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June 02, 2005
Contiguity King Strikes Again
In CAMERA's April 19 article, "The Contiguity 'Double Standard" we noted that Laura King, Jerusalem bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times, led the pack in falsely stating that Israeli construction between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem will split the West Bank in two.
She had written in her March 22, 2005 article:
The building project, [Palestinians] say, will not only cut East Jerusalem off from Palestinians communities in the West Bank, but will place a wide wedge of Jewish homes between the northern and southern West Bank . . . That would be a blow to Palestinian hopes for controlling contiguous territory to form a nation.
While some media outlets, such as USA Today have corrected or improved their language on this issue, King's has worsened. In March, she positioned the issue as a Palestinian allegation, which it is, however unfounded. Even if Israel were to entirely fill in the area between Jerusalem and Maale Adumim, Palestinian-controlled areas would be connected by land east of Ma'aleh Adumim that is at its narrowest point approximately 15 kilometers wide.
Today, she upgrades that allegation to fact.
Today's article falsely states:
The Palestinians, in turn, have complained about Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements, particularly a plan that appears aimed at linking the West Bank's largest settlement, Maale Adumim, with Jerusalem. That proposal, in effect, would nearly divide the West Bank in two.
CAMERA has contacted editors and waits to hear whether the paper will correct, as USA Today so commendably did on April 17:
Israel's planned expansion of the Maale Adumim settlement near Jerusalem would separate Palestinian-populated areas. It would not split the West Bank in two, as a story Tuesday incorrectly stated.
See CAMERA's "Contiguity Double Standard."
Posted by TS at June 2, 2005 07:10 AM