UPDATE
Following correspondence with The Independent, the sentence in question has been amended to more accurately state:
The settlement is 12 km south of Jerusalem and 7 km east of the Green Line, the demarcation line between Israel and Palestinian territory, agreed in the 1949 armistice between Israeli forces and those of its neighbours (Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan) following the Arab-Israeli war.
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Despite Palestinian terrorism and rejectionism, global jihad and the severe violence engulfing the wider Middle East, there’s nothing like the issue of Israeli settlements to grab the attention of the media.
Join the fight for Israel’s fair coverage in the news
The latest target of the Palestinian campaign to isolate Israel is the international online accommodation community website Airbnb, whose “crime” is to allow accommodation postings for Israeli communities over the Green Line. And even worse, these settlements are listed as Israeli!
One of the media outlets that jumped on what is in reality a non-story, is The Independent. Referring to the town of Efrat in the Gush Etzion bloc, the newspaper concludes its article with the following:
The settlement is 12 km south of Jerusalem and 7 km east of the green line, the line between Israel and Palestine, agreed in the 1949 armistice.
Except that there was no “Palestine” in 1949. The Green Line was an armistice line (not a permanent border) where the Israeli and Arab armies happened to be when the fighting was halted. The area today referred to as the West Bank was under Jordanian control at that time and there was simply no “Palestine” to make any agreement with.
Historical errors such as this continue to contribute to the myth that the area where Israeli settlements now exist was previously a Palestinian sovereign entity despite the fact that this has never been the case throughout history.
A correction has been requested. Watch this space.
