"You fail to explain to the reader that the settlements violate international laws and conventions and constitute a war crime. The Foundation for Middle East Peace weekly Settlement and Annexation report indicates that already in the first 6 months of 2023 settlement expansion has reached a record high."
July 18,2023
To:
Patricia Zengerle
Congressional and Foreign Policy Correspondent, Reuters
Steve Holland
Executive Editor, Reuters
Brian Moss
Standards Editor
Dear Ms. Zengerle, Mr. Holland and Mr. Moss.
I am writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East ( CJPME, https://cjpme.org) regarding your article 'In meeting with Israel's Herzog, Biden cites "Hard Work" ahead for peace,' published in Saltwire on July 18, 2023.
Patricia Zengerle
Congressional and Foreign Policy Correspondent, Reuters
Steve Holland
Executive Editor, Reuters
Brian Moss
Standards Editor
Dear Ms. Zengerle, Mr. Holland and Mr. Moss.
I am writing to you on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East ( CJPME, https://cjpme.org) regarding your article 'In meeting with Israel's Herzog, Biden cites "Hard Work" ahead for peace,' published in Saltwire on July 18, 2023.
I am concerned about the lack of background in your article which seems to consist of a number of quotes but makes no attempt to connect them.
The article refers several times to Jewish/Israeli settlements and settlement expansion as being a source of tension/concern for the U.S. yet you give no reason for why this should be so.
You fail to explain to the reader that the settlements violate international laws and conventions and constitute a war crime. The Foundation for Middle East Peace weekly Settlement and Annexation report indicates that already in the first 6 months of 2023 settlement expansion has reached a record high.
Moreover, the Israeli government has shown "explicit, open and official intention to continue to perpetuate Israel’s control of the West bank and to apply Israeli law to it, contrary to the provisions of international law, while completely denying the right of the Palestinian people to self- determination" (Adalah Report on Escalating Annexation, June 2023). In December 2022 the new government pledged to increase Jewish settlements across the West bank and to ultimately implement Israeli sovereignty across all of the West Bank.
This is what Representative Ilhan Omar also refers to in the quote, “The [Israeli] government is openly promising to crush Palestinian hopes of statehood- essentially putting a nail in the coffin of peace and a two-state solution.”
Yet you quote the White House saying, “Biden reiterated his commitment to maintaining a path toward a two-state solution.” Do journalists not have the responsibility to question this claim considering the vast amount of information available to us that points to the contrary?
Without context, you leave the reader to surmise that the ‘differences’ president Herzog refers to are minor, unimportant, differences of opinion between friends, instead of serious breaches of international law that are denying basic human rights to the indigenous people of Palestine.
Sincerely,
Renée Nunan-Rappard,
CJPME Saskatoon, SK
S0K 2M0
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