"The territory comprises pre-1967 Israel, the occupied West Bank, the occupied Gaza Strip, and illegally annexed East Jerusalem, as well as communities within pre-1967 that consider themselves Palestinian, as you can read in Foreign Affairs. To describe that as “Israel” alone is a provocative denial of Palestinian existence and dismissal of international law."
October 23, 2023
To:
Steve Bartlett, Managing Editor, SaltWire
Aaron Beswick, Reporter, SaltWire
Dear Steve Bartlett and Aaron Beswick,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME, cjpme.org) to urge correction of your October 22 article, “Old world chants and fading hopes for peace as march takes to Halifax streets.”
This article contains a major distortion of fact. The sentence in question reads:
“Israel lies between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.”
That is grossly misleading, and in context is so incomplete as to be false.
The area from the river, to the sea, to quote the chant that you reference, was in 2021 said by Human Rights Watch to be home to approximately “6.8 million Jewish Israelis and 6.8 million Palestinians.” In 2022, Israeli demographer Arnon Soffer reported on Israel Army Radio and elsewhere that “Jewish people make up less than 47 percent of all those living west of the Jordan River,” ruling as a minority over a Palestinian Arab majority.
The territory comprises pre-1967 Israel, the occupied West Bank, the occupied Gaza Strip, and illegally annexed East Jerusalem, as well as communities within pre-1967 that consider themselves Palestinian, as you can read in Foreign Affairs. To describe that as “Israel” alone is a provocative denial of Palestinian existence and dismissal of international law.
Please replace your misleading sentence with this accurate alternative: “Israel controls the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, encompassing the occupied Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, illegally annexed East Jerusalem and pre-1967 Israel. These territories are together home to several million Israeli Jews and several million Palestinians, and Palestinians thus far lack any sovereign authority or equal rights.”
Feel free to reach me at 438-380-5410 should you wish to discuss this matter further.
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