I appreciate that the Associated Press, and by extension CBC News, reported on Israel’s approval of 764 additional housing units in three illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. We are seeing increased coverage of Israel’s illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank, and it is coverage we have not seen at this level before.
To the CBC Newsroom,
I am writing on behalf of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) regarding your recent article titled: “Israel approves hundreds of housing units in 3 settlements in the occupied West Bank.”
I appreciate that the Associated Press, and by extension CBC News, reported on Israel’s approval of 764 additional housing units in three illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. We are seeing increased coverage of Israel’s illegal settlement expansion in the West Bank, and it is coverage we have not seen at this level before.
However, I would like to raise concern about the misleading language in the following sentence:
“Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza - areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state - in the 1967 war.”
Rather than using the accurate legal terminology under international law, the article evades the legally precise term “occupied” and instead uses “captured.”
This is not the first time I have written to the Associated Press and CBC News about this issue. Referring to Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem as “captured” rather than “occupied” is legally inaccurate. The International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s language is unequivocal:
The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying Power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the Occupied Palestinian Territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory unlawful …. This illegality relates to the entirety of the Palestinian territory “occupied” by Israel in 1967.
This is not a minor semantic issue; it is linguistic gymnastics that softens the reality of occupation.
I kindly request that the sentence be revised to:
“Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza - areas claimed by the Palestinians for a future state - in the 1967 war.”
Thank you for reading and I await your response.
Lynn Naji
Media analyst. CJPME