Correction (12/15/14): A Palestinian shows a Quran, Islam’s holy book, damaged in a mosque fire in the West Bank village of Mughayer, north of Ramallah, Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2014. The village’s mayor accused Jewish settlers of setting the fire, which destroyed the first floor of the mosque, but Israeli investigators believe the fire was accidental.
Error (AP, 5/28/14): Israeli police say masked protesters hurled stones at policemen standing at the gates of the a sensitive Jerusalem holy site, prompting security forces to enter the compound and disperse the demonstrators.
Correction (5/28/14): Masked Palestinian protesters hurled stones at policemen manning the gates of a sensitive Jerusalem holy site on Wednesday, prompting security forces to enter the compound and disperse the demonstrators, Israeli police said.
Error (Los Angeles Times, wires, news brief, 12/31/12): In a major concession to the Gaza Strip’s Hamas leaders, Israel dropped its 5-year-old ban on construction materials crossing into the territory . . .
Correction (1/4/13): A brief article in the Jan. 1 Section A said that Israel had dropped a 5-year-old ban on construction materials crossing into the Gaza Strip. That ban applied to the private sector; Israel had allowed some construction goods into Gaza for humanitarian projects during that time.
Error (AP, Aron Heller and Ibrahim Barzak, 12/31/12): In a major concession to Gaza’s Hamas leaders Monday, Israel dropped its five-year ban on construction materials crossing into the territory and raised hopes there that rebuilding could begin following a damaging eight-day Israeli air campaign.
Correction (1/1/13): In a story Dec. 31, The Associated Press reported that Israel dropped a 5 1/2-year-old ban that prevented construction materials from entering the Gaza Strip. The story should have made clear that the ban applied toGaza‘s private sector. Under the closure, imposed following the Hamas militant group’s takeover of Gaza in June 2007, Israel allowed small amounts of construction goods into Gaza for humanitarian projects. In 2010 it began allowing such materials for projects under the auspices of the United Nations. Monday’s announcement by Israel, part of a cease-fire deal reached with Hamas in November, further eases the ban by allowing private businesses to ship in building materials.
Error (AP, photo caption, Tara Todras Whitehill, 10/23/11): In this photo taken Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, freed Palestinian prisoner Hamuda Saleh, age 38, who was originally from the West Bank city of Nablus, prays near the pool at a hotel in Gaza City. Palestinian prisoners exiled to the Gaza Strip in a dramatic swap for a captive Israeli soldier last week are contemplating the rest of their lives after years behind bars. Some say they want to put their violent pasts behind them and move on with their lives, now that the celebrations marking their release have faded. In 1989 Saleh claims he was sentenced to multiple life sentences for being part of the ‘Ezz Al-Din Al Qassam’ militia, the military wing of Hamas.
Correction (10/24/11): In this photo taken Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011, freed Palestinian prisoner Hamuda Saleh, age 38, who was originally from the West Bank city of Nablus, prays near the pool at a hotel in Gaza City. Palestinian prisoners exiled to the Gaza Strip in a dramatic swap for a captive Israeli soldier last week are contemplating the rest of their lives after years behind bars. Some say they want to put their violent pasts behind them and move on with their lives, now that the celebrations marking their release have faded. In 1989 Saleh claims he was sentenced to multiple life sentences for being part of the ‘Ezz Al-Din Al Qassam’ militia, the military wing of Hamas. A list of prisoners released by Israel’s Prison service states Saleh was born in 1976, arrested in 2000 and sentenced to 22 years in jail for premeditated murder, membership in an unrecognized organization, planting a bomb and shooting at people.
Error (AP, Jamal Halaby, 12/11/10): There is a long history of violence between supporters of the two teams, stemming in part from the decades of tension with Jordan’s large Palestinian population, which includes an estimated 1.8 million refugees displaced after Israel’s 1948 creation and their descendants.
Correction (12/15/10): Clarification: In a Dec. 11 story about a brawl at a soccer game in Jordan, The Associated Press referred to Jordan’s large Palestinian population that includes an estimated 1.8 million refugees displaced after Israel’s 1948 creation and their descendants. The story should have made clear that the figure includes people who are either refugees displaced after Israel’s 1948 creation or descendants of those refugees.
Error (AP, Mohammed Daraghmeh, 4/7/10): [Fahmi] Shabaneh, who was fired in 2008 for alleged involvement in shady land deals, has tried to reinvent himself as an anti-corruption crusader, though he has not provided proof to back up his claims against [Rafiq] Husseini.
