The Media Accountability Project  

"2023 has been the deadliest for Palestinians living in the West Bank in the last two decades, where at least 80 civilians including 17 children have been killed. Palestinians have been subjected to destructive and violent rampages by illegal Israeli settlers, often resulting in the destruction of Palestinian homes, businesses, and possessions. Palestinians also endure constant raids, arrests, and violence by Israeli forces. By referring to the escalation of violence in such generalized terms, you obscure the asymmetrical nature of Israeli violence on Palestinians."

As such, I insist that you make more explicit mention of the Palestinians, and the reason they are on the sidelines, literally and figuratively. You mention the Palestinian citizens of Israel, and how they are sitting out the protests, but you don’t mention why. You also don’t mention the 2.5 million Palestinians living under military occupation and apartheid in the territories, and why the protests in Israel are effectively irrelevant to them, even though their every action is controlled by Israel.

I was alarmed to see the original article was reframed to treat the Palestinian man who was killed in an Israeli raid as secondary by pushing the information down in the article and removing reference to the killing of Suleiman Ayesh Awaid, or the Israeli arrest raid, from the headline entirely. I am aware that it is common practice for the AP to update existing articles rather than create new ones when stories are related — I find that it is a reasonable practice in general — but in this case, the AP has essentially overwritten a story about yet another deadly Israeli raid, making it about something else entirely.

"However, you mention that the Al-Aqsa mosque sits on a “contested hilltop” revered as the third-holiest site in Islam and the holiest site in Judaism. This characterization fails to note that Al-Aqsa mosque is located in East Jerusalem which is an occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) under international law. This is not an opinion but a matter of a settled consensus at the international level, as confirmed by the United Nations General Assembly, the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention." 

Your headline “Israeli police absolved in killing of Palestinians at Al-Aqsa” is inconsistent with the content in your article. Your article provides Palestinian as well as Israeli accounts of the killing of Alasibi. In fact, your article states that there is no evidence to corroborate the Israeli police’s account asserting that Alasibi attacked an Israeli police officer.

"By omitting the fact that East Jerusalem is in Israeli-occupied territory, you exclude important context about the dynamic between Palestinians and Israeli forces, evidenced by the most recent incident in which Israeli forces restricted and assaulted Christian Palestinian worshippers and clerics wishing to visit the Holy Sepulchre for Easter prayer. As an occupying power, Israel does not have the right to interfere with the religious practices of the civilian population."

The term “separation barrier” is used by Israel to defend its construction. However, many Palestinians view this “barrier” as a restriction to their freedom of movement due to its annexation of Palestinian land. Therefore, Palestinians suggest the terms “annexation wall,” “segregation wall” or even “apartheid wall.” As such, I urge you to adopt one of these terms to describe this abhorrent structure violating the utmost basic human rights of Palestinians.

"Hamas does play an important role in Gaza in the same way that an inmate in a prison cell has a certain autonomy in his own cell. Nevertheless, just as it is the prison warden who is truly in control of the prison, Israel is truly in control of what happens in Gaza. Hamas does not control who or what goes in and out of Gaza, and any influence it may have over energy, water, airspace, cell access, etc. is at the pleasure of Israel – the occupying power."

By omitting the fact that Al-Aqsa is in Israeli-occupied territory, you exclude important context about the dynamic between Palestinians and Israeli forces and the raised tensions that have resulted from Israeli violence and their discriminatory policies. Moreover, the omission of occupied in context to East Jerusalem is inconsistent with your description of the West Bank as “occupied,” implying that the former is not occupied. 

The omission of the fact that the reported events are taking place in occupied Palestinian territory may inadvertently mislead readers into thinking that the site is located within Israel, especially due to the references to “Israeli police.” Most readers are likely not aware that Israeli “police” would be operating in occupied territory.