Tuesday, December 30, 2014

[ePalestine] NYT: The Embattled Dream of Palestine (Unpublished Letter to Editor)

My unpublished NYT Letter to the Editor in reply to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/20/opinion/the-embattled-dream-of-palestine.html



To the Editor:

Re "The Embattled Dream of Palestine" (By The Editorial Board, Dec. 19, 2014):

Readers expect greater accuracy from NYT's editorials.

To deem Palestinian's frustration with nearly 50 years of Israeli military occupation as, "resentment of Israeli rule that leads to unrest" is a pale attempt to dilute the horrific reality on the ground. Employing such language outright ignores the fact that, except for Israel (the occupying force) the entire world (U.S. included) has deemed the state of affairs as a "military occupation."

Likewise, when the Editorial claims that, "successive Israeli governments, including that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have long negotiated on the basis of a two-state solution," one is led to believe that fact checking has lost its role in journalism. Not only has Prime Minister Netanyahu made multiple, recent public statements defying any notion of a solution based on two states, his party, Likud, has yet to insert its support for two states into its political platform.

Another deep flaw in this piece is stating that Israel "withdrew from Gaza in 2005." They did nothing of the sort. Even Israel itself did not call it "withdraw," but rather "Unilateral Disengagement." The international community has made it clear, over and over, that Gaza today is just as militarily occupied as Ramallah or East Jerusalem.

Sincerely,
Sam Bahour
Policy Advisor, Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network

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Dear ePalestine friends,

Happy New Year and, if you can, please support these efforts:

http://epalestine.blogspot.com/2014/12/epalestine-what-i-am-supporting.html

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