Correction (4/14/10): In an April 7 story about a West Bank corruption investigation, The Associated Press reported that Palestinian intelligence agent-turned whistleblower Fahmi Shabaneh was fired from his job in 2008.
Shabaneh denies he was fired at the time and has presented bank records to The Associated Press showing he received a salary from the Palestinian Authority until February 2010 when he went public with his allegations. He also presented an employment letter saying he was appointed to a different department in the intelligence services in December 2008.
However, the Palestinian intelligence service says that as of 2009, Shabaneh was no longer working for it though government officials had no explanation for why he remained on the payroll until February of this year.
CAMERA: Shabaneh had accused Mahmoud Abbas’ chief of staff Rafiq Husseini of involvement in a scheme to extort sex in exchange for political favors. A videotape available on YouTube of Husseini climbing naked into the bed of a woman not his wife and inviting her to join him speaks for itself and stands as proof. The woman had earlier approached Abbas’ office seeking assistance.
Error (AP, Jerry Harkavy, 6/29/09): The 147 [Seeds of Peace] campers at the first of this summer’s two sessions are from Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine and the United States.
Correction (Updated story 6/29/09): The 147 campers at the first of this summer’s two sessions are from Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, the West Bank and the United States.
Error (AP, Steve Gutkin, 5/7/08): Israel at 60 is a place where creativity flourishes but where Palestinians are not allowed on West Bank roads reserved for Jews.
Correction (5/8/08, Updated story): Israel at 60 is a place where creativity flourishes, but also where Palestinians are not allowed on West Bank roads reserved for Israelis.
Error (AP, Mohammed Daraghmeh, 8/6/07): The Palestinians are eager to restore the situation quickly to what it was before the outbreak of the uprising in September 2000, including assuming full control over West Bank cities again. Israel has agreed in principle, but the military has been slow to remove its West Bank checkpoints and reserves the right to chase Palestinian militants anywhere.
“So far, we are not satisfied with the progress,” said Palestinian Information Minister Riad Malki, adding that the West Bank government hopes to “take full security control of the territories.”
Correction (Karin Laub, later that day): The Israeli daily Haaretz on Monday cited Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as telling Israeli officials the Palestinian security forces aren’t ready yet to assume control. The report contradicted the official Palestinian position that the West Bank towns should be handed over quickly.
Palestinian Information Minister Riad Malki insisted Monday that Fayyad, in recent meetings with Israeli officials, “affirmed that the Palestinian governemtn is ready to take control of all cities in the West Bank.”
However, a senior Palestinian security official in the West Bank town of Bethlehem said his forces need more time and training.
Error (AP, Sarah El Deeb, 6/5/07): The [Palestinian conference] was banned since it was backed by the Palestinian Authority, which Israeli law prohibits from operating in east Jerusalem, police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
Correction (6/5/07, updated article): The gathering was banned since it was backed by the Palestinian Authority, police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby. The authority is barred from operating in east Jerusalem, which Israel annexed in 1967 soon after capturing it.
Fact: Bilateral peace accords prohibit Palestinian Authority activity in Jerusalem. The Declaration of Principles and the Interim Agreement stipulate that the Palestinian Council shall have no authority in Jerusalem during the interim period. Moreover, the Note for the Record attached to the Hebron Protocol restated that all Palestinian Council offices and activity remain in areas under Palestinian jurisdiction — in other words, outside of Jerusalem.
Error (AP, Steve Weizman, 5/7/07): Israel’s Justice Ministry, which received a copy of the [B’Tselem] report, said in response that Shin Bet interrogations are “performed in accordance with the law.” The report is “fraught with mistakes, groundless claims and inaccuracies,” the ministry said, without elaborating.
Correction (5/7/07): The report is “fraught with mistakes, groundless claims and inaccuracies,” the ministry said, but added that it could not give a detailed rebuttal to the allegations of illegal interrogation methods “due to confidentiality reasons.” The ministry did respond specifically to other charges in the report, unequivocally denying that interrogators sought to isolate and alienate prisoners, used bad language in front of them and served intentionally unappetizing food. “This bizarre claim is unfounded and is indicative of the lack of seriousness and tendentiousness of the person claiming it,” the ministry said of the food allegation.
Error (AP, Matti Friedman, 2/8/07): Two mosques, the Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock, now stand on the site, along with some of the temples’ original retaining walls, including the Jewish shrine called the Western Wall
Correction (2/8/07, updated story): The compound is home to the Al Aqsa mosque and the golden-capped Dome of the Rock shrine, as well as to the original retaining walls of the second Jewish temple, including the Jewish shrine called the Western Wall.
Fact: There is one mosque on the Temple Mount, not two.
