"Palestinians continue to suffer from the settler-colonial and apartheid policies practiced by Israel. Palestinians in the occupied territories continue to endure ongoing ethnic cleansing through the forced expulsion in Sheikh Jarrah and Masafer Yatta, home demolitions in East Jerusalem, and daily military raids and violence. Israel also restricts Palestinian access to water, electricity, freedom of movement, healthcare, and family reunification. Moreover, Palestinians are subjected to racist and discriminatory laws that are preferential to Israeli Jews, creating a system of apartheid, as confirmed by international organizations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, UN experts, and Israeli and Palestinian NGOs."
May 16, 2023
To:
Armani Syed, Journalist, Yahoo News
Farah Syed, Managing Editor, News and Homepage, Yahoo News Canada
Dear Ms. Syed and Ms. Syed,
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 appreciation regarding the article “Why the U.N. Is Commemorating Palestinian Displacement This Year,” by Armani Syed and published by Yahoo News on May 15, 2023. The article addresses the decision for the United Nations to officially commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba.
I was glad to see that the article quoted Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour who raised concerns about the importance of internationally commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Nakba both as a historical and ongoing injustice. I especially appreciated that you mention the active expansion of illegal Jewish-Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian perspectives are often silenced or deliberately excluded from Canadian public discourse, especially when they challenge established power structures. Highlighting the U.N.’s acknowledgement of the Nakba is important, especially when the Nakba remains largely unacknowledged by the Canadian government and public institutions.
While the article quotes Mansour saying “The catastrophe to the Palestinian people is still ongoing,” it fails to provide important context about how the Nakba remains an ongoing reality.
Palestinians continue to suffer from the settler-colonial and apartheid policies practiced by Israel. Palestinians in the occupied territories continue to endure ongoing ethnic cleansing through the forced expulsion in Sheikh Jarrah and Masafer Yatta, home demolitions in East Jerusalem, and daily military raids and violence. Israel also restricts Palestinian access to water, electricity, freedom of movement, healthcare, and family reunification. Moreover, Palestinians are subjected to racist and discriminatory laws that are preferential to Israeli Jews, creating a system of apartheid, as confirmed by international organizations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, UN experts, and Israeli and Palestinian NGOs.
I ask that you update your article to provide additional context on the ongoing dispossession and violence that Palestinians face under Israel’s military occupation and apartheid regime.
On a separate note, you state that “Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and the West Bank” after the June 1967 war. In 1967, Israel militarily occupied the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. As such, I ask that you update your sentence to include “East Jerusalem.”
I hope to see continued coverage of Palestinian experiences and hope that such stories are more frequently reported on by Yahoo News.
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