Turns out that last year’s Peace Now report that generated wide-spread media coverage was based on flawed info. The Jerusalem Post writes:
A military database released to the left-wing anti-settlement organization Peace Now under court pressure shows that very little private land was seized from Palestinians to build Israel’s largest West Bank settlement, the watchdog group reported on Wednesday.
The new numbers are vastly smaller than numbers Peace Now issued in a November report based on leaked information.
In November, Peace Now claimed that 86 percent of Ma’aleh Adumim was built on private Palestinian land. After successfully petitioning the court to see the database, the group reported Wednesday that data show that only 0.5% of the settlement was built on private land.
Will the Western press pick up on this development months after the media storm?
UPDATE: AP nicely answered that last question. ‘Nuff said.