Error (AP, 7/2/06): The militant, known as a master bombmaker, called for the Arab world to push for an Israeli pullout from the West Bank. “It’s our duty and role, not only us in Palestine, but every Muslim in the world has a religous duty and role to fight to liberate this land, because it’s Islamic territory,” he said.
Correction (8/16/06): In a story July 2 about a call by Mohammed Deif, the top bomb maker of the Palestinian Hamas militia, for Muslims to liberate “Palestinian lands” controlled by Israel, The Associated Press erroneously said Deif referred just the West Bank. Deif referred to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war, and to what he called 1948 lands, meaning the state of Israel itself.
Error (AP, Mark Lavie, 8/2/06): The Israeli military’s inquiry on the bombing of a building in the south Lebanese village of Qana that killed 56 civilians …
Correction (Updated story, 8/3/06): The Israeli military’s inquiry on the bombing of a building in the south Lebanese village of Qana that killed at least 28 civilians …
Error (AP, Aron Heller, 6/25/06): Abu Samhadana’s death set off a chain of intensified hostilities that have included dozens of Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel …
Correction (Updated Story, 6/25/06): One of those leaders, PRC leader Jamal Abu Samhadana, was killed in an Israeli air strike two weeks ago, shortly after accepting a senior security position in the Hamas-led government, part of a rapidly escalating round of rocket barrages and counterstrikes.
Fact: Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza preceded—and prompted—Israel’s targeted killing of Abu Samhadana.
Error (AP, 9/28/05): The uprising followed a Sept. 28, 2000 vi
sit by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, then in opposition, to the al Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s most sacred sites in Jerusalem’s Old City.
Correction (Updated story, 9/28/05): The uprising followed a Sept. 28, 2000 visit by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, then in opposition, to the Aqsa Mosque compound, one of the holiest sites in Islam. The compound also is sacred to Jews as the site of the ancient Jewish temples.
Error (AP, Ali Daraghmeh, 6/2/05): . . . . Israel refuses to free anyone involved in attacks on Israelis.
Correction (Updated story, 6/2/05): . . . . Israel refuses to free anyone directly involved in attacks that injured or killed Israelis.
Error (AP, 5/23/05): The statement by Bishop M. Thomas Shaw clears the way for a joint Jewish-Episcopal trip to Israel and Palestine this winter.
Correction (Updated story, 5/23/05): The statement by Bishop M. Thomas clears the way for a joint Jewish-Episcopal trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories late this year or early next year.
Error (Associated Press, Ibrahim Barzak, 5/18/05): The Palestinian fire was apparent retaliation for the killing of a Hamas militant by Israelis before day break Wednesday.
Correction (Updated story, 5/19/05): Palestinian hospital officials said a second Hamas member was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers. The Israeli military said he died handling an explosive device.
Error (Associated Press Worldstream, Mark Lavie, 4/28/05): The main focus of tension in the city is a holy site revered by both Christians and Muslims – the traditional burial site of the biblical Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and three of their wives.
Correction (Updated story, 4/28/05): The main focus of tension in the city is a holy site revered by both Jews and Muslims – the traditional burial site of the biblical Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and three of their wives.
Error (Associated Press, Salah Nasrawi, 3/18/05): The Jordanian proposal is meant to amend a Saudi peace initiative adopted at the 2002 Arab summit held in Beirut, which offered Israel peace with all Arab nations on condition it returns all land seized in the six-day war of 1967 – including East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Syria’s Golan Heights – in line with U.N. resolutions 242 and 338.
Correction (Updated story, 3/18/05): The Saudi initiative offered Israel peace with all Arab nations on condition that Israel returns all land seized in the six-day war of 1967 in line with the Arab interpretation of U.N. resolution 242. The initiative also calls for the creation of a Palestinian state and a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue. Resolution 242, passed after the 1967 war, calls on Israel to withdraw “from territories occupied in the recent conflict” but does not say explicitly that the pullback should be from all such territories. However, Arabs view the resolution as just that – calling for Israeli withdrawal from East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Syria’s Golan Heights.
Error (Associated Press, Paul Garwood, 2/3/05): Strong ties with the United States, the source of more than $2 billion worth of military aid and civil aid since Egypt signed its 1979 peace treaty with Israel. . .
Correction (Updated story, 2/3/05): Strong ties with the United States, the source of more than $2 billion per year worth of military and civil aid since Egypt signed its 1979 peace treaty with Israel. . .
Error (AP, Frank Bass and Randy Herschaft, 1/24/04): President Nixon created the group in September 1972 after Palestinian commandos slaughtered 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games.
