New York Times Owner/Publisher in Palestine Trip

 It took place in April 1922, Passover time.

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Birthrate Down; Not "Settlements" - "Colonies"

Palestinian Authority Birthrate Down

The birthrate in the Palestinian Authority (PA) declined from six percent in 1997 to 4.6 percent in 2009, according to figures released Thursday by the PA's Central Bureau of Statistics. According to the bureau, the population of the PA-assigned areas of Judea and Samaria is 2.4 million, while the Gaza population is 1.5 million.

And while we're dealing with Pal. news, they don't use "settlements", even when quoting Haaretz, a story I dealt with earlier today:

No Chance of Colonies Deal with Israel, EU Official Says

TEL AVIV, July 9, 2009 (WAFA)- A senior European Union official rules out any compromise with Israel over the issue of colonies, unless reached in the framework of a final-status agreement with the Palestinians, Akiva Eldar wrote Thursday in the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Robert Rydberg, head of the Middle East desk in the Swedish Foreign Ministry, stressed on Monday it was inconceivable for the international community to legitimize natural growth of the colonizer population, since all colonies beyond the 1949 Line of Armistice were illegal.

Rydberg, whose country holds the EU presidency, said the only conceivable compromise would come with Israeli and Palestinian agreement on borders in an all-encompassing final-status agreement between the two parties.

Speaking at a conference in Munich, Rydberg slammed the colonies as creating a new reality on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) and spawning obstacles, and he said that roadblocks were intended mainly to protect the colonies rather than Israel proper within the Line of Armistice.

Rydberg said Israel's colonization policy did not build credibility among the Palestinian leadership and that President Mahmoud Abbas wanted to reach an agreement with Israel. He said the ideology that guides most colonizers is based on utter denial of the rights of Palestinians in the OPT.

Forget "Settlements"; We're Back to "Colonies"

Haaretz carries a story about a project in which Israeli and Pal. (although I think I would call them Israeli Arabs) teachers have written jointly a book of history.

Please read the story as it is remarkable - I would even say hilarious - in its attempt to create parallel narratives.

Anyway, here is one excerpt to illustrate the problem that exists in which Israeli cities and kibbutzim in the north are termed "colonies":-

In another case, involving Operation Litani in 1978, the initial Palestinian version stated that "the Palestinian presence in Lebanon was a source of concern for the colonies in northern Palestine." After a harsh confrontation, in which the Israeli teachers insisted on differentiating between communities inside and outside the Green Line, the words "colonies in northern Palestine" were replaced by "population concentrations in northern Israel." In parentheses, however, the Palestinians wrote that these were "communities/settlements built on the ruins of Palestinian homes from 1948."

Do you think the project initiators and directors as well as the particpating teachers have learned anything?

I doubt it.