The Media Accountability Project  

During a moment of violent upheaval, this article brings a sense of humanity to an otherwise fraught media landscape in Canada. I want to bring particular attention to your citation of a Palestinian human rights organization, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. All too often, the actions of Palestinian civil society organizations are excluded from the conversation. I am glad to note your inclusion of their work.

Your Feb. 16 article in the Globe and Mail, "Palestinians sense a new intifada coming as young people focus their anger on Israel's resurgent right," did an excellent job of giving space for Palestinian perspectives. I welcome this development, which helps restore some balance to our national conversations. It’s important to note that your Feb. 16 regularly included significant space for Israeli perspectives as well, with quotes from people from different parts of Israeli society.

While the article represented an honest effort at meeting journalistic expectations around fair and balanced reporting, I would have hoped the same approach would be taken going forward. Unfortunately, the article published on February 22 almost entirely excluded the Palestinian perspective. Only twice does a Palestinian perspective come into the picture, and both times in a very limited fashion.

"Even though the article powerfully tells the story of 17-year-old Wadi’ who was killed by Israeli forces, the article references more attacks on Israelis than on Palestinians, and the overall framing of a 'cycle of violence' similarly obscures the asymmetrical nature of the violence. This could have been mitigated if you had included data on the casualties this year: since the beginning of 2023, at least 50 Palestinians have been killed, including 11 children, while 12 Israelis have been killed, including at least 2 children."

"Above all, it is highly problematic that neither article on the erosion of Israel’s democratic institutions once mentioned the Palestinians, who are under Israeli control yet largely excluded from its democracy. Of the 6.8 million Palestinians under Israeli rule, only a small minority of them (1.6 million) hold Israeli citizenship and have the right to vote in national elections (albeit with a second-class status and significant restrictions). The remaining 5.2 million Palestinians under Israeli military occupation in East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, have no right to vote for the government that rules them. In fact, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, UN experts, and Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups like B’Tselem, have argued that is Israel is not a democracy, but should properly be defined as a regime of apartheid."

Vanderklippe’s excellent article offers a compelling and sympathetic look at Palestinian youth who have grown up under an oppressive system in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. At the same time, the framing of a ‘cycle of violence’ does not capture the profoundly asymmetrical nature of the current moment