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September 22, 2011
NYT Bolsters Extinct Palestinian State Myth
Earlier we noted that Palestinians and sympathetic media falsely present the unprecedented acquisition of national trappings, such as a Palestinian-controlled border crossing and the Palestinian pound, as reinstating assets which existed prior to Israel's founding in 1948. The implication, of course, is that a Palestinian state was in existence until Israel came along 63 years ago.
Today, the New York Times promotes the extinct Palestinian state myth, by quoting without challenge a young Palestinian:
"We never thought of [Abbas] as having his finger on the pulse of the Palestinian people the way Arafat did," said Sandra Tannouf, a 17-year-old student at a West Bank rally supporting the U.N. application. "He never filled the gap left by him, but I fully stop this step [at the U.N.] Maybe we will get our country back."
While it's perfectly reasonable to quote Tannouf on this point, it is not reasonable to do so without providing readers with the historically accurate corrective -- that never before has there been a Palestinian state.
Posted by TS at September 22, 2011 03:46 AM
Comments
I do not think Tannouf was referring to a previously existing Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza, I just think that when she said:
"Maybe we will get our country back," she was thinking of getting back the whole of Palestine (read including Israel). What a pity that the journalist did not ask for more clarifications.
Posted by: kikele at September 23, 2011 02:24 PM
P'raps she simply meant getting freedom from occupation (British then Israeli), freedom from humiliation, freedom from illegal Israeli settlement expansion...
Posted by: Eugene at September 23, 2011 11:42 PM
The whole concept of a new palestinian state is a joke!
Posted by: Anonymous at September 23, 2011 11:55 PM
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