The Washington Post published a correction to a mistake they made in an article…
CORRECTIONS A Sept. 5 A-section article about Jordan agreeing to buy natural gas from Israel incorrectly referred to Israel’s occupation of “Palestinian lands” in the West Bank. The Israel-occupied territories are disputed lands that Palestinians wants for a future Palestinian state.
While obviously I would have preferred if WaPo had used the more historically accurate name “Judea and Samaria”, and we can discuss whether or not Israel can actually occupy its own homeland, or territory designated to it in prior international agreements, the fact that WaPo correctly pointed out that legally the territory is at worst disputed and not “Palestinian lands”, is to be applauded.
When UN Resolution 242 talks about territories, the discussion is between Israel and the Arab states (who have the additional obligations to end their state of belligerence against Israel and find a just solution for the Jewish refugee problem they created when they expelled nearly a million Jews from their homes throughout the Middle East).
Never in the history of the world did Israel occupy the “West Bank” from a “Palestine”.
I glad WaPo got it right, because semantically anyone making a competing claim will automatically transform that subject into “disputed” – but that doesn’t necessarily make that claim valid.
Personally I know plenty of people who claim the East Bank of the Jordan river for Israel, while there are others who claim the opposite, saying “Jordan is Palestine”. Either way, the lands Jordan is occupying are clearly “disputed” lands too.
H/T Jonathan Schanzer for info on the WaPo correction.
Update: We’ve been told that Camera prompted the correction.
