The Middle East: A Story of Journalistic Failure

[Almost Heaven]

Originally posted in the Gatestone Institute
by Nils A. Haug
August 25, 2024 at 5:00 am

• "The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism." — Zoheir Mohsen, Trouw, March 31, 1977.
• "The founding of the PLO, now known as Fatah had nothing to do with the desire for statehood, throughout the charter it states, again and again, its sole goal is the destruction of Israel, nothing more, thus started the Palestinian Narrative, they needed a story behind their need." — Timothy Benton, February 14, 2019.
• Arabs who fled during the fighting had likely assumed, based on broadcasts they were hearing, that leaving the area would make it easier for the Arab armies to kill the Jews. The plan presumably was to return soon to collect the spoils and take possession of a swiftly-conquered land.
• When the Arab armies were defeated, and some of the people who had fled tried to return, they were told they had not been loyal and were refused admittance. It is the Arabs who fled, and their descendants, who now call themselves Palestinians. They are simply Arabs who fled Israel at the time and were not allowed back.
• Neither the Palestinian Authority in the West bank nor Hamas in the Gaza Strip nor the Palestinians in general are seeking a two-state solution. They are quite openly seeking a one-state solution: displacing Israel.
• Comparisons to England and Ireland fall way wide of the mark: even at the height of Ireland's "Troubles", no one ever claimed that England belonged to Ireland and that everyone who was not a Roman Catholic should leave.
• The land that comprises Jordan, according the Balfour Declaration, was officially pledged as "a national home of the Jewish people." Jordan, therefore, is rightfully Occupied Israel.
• The Wall Street Journal published its July 4, 2024 online edition with a piece titled, "Israel Has Seized More Land This Year Than in Any Year in the Past Three Decades" -- referring to those portions of the West Bank more correctly described as Samaria and Judea, which constitute, as at least one of the names denotes, the "heartland" of Israel. Israel cannot "seize" its own land. There is a historical, legal, and ethical warrant for acknowledging Israel's legitimate rights of ownership to all of its land, including Gaza, the West Bank and Transjordan (Jordan), as originally purposed not only by the Balfour Declaration, but also in the San Remo convention of 1920. This allocation was further partitioned by Winston Churchill in 1921 to accommodate claims by the Hashemite Emir Abdullah.
• It therefore takes a strong dose of purposed cognitive dissonance, religious fanaticism, ignorance, naiveté or even anti-Semitism, to deny Israel's claims. When taking all these considerations into account, it is understandable that renowned international law expert Jacques Gauthier urges the Jewish people of Israel, "Never allow people to tell you that you are trespassers. It's your land; it's been given to you in law."
• Although 145 UN members "currently recognise a Palestinian state, this doesn't make it so." James Sinkinson, jns.org, July 16, 2024.

Full article The Middle East: A Story of Journalistic Failure

 

[Growing in Grace]

• Comparisons to England and Ireland fall way wide of the mark: even at the height of Ireland's "Troubles", no one ever claimed that England belonged to Ireland and that everyone who was not a Roman Catholic should leave.
• The land that comprises Jordan, according the Balfour Declaration, was officially pledged as "a national home of the Jewish people." Jordan, therefore, is rightfully Occupied Israel.

Really good points.

 

[mattfivefour]

To counter the prevailing "conventional wisdom" that often impedes the truth of a story, it is time, as James Bennet wrote, for journalistic "courage combined with a critical approach, objectivity, fairness, and integrity" to again take a rightful place in restoring public trust in the media.

Absolutely true. Absolutely necessary. But unfortunately not likely to happen, since control of the media these days rests in so few hands, hands that are linked firmly with globalist ones. The "press" is no longer free; it is now considered simply a means to an end, and that end is neither the will of the people nor their good.

 

[Kaatje]

I agree with the OP, only I wouldn't call it "a journalistic failure".
That sounds a bit like an honest mistake or something.

While in reality it is a deliberate deception, to fool the public,
orchestrated by the cabal that holds the mainstream media's moneypurse.