Illegal Building Reuters Won’t Report

I have been wanting to write about building, illegal building for weeks. Thank you, Reuters, for giving me what I was waiting for.

The Israeli army says it is simply carrying out court rulings against unauthorised building by Palestinians in Area C. Foreign diplomats and rights groups see it as part of a broader move to seize land for potential Jewish settlement expansion.

The piece goes on with an emotional, tear-jerker quote:

“The Israelis are quicker at destroying than the Europeans are at building,” said 61-year-old Wassif Hanani, a father of four who has lived in Khirbet Tana all his life, his wind-beaten face cracking at the eyes as he laughed dryly.

To go with this piece of propaganda put out as news, is one sad photo of a demolished shack.

Instead of a 6,000 word essay on how grossly one-sided, fall-off-the balance-beam, unfair and biased this building article is, I respond with six photos Reuters does not share.

  1. Building, new housing units in the rising outskirts of Jerusalem

new building in Arab villageThese are Arab houses.

2. Hundreds of beautiful apartments

Arab village constructed next to separation fence

Yes, lots and lots of high rise, modern beautiful Arab apartments.

3. All along the top of the hill, multi-story buildings

Arab village growingIn more than one location, north of Jerusalem this is one part of the skyline.

4. Right up next to the security fence

Arab buildings

Coincidence that neighborhoods are being put as close to fence as possible? Who, dear Reuters, is trying to grab land as much land as possible?

5. Apartheid neighborhoods

Arab village off limits to Israelis

Sorry. Israelis cannot buy here, or even enter, according to the big red sign. Does this discrimination bother the UNHRC one iota? Is the UN alarmed about this apartheid?

6. “It starts to look irreversible,” said the official.

Arab neighborhood with new construction On the right side of the “separation wall” are massive building sites with Arab only properties. On the left, all those small, low black and white things popping up daily on open land are Bedouin encampments.

You ask why now?

Illegal outposts are springing up daily and this Arab expansion is being sanctioned by the EU and UN. After years in court, some of the illegal Arab construction is being taken down. To add insult to injury, Reuters’ offensive building piece adds, “Israeli army says.”

Arabs are grabbing land on both sides of the fence. Reuters can plainly see it from the main road. Reuters, EU and UN are aiding in this discrimination and land theft.

6 thoughts on “Illegal Building Reuters Won’t Report”

  1. http://blog.camera.org/archives/2016/02/reuters_relays_palestinian_cla.html
    Reuters Relays Palestinian Claims as Fact
    February 23, 2016

    A Reuters article about the demolition of the homes of 2 Palestinian terrorists who murdered several innocent civilians — Israelis, an American and a Palestinian — adopted the Palestinian position about recent violence.

    While the article presented both the Israeli claim that such demolitions serve as a deterrence to would-be terrorists and the Palestinian claim that the demolitions are collective punishment, when it came to explaining the recent wave of Palestinian terrorist stabbings, shootings, slayings and rioting, the article relayed the Palestinian position as fact, not claim. It asserted that:

    The recent violence has been stoked by various factors, including a dispute over Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque compound and the failure of several rounds of peace talks to secure the Palestinians an independent state in Israeli-occupied territory.

    This indirect shifting of the blame for violence onto Israel may be what the Palestinian leadership claims, but it is not what the Israeli leadership believes and is certainly not a given fact, as the article suggests. It is not an agreed upon fact that the failure of peace talks is what motivates terrorists to kill innocent civilians, or that Israelis visiting the “al Aqsa mosque compound” has caused Palestinians to attack Israelis with knives and guns. Indeed, Israelis view the “al Aqsa mosque compound”, otherwise known as “The Temple Mount,” as the holiest site in Judaism and they cling to their right under the status quo to visit, just like members of any other faith. Israelis do not see this as the issue stoking Palestinian violence, despite efforts by the Palestinian leadership to claim it is.

    Although the article’s last paragraph notes that “Israel says young Palestinians are being incited to violence by their leaders and by Islamist groups calling for Israel’s destruction.” this is presented as a “claim” by Israel, unlike the earlier paragraph where the Palestinian position is presented as fact.

    It is just these sort of subtle difference that can tinge an article with bias and skew the story toward one side’s position.

  2. Reuters = Pallywood liars.

    http://blog.camera.org/archives/2015/11/reuters_palestinian_attackers.html
    November 22, 2015
    Reuters: Palestinians ‘Died on the Scene’ of Attacks

    In recent weeks, Reuters has demonstrated great ingenuity in downplaying Palestinian violence, including stabbing, shooting and ramming attacks against Israelis. First, there was the “knife man” killed by Israelis, then there were Palestinians “confronting” Israelis, followed later by Palestinians killed in “street violence.”

    Most recently, Reuters portrays Palestinian murderers and attempted murderers as innocent bystanders:

    Police say 49 of the 80 Palestinians killed in recent weeks died at the scene of attacks on Israelis and most of the rest died in violent protests in the occupied West Bank and near the Gaza border. (Emphasis added.)

    Palestinians “died at the scene of attacks on Israelis,” as if they were innocent bystanders caught in the wrong place in the wrong time, as opposed to the perpetrators of the said attacks.

    Reuters gains itself another entry into the growing list of “bad writing.”

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