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.
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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.
12 Comments
According to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court the Israeli settlements in “Palestinian Territory” are against the law. Establishing settlements here is wrong. Illegal. You won’t quit promoting Israel’s land encroachment but at least quit pretending it’s legal or even moral.
I notice Bethlehem is just north of Efrat. I guess the Arab’s and gullible world’s argument proves once and for all that Jesus was born as a Palestinian, but raised Jewish. And I guess we are to swallow that David had no relationship to Bethlehem, or any other “West Bank…of Jordan” community listed in the Bible. In reality, Israel’s eastern boundaries were East of the Jordan River at one time!
Will just throw this in here–as good a place as any. King Abdullah ! supported a Jewish state and did NOT want a “Palestinian state” next door to the new Jordan. He was assassinated. His great grandson, Abdulla II, knows all this. Sadly, the grandpa, King Hussein, refused to heed Israeli calls to not attach in ’67. And there we go! I just had to get this seemingly little-known piece of history out there.
Repeat after me slow class:
The Palestinians (as a people) were invented in 1963. Before then they were known as Arabs refugees of the 1948-9 war. Hence, no agreement could have been signed with so-called Palestinians in 1949.
The nazis were our enemies. They were defeated but we lost about 6.000.000,00 people. Now the left wing is our greatest danger. They want to, you can believe me, blast a country from more than 8.000.000. It’s their goal. A real danger for us, even for the jews in my country Brazil. Open your eyes.
I totally agree with Yeuda Kleiner A suggestion to the Independent repeat s-l-o-w-l-y
before going public The-Palestinians-were-invented-in-1963-before-then-they-were a group-of-Arab- refugees.Repeat untill understood.
I hope that the Independant continues to support Israel as a country. it is great that they apologized for their anti Israel reporting. However I am hoping that they will not make historical or factual errors.
There was never a soveriegn state of Palestine. The area of East Jerusalem under dispute was previously Jordan. Its all about politics.
And there wasn’t any Israel before 1948 either. Indeed, the terrorist takeover of Palestine was, and remains, illegal. Subsequent recognition by the US and USSR represent nothing more than a second Munich Agreement. The bottom line: this is NOT a “nonstory.” Even Hitler didn’t rent out vacation properties in occupied Poland. The Zionists are out-Nazi-ing the Nazis.
Tom Lawrence lacks historical perspective to say the least,he is ignorant of the truth that Israel did indeed exist prior to May 1948,the Nation of Israel was real,it existed over 3000 years ago with King David as it’s leader and Jerusalem as it’s Capitol.What did not exist was a State of Palestine or a Palestinian people.Arabs didn;t get to the land until the 7th century when The Ottoman Turks invaded and conquered the land.
That’s the truth that anti-semites like him cannot accept !
I hope that people will realize that Palesine was not a national entity but a geographic description. This could be Ozark region in the United States as an example.