International media complicit in legitimization of Israeli settlements
Unbelievable, but true: over 70 journalists from international mainstream media took part in a tour through Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank last Thursday 19th. Israel national news source Arutz Sheva reported the news the next day, referring to a tour in Samaria joined by the foreign media, guests of the Head of the Samaria Regional Council Gershon Mesika and the Minister of Information and Diaspora Yuli Edelstein.
Participants included journalists from well known media outlets such as the British Guardian, the Reuters news agency, as well as reporters from France, Poland, China, Germany, South America, the United States, Radio London and several TV stations from Russia. The visitors were toured around communities, industry, agriculture and wineries in Samaria. Some of the stops in the itinerary were the Lipski factor, Mount Gerizim, the community of Itamar, and the Givot Olam farm. It was the largest visit by reporters and senior foreign journalists in the region, as the Israeli newswire proudly claimed.
What calls immediate attention is the very fact that a (large) delegation of international media professionals went on a tour around Israeli settlements, all deemed illegal under international law. In other words, a host of media people, from the same countries that condemn illegal settlements in occupied Palestine, partook in something that essentially breaks international law. If one needs a reminder, for the umpteenth time, of what settlements constitute, the International Court of Justice ruled in July 2004: "Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, are illegal and an obstacle to peace and to economic and social development [... and] have been established in breach of international law." And again, Article 49, paragraph 6 of the Fourth Geneva Convention stipulates: "the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies".
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As much extraordinary in what Larson told Arutz Sheva during the settlement tour is that there is ‘anti-Israel coverage’ in the media -which would leave anyone puzzled. Not only this anti-Israel stance cannot be found in media coverage, but Israel undoubtedly enjoys influence in the foreign press. More obvious, the long-standing friendship with the US, coupled with Israeli sympathy across Europe (sustained by pro-Israel lobbies and Zionist networks) can only be reflected in an unbalanced reporting by the established media, as it is not hard to figure out.
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http://www.imemc.org/article/62908
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