Israel denied 94% of the building permit requests West Bank Palestinians submitted over the past seven years, the anti-settlement Peace Now group reported Thursday. In all, 91 of 1,624 requested permits were approved, Peace Now said. By contrast, 18,472 apartments and homes were built between 2000 and September 2007 in Jewish West Bank settlements, the group said, citing Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. Full Story »
Posted by Pam Rasmussen
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This story falls into the "any coverage is better than no coverage" category since so little is ever published about settelemtns and house demolitions. But, apparent journalistic attempts to be "fair" create overwhelming distortions. The allegation that figures are distorted by Peace Now is repeated twice. But no counter statements from Peace Now are provided.
This report holds up both charge and counter charge for inspection before stating its own position in the final paragraph. Even looking at the evidence presented by Peace Now with a jaundiced eye, the statistics appear to overwhelmingly support the contention that a disproportionate fraction of Palestinian requests to build in the West Bank are being denied by Israel.
It is rare that the mainstream media, particularly USA Today, covers the everyday discrimination faced by the Palestinians. This is a definite sign of progress, although it's just an AP piece and not original reporting.
He said-she said coverage- leaving the reader no better off than when he started reading the piece. Why no go in and independently report this issue?
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