"Violence in the West Bank has raged for more than a year, amid stepped-up Israeli military raids, increased settler assaults on Palestinian villages, and a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis."
October 3, 2023
To:
Steve Bartlett, Managing Editor, Saltwire
Ali Sawafta, Reporter, Reuters
Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reporter, Reuters
Ari Rabinovitch, Reporter, Reuters
Dear Steve Bartlett, Ali Sawafta, Nidal al-Mughrabi, and Ari Rabinovitch,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, cjpme.org) to insist on more accurate language in your September 29 article, “Israeli troops kill Hamas man who army says attacked post in West Bank.”
You conclude your article with the following paragraph:
Violence in the West Bank has raged for more than a year, amid stepped-up Israeli military raids, increased settler assaults on Palestinian villages, and a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
But to place these factors on equal footing, even in this order, is misleading. The fact of the matter is that Palestinian and Israeli violence are not on the same scale.
This is plain: “Nearly 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire so far this year in the West Bank,” reports the Washington Post, based on the latest Associated Press figures, while “Palestinian attacks against Israelis have killed more than 30 people” – this number includes both Israelis and foreigners. More detailed, week-by-week data is available from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
In light of this imbalance, your final paragraph should be edited to read as follows:
Violence in the West Bank has raged for more than a year, amid stepped-up Israeli military raids, increased settler assaults on Palestinian villages, and on a much smaller scale, Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
If you wish, feel free to reach me by phone at 438-380-5410.
Sincerely,
Dan Freeman-Maloy
PhD, University of Exeter
Director of Strategic Operations
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East/
Canadiens pour la Justice et la Paix au Moyen-Orient