NYT Bolsters Extinct Palestinian State Myth

By Published On: September 22, 2011

Pal flag.jpg

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.

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