Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Difficulty of Getting the Facts Straight

The Day, published in New London, Connecticut, on January 4 published a relatively simple timeline to help people understand the current Hamastan war.

PP believes the timeline was put together in good faith, but demonstrates the ignorance of even those who believe they can explain the conflict to others.

Some items correct outright errors; some create misimpressions because of errors of omission; others are technically correct but written in a way which is misleading.

Some of the errors are relatively harmless; others lead to significant misunderstanding.

We follow the text as published with some commentary.

A legacy of conflict



1948: Clashes between Israeli underground groups and Arab irregulars begin almost as soon as United Nations creates modern-day Israel.

1956: In the 'Sinai Campaign,' Israel swiftly conquers Sinai. Israeli troops remained in Sinai for many months.

1967: The '6-Day War' begins with Israeli attack on Egypt to block what it considers an imminent invasion. Israel expands borders to become the region's dominant military power.

1973: The 'Yom Kippur War' is launched by Syria and Egypt. Ends with a cease fire within a month.

1987: The First Intifada is begun by Palestinians and lasts several years.

2005: The Second Intifada begins in 2005 and continues. Rockets launched from Gaza fall on Israel.

Dec. 27, 2008: Israel attacks Hamas targets in Gaza, causing many civilian casualties.


We take the statements individually and include some comments.


1948: Clashes between Israeli underground groups and Arab irregulars begin almost as soon as United Nations creates modern-day Israel.

[This contains several errors.

The clashes began long before the reestablishment of Israel.

Israel wasn't created by the United Nations. The United Nations passed a resolution calling for, but not creating, two more states in Palestine, alongside the existing Arab state which is now called Jordan.

Accepting the resolution, the Zionists created a state; rejecting the resolution, the Arabs attacked.

Simply put, while the United Nations recommended a state, it was the Zionists who recreated Israel.]



1956: In the 'Sinai Campaign,' Israel swiftly conquers Sinai. Israeli troops remained in Sinai for many months.

[This omits the context of Egypt violating the earlier armistice agreement by blocking Israeli traffic through the Suez Canal and starting to block traffic through the Straits of Tiran. It also omits the fact that Israel was joined by Great Britain and France.]



1967: The '6-Day War' begins with Israeli attack on Egypt to block what it considers an imminent invasion. Israel expands borders to become the region's dominant military power.

[This again omits the context of Egypt again blockading the Straits of Tiran, in violation of the commitments made at the end of the Sinai Campaign.

The assertion that Israel expanded its borders is technically correct, since Israel incorporated reunited Jerusalem in its borders, but is misleading since it implies Israel incorporated the captured, disputed territories.]



1973: The 'Yom Kippur War' is launched by Syria and Egypt. Ends with a cease fire within a month.

[This is correct, although it doesn't capture the perfidy of launching a war of annihilation on the holiest day in the Jewish year.

Also omitted in the timeline is the complete rejection of Israel overtures, including offering to completely return the territory captured in 1967, in return for peace.]



1987: The First Intifada is begun by Palestinians and lasts several years.

2005: The Second Intifada begins in 2005 and continues. Rockets launched from Gaza fall on Israel.
[The second intifada began five years earlier, in September 2000, after the Palestinian Authority rejected the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state on almost all of the disputed territories, including portions of Israel's capital of Jerusalem, which would have been redivided.]



Dec. 27, 2008: Israel attacks Hamas targets in Gaza, causing many civilian casualties.

[This entry completely omits the context, including the bombardment from Hamas-controlled Gaza of Israeli civilians living in Sderot, Ashkelon and other areas near the Gaza Strip.

Although there is an element of subjectivity involved, considering the population density in Gaza and the way Hamas deliberately operates from densely populated areas, the civilian casualties have been astoundingly slight.]



Overall, in comparison to background given in other newspapers, the timeline in The Day is less inaccurate than most.

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