"The framing of a “cycle of violence” between Jewish settlers and Palestinians is problematic when describing recent events and Israel’s occupation of Palestine. While there is an element of truth to this framing, as the actions of either party often trigger a response, it is extremely misleading for readers who are not aware of the power dynamics at play. Such framing obscures the overall asymmetrical nature of the violence, in which Israel as an occupying power maintains a system of oppression and apartheid over Palestinians. One of the ways in which this oppressive system is imposed is through Israel’s expanding network of settlements which empower settlers to carry out attacks and pogroms against Palestinians with utmost impunity."
March 3, 2023
To:
Gwynne Dyer, Journalist, Saltwire
Steve Bartlett, Senior Managing Editor, Saltwire
Carl Fleming, Managing Editor, Cape Breton Post
Brian Moss, Reporting standards, Reuters
Dear Mr. Dyer, Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Fleming,
I’m writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, https://www.cjpme.org) to express my concerns regarding your new article titled “Original liberal democratic values fading,” published by Saltwire and Cape Breton Post on March 3, 2023.
I appreciate that you highlight the grotesque violence inherent to the settler ‘pogrom’ on the occupied Palestinian city of Huwara. It is imperative for publications like Saltwire and Cape Breton Post to provide Palestinian narratives to Canadian audiences. However, I take issue with your sentence: “In one sense the ‘cycle of violence’ between the Arab population and Jewish settlers stretches right back to the Israeli conquest of the West Bank in 1967.”
First, the framing of a “cycle of violence” between Jewish settlers and Palestinians is problematic when describing recent events and Israel’s occupation of Palestine. While there is an element of truth to this framing, as the actions of either party often trigger a response, it is extremely misleading for readers who are not aware of the power dynamics at play. Such framing obscures the overall asymmetrical nature of the violence, in which Israel as an occupying power maintains a system of oppression and apartheid over Palestinians. One of the ways in which this oppressive system is imposed is through Israel’s expanding network of settlements which empower settlers to carry out attacks and pogroms against Palestinians with utmost impunity.
Second, you claim that this violence stretches back to the “Israeli conquest of the West Bank in 1967.” This is inaccurate for two reasons:
- Using the term “conquest” to describe Israel’s illegal occupation of the West Bank and Gaza strip in 1967 obscures the reality that they are territories occupied militarily by Israel. This is not an opinion but a matter of a settled consensus at the international level, as confirmed by the United Nations Security Council, the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention.
- It is factually incorrect to claim that Israeli violence against Palestinians stretches back to 1967 when the creation of the Israeli state in 1948 necessitated Palestinian dispossession and death. The Palestinian Nakba, or catastrophe, describes the mass forced displacement and exodus of over 750,000 Palestinians from their lands and the destruction of over 530 Palestinians before, during and after the creation of the state of Israel in 1947-49. This violence also took the form of massacres carried out by Jewish paramilitary groups to facilitate Israel’s project of ethnic cleansing which lead to an ongoing problem of stateless Palestinian refugees. Much of the violence that continues today has its roots in Israel’s violation of Palestinian rights since 1948.
I urge you to engage with these points in your future coverage of events in Israel and Palestine.
Should you wish, you can contact me at 438-380-5410 for more information.
Sincerely,
Reem Majid
Policy Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East