"The brief summary omits any mention of the Nakba ("catastrophe" in Arabic), when approximately 750,000 to 1 million Palestinians were expelled from their homes by Zionist militias and internally displaced to the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Thus, UNRWA was created in 1949 to help facilitate and provide services to this displaced population. Moreover, the reason that the agency continues to exist today is because Israel refuses to allow those refugees the right to return, in violation of international law."
April 13, 2023
To:
Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Journalist, Reuters
Ali Sawafta, Journalist, Reuters
Brian Moss, Trust Principles, Reuters
Aileen Donnelly, News Editor, National Post
Rob Roberts, Editor-in-Chief, National Post
Dear Ms.Tétrault-Farber, Mr. Sawafta, Mr. Moss, Ms. Donnelly, and Mr. Roberts,
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 about the article “UN Palestinian refugee agency urges West Bank workers to end strike” written by Reuters and published in the National Post on April 12, 2023.
The article addresses the strike by Palestinian teachers in the West Bank and UNRWA’s response. However, although the subject of the article is UNRWA, the article fails to provide adequate context regarding the origin of Palestinian refugees in the first place.
In your article, you write:
“Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, [UNRWA] provides public services including schools, primary healthcare and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.”
The brief summary omits any mention of the Nakba ("catastrophe" in Arabic), when approximately 750,000 to 1 million Palestinians were expelled from their homes by Zionist militias and internally displaced to the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Thus, UNRWA was created in 1949 to help facilitate and provide services to this displaced population. Moreover, the reason that the agency continues to exist today is because Israel refuses to allow those refugees the right to return, in violation of international law.
As such, I insist that you update your paragraph to state:
“Established in 1949, it provides public services including schools, primary healthcare and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon to Palestinian refugees who were displaced by Zionist militias during the establishment of the state of Israel.”
Your article also fails to mention that the West Bank is considered occupied Palestinian territory. Israel has militarily occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip since 1967. This is not a matter of mere opinion but of settled consensus among international bodies including the United Nations Security Council and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention. By omitting this critical context, your article minimizes the role of Israel's military regime in the difficulties that Palestinian refugees in the West Bank endure on a daily basis.
As such, I insist that you update all references to the West Bank as “occupied.”
I look forward to seeing these changes promptly made.
Should you wish, you can contact me at 438-380-5410 for more information.
Sincerely,
Tayla Shair
Media Analyst, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East