Elliott
Abrams November 7, 2015
(Too many people are prepared to make statements without checking their f acts. Newspaper journalists seem to be the worst. Below the New York Times article is just one example).
In an editorial on November 6th about
Israeli-US. relations, The New York Times states
as fact something that is simply false: “new settlements have been pursued so
aggressively by Mr. Netanyahu that the land available for a Palestinian state
may already be foreclosed.”
Secretary of State Kerry has made similar statements recently, and
it is quite remarkable that such a fact question can be gotten so wrong. First,
the term “new settlements” has a meaning: it does not mean expansion of
existing settlements, nor the creation of a hilltop outpost of a couple of
trailers. There has simply not been an aggressive creation of new settlements
under Mr. Netanyahu, and in fact there have been close to zero new
settlements.
Second, there has not even been an aggressive expansion of “old” or
existing settlements. Settler populations have grown steadily, on both sides of
the security fence, but the Netanyahu government has very clearly restrained
that growth. Settler protests, and the fact that many settlers vote for parties
other than Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud, attest to this, but more significantly so do
the statistics released annually by the government of Israel. Consulting those
statistical reports is apparently beyond the capacity of the Times.
Those who wish to oppose or criticize any growth in population in
the settlements have reason to complain, but the claim that new settlements are
quickly gobbling up all the land in the West Bank is a fantasy. It is false.
The “peace map” or “Google Earth map” of the West Bank shows very little change
during the Netanyahu years. It should not be too much to ask for accuracy on
such points when The New York Times writes yet another of its
endless and dreary attacks on the government of Israel.
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