

The pro-Palestinian Agence France Presse follows suit, in an article with no byline: Israeli soldiers kill two Gaza Palestinians.