Friday, February 02, 2018

The Guardian's Holmes and His Journalism

The Guardian's Olive Holmes simply mouthpieced a report from the EU the other day.

Its essence:

Israel using tourism to legitimise settlements, says EU report
Exclusive: European Union Heads of Mission warn 
‘touristic settlements’ are being used as a political tool

I am going to guess, without any inside knowledge that Emek Shaveh was central to this.  A bit nasty they are.

In any case, as we know with archaeology in the Holy Land, Israel's archaeologists preserve all finds no matter from who, even of Arabs who occupied the Jewish homeland in 638 CE

That includes Canaanites, Philistines, Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Persians, Muslims, Crusaders, Mamelukes, Ottomans...and even prehistoric civilizations.

Israel also protects the finds from those who steal, deface and destroy them (guess who).

But that is but one side to this story's unprofessional journalism.

No Israeli archaeologist is asked for a reaction.

No response from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

No quotations from a government representative like...the Minister of Toruism.

Was a "settler", aka Jewish resident, asked? From City of David or Ancient Shiloh?

Was this a balanced report?

Fair?

Objective?

Factual?

After all, the reports underlying theme is astounding:

Archaeology and tourism development by government institutions as well as private settler organisations established what it said was a “narrative based on historic continuity of the Jewish presence in the area at the expense of other religions and cultures”.

That is a flat-out lie.  Holmes had not the sense to realize that and work a bit harder to include a riposte?

Shameful, really.  (UK MediaWatch post)

^

1 comment:

YMedad said...

Received:

The EU Is apparently furious with Israel again, this time for using archeology in The Old City - EU Report Calls Jewish Development of Jerusalem Historical Sites ‘Touristic Settlement’:

A European Union report leaked to The Guardian newspaper expressed ire over Israeli tourism in and around Jerusalem’s Old City, calling the ongoing development of Jewish infrastructure a form of “touristic settlement.”

The phrase "touristic settlement" does not exactly roll of the tongue.

It was used in 2011, in an article by Hagit Ofran, Invisible Settlements in Jerusalem:
There is, however, another type of settlement in East Jerusalem: one that is difficult to measure, to define or even quantify. I call it the invisible settlement or the touristic settlement. In recent years, the State of Israel has invested much effort and great resources into the creation of facts on the ground that dramatically change the character of East Jerusalem and the attitude of the Israeli public to the Palestinian areas of East Jerusalem. The operation of these intensive tourism and education projects in Jerusalem poses a real threat to the city’s stability and to any chance of a compromise solution in Jerusalem.

She uses the phrase 5 times, in the way that the EU does.

Is there a connection between Ofran (head of Peace Now's Settlement Watch) and the EU -- and even if there is, is that something worth researching and talking about?