At Haaretz, Is Style Guide Just a Suggestion?

By Published On: May 11, 2016

style guide heading.JPG

About the word “settlement,” Haaretz‘s English style guide states:

In these parts, a word with political connotations. Use it only for a Jewish locale in the West Bank (or former/evacuated settlements in Gaza).

Indeed, in the Israeli-Palestinian context, the word “settlement” refers to an Israeli community over the Green Line and that is how it is most often understood.

Nevertheless, in his Haaretz Op-Ed earlier this week, Moshe Arens uses the term to mean something else. His Op-Ed begins:

In Israel’s doorstep — within mortar range of Israeli settlements and rocket range of Ben-Gurion Aiport — live two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Arens isn’t referring here to a Jewish locale in the West Bank or an evacuated settlement in Gaza. He is talking about Jewish communities in southern Israel, close to the Gaza Strip.

CAMERA yesterday informed Haaretz English edition editors of the inconsistency with Haaretz‘s style guide. As of this writing, they have declined to amend the misleading language.

In 2014, Haaretz corrected after misleadingly identifying a Jewish community near the Gaza Strip as a “settlement.” It’s unclear why, in this case, they have declined to correct. Is the Haaretz style guide merely a suggestion? Do style guidelines, which promote consistency, accuracy and clarity, not apply to Haaretz Op-Eds?

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