"This article makes an irresponsible and inaccurate claim. It states: 'thousands of Palestinians have been arrested and hundreds have been killed since last year, mainly gunmen or fighters involved in clashes with Israeli troops but also including several uninvolved civilians'. This is untrue. You did not and cannot cite credible forces for such a plain falsehood."
To:
Steve Bartlett, Managing Editor, Saltwire
Brian Moss, Editor, Reuters
Ali Sawafta, Reporter, Reuters
Dear Steve Bartlett and Ali Sawafta,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, cjpme.org) to demand a correction to your September 1 article, “Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in West Bank.”
This article makes an irresponsible and inaccurate claim. It states:
Thousands of Palestinians have been arrested and hundreds have been killed since last year, mainly gunmen or fighters involved in clashes with Israeli troops but also including several uninvolved civilians.
This is untrue. You did not and cannot cite credible forces for such a plain falsehood.
The Associated Press, which has been tracking this over the past several months, makes the following claim (italics added):
More than 180 Palestinians have been killed in the violence, with nearly half of them affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Israel says most of those killed were militants, but stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions as well as people not involved in the confrontations have also died.
Unless you can provide evidence to the contrary, you must immediately withdraw the claim that of “thousands” of Palestinians arrested and “hundreds” killed there have been only “several uninvolved civilians.”
Moreover, the following paragraph misrepresents the salient realities in the West Bank, a territory under belligerent military occupation by Israel:
The West Bank has seen a wave of violence over the past 18 months, with a series of deadly attacks by Palestinians on Israelis, brazen attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinian towns and villages and stepped up raids by the Israeli military.
In order, emphasis, and detail, your presentation of information turns reality on its head. The measurable scale of violence is precisely inverse to the order in which you chose to list its forms. We therefore ask that you immediately rephrase this paragraph as follows:
The West Bank has seen a wave of violence over the past 18 months, with violent, near daily military raids carried out by the Israeli military in Palestinian towns and cities, frequent brazen attacks by armed Jewish settlers, and occasional attacks on Israelis by Palestinian resistance fighters.
Should you wish, you can reach me at 438-380-5410.
Sincerely,
Dan Freeman-Maloy
PhD, University of Exeter
For Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East