Reuters writes about how there are many Arabs who live in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Of course, that’s not how these places are described. Instead Reuters calls them “Jewish settlements on occupied land in East Jerusalem.” The article also mentions that recently some Arabs have been leaving these places because of a “surge of violence,” as if all the recent terrorist attacks in Jerusalem have been against Arabs rather than Jews.
But perhaps the worst part of the article is that it gives an example of a Jewish homeowner who refused to sell her land to an Arab. Subsequently, the Arab was able to buy the land in question simply by using a Jewish intermediary.
Not mentioned is that under Palestinian Authority rule, it is illegal and punishable by hard labor or death for an Arab to sell land to a Jew. According to Times of Israel:
Reacting to a number of high profile sales of Palestinian homes to Jewish organizations in East Jerusalem, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has toughened the penalty for citizens selling property to Israelis.
According to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency, Abbas on Monday imposed a sentence of hard labor for life on “anyone diverting, renting or selling land to an enemy state or one of its subjects.
“Those whose sick souls allowed them to sell their land or homes, or enable such sales to the enemies of the Palestinian people, are a gang of traitors to their nation and religion,” said Fatah spokesman Osama al-Qawasmi in a statement published by Wafa. “They have brought shame and scorn upon themselves in this world and in the afterlife.”
“One would rather die than sell his honor and betray the most sacred land in the world, saturated with the blood of prophets and martyrs throughout history,” he added. “Those traitors are destined to die a humiliating death.”
Rather than telling its readers about such an extreme, racist law, Reuters instead paints a picture of Jewish racism with this one anecdotal story.
Every society has its unfortunate share of racism. But for the media to ignore the institutional racism of the PA and instead try to use a single example to tarnish an entire society is wrong. Especially because as the article points out, there are many Arabs living in these neighborhoods.
If Jewish racism was so prevalent, how did the Arab homeowners buy their land in the first place?
Image: CC BY flickr/Ze’ev Barkan
