CAMERA Prompts AP Correction: East Jerusalem Not Palestinian Territory

CAMERA’s Israel office yesterday prompted correction of an Associated Press article from the same day which had incorrectly identified eastern Jerusalem as Palestinian territory. The Feb. 21 article (“Palestinian leader calls for peace conference by mid-2018”), had stated:

The Palestinians are furious at President Donald Trump for overturning decades of U.S. policy and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, ignoring that east Jerusalem is Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 war that the Palestinians want as the capital of their independent state. (Emphasis added.)

Jerusalem was never Palestinian territory. From 1948 to 1967, it was occupied by Jordan. Before, that it was part of the British Mandate. The Nov. 29, 1947 partition plan had called for Jerusalem to be a corpus separatum, an international city administered by the UN for 10 years, at which point the city’s status was to be decided in a referendum. Before the British Mandate, the city was under Ottoman control, and so on. Going back through history, at no point was any part of the city “Palestinian territory.”

Following CAMERA’s communication with AP, editors commendably published the following clarification:

In a story Feb. 21, The Associated Press reported that east Jerusalem is Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. The story should have made clear that this was quoting a speech by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the U.N. Security Council. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, a position backed by most of the international community. Israel considers the entire city, including the eastern sector, to be its undivided capital.

In addition, the amended text now accurately reports:

The Palestinians are furious at President Donald Trump for overturning decades of U.S. policy and recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Abbas told the council Trump ignored that east Jerusalem is Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 war. The Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state, a position backed by most of the international community but Israel considers the entire city, including the eastern sector, to be its undivided capital.

Because AP’s original story with the error had been published by numerous news outlets, many news outlets, including The Washington Post, ABC News and Daily Mail, subsequently also carried the clarification.
 
For additional Associated Press corrections prompted by CAMERA, please see here.
 
For a version of this post in Arabic, please see CAMERA Arabic.

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