Correction (1/24/04): But these threats were compiled in weekly CIA reports more than 30 years ago for the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism, a Nixon-era task force created after the killings of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
Error (AP, Josef Federman, 7/8/04): By September 2005, Sharon plans to pull all Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Correction (7/14/04): In a July 8 story about Israel’s plan to pull its troops out of the Gaza Strip, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Israel is also planning to pull out of the West Bank. The plan only calls for a limited withdrawal from four West Bank settlements.
Error (AP, 2003 photos re-released 6/19/04 with new captions): In Gaza, a fenced-in, poverty stricken territory where only a tiny portion of the 1.3 million residents has a job and where brutal military incursions are a daily fact of life, the militant group Hamas has won wide support for its welfare work, and is asking to have a greater role in running the Gaza Strip once Israel withdraws.
Correction (Revised captions in AP Photo Archives, 7/1/04): In Gaza, a fenced-in, poverty stricken territory where only a tiny portion of the 1.3 million residents has a job and where Israeli military incursions are a daily fact of life, the militant group Hamas has won wide support. Hamas is asking to have a greater role in running the Gaza Strip, should Israel withdraw.
Error (AP, Ali Daraghmeh, 6/10/04): In more than three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Palestinian police have become increasingly ineffective, particularly in the West Bank, where Israel does not allow Palestinian officers to patrol in uniform or with arms.
Correction (7/1/04): In a June 10 story about the United Nations suspending a construction project in a Palestinian refugee camp after gunmen threatened crews, The Associated Press erroneously reported that Israel does not allow Palestinian officers to patrol in uniform in the West Bank. Current Israeli policy does allow for uniformed Palestinian policemen in the area.
Error ( Associated Press, 11/11/02 headline): Troops Shoot Dead Palestinian Toddler as Israel Weighs Reprisals for Kibbutz Shooting
Correction (Same Day): Israeli Tanks Sweep into Refugee Camp to Hunt for Killers of 5 on Israeli Kibbutz
Error (AP, Susan Sevareid, 6/24/02): In his speech, Bush demanded Israel withdraw to positions it held on the West Bank two y
ears ago and to stop building homes for Jews on the West Bank and Gaza. Ultimately, he said, Israel should agree to pull all the way back to the lines it held before the 1967 Mideast war.
Correction (6/24/02): As for the Israelis, he [Bush] said they should withdraw to positions they held on the West Bank two years ago and stop building homes for Jews on the West Bank and in Gaza. Ultimately, he said, Israel should end its occupation by negotiating a settlement based on U.N. resolutions calling on it to withdraw to “secure and recognized borders.”
Error (Associated Press, 1/10/02): Larsen said that a Palestinian state “has to be established,” adding that any solution to the Middle East problem has to be based on U.N. Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, which call for a withdrawal from all territory that Israel captured in the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973.
Correction (1/10/02): Larsen said that a Palestinian state “has to be established,” adding that any solution to the Middle East problem has to be based on U.N. Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, which call for a withdrawal from territory that Israel captured in the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973.
Error (Associated Press (10/29/00) caption under photo depicting grimacing Israeli policeman raising truncheon over bloodied young man): An Israeli policeman and a Palestinian on the Temple Mount
Correction (October, 2000): Associated Press captions on two photos sent Sept. 29 from Jerusalem misidentified a young man injured during street battles between Israeli forces and Palestinians. The AP first identified the young man, who was photographed sitting bloodied on the ground, as an unnamed Palestinian. Different captions sent Monday, Oct. 2, identified him as an Israeli ambulance medic. On Tuesday, the original photos were retransmitted with captions correctly identifying him as Tuvia Grossman, an American student from Chicago. The original captions also misidentified the site of the incident as the Temple Mount. In fact, it occurred in Jerusalem’s Old City.
CAMERA: The incident actually took place outside of the Old City, not in it.
Urged by hundreds of callers to do more than resend the photo with a correction, AP also sent out a story on the beatings of the American boys.
Error (Associated Press, Sari Bashi, 5/17/00): Israel has released hundreds of prisoners as part of detailed peace accords but says it will not release Palestinians jailed for killing Israelis.
Correction (6/6/00): The Associated Press erroneously reported on May 14 that Israel has released hundreds of Palestinians prisoners as part of peace agreements.
Since the 1993 Oslo peace accords, Israel has freed more than 7,000 Palestinians jailed for anti-Israel activities as part of peace deals.
Error (Associated Press, 5/21/97): Arabs who live outside Israel cannot own land anywhere in the Jewish state even if it was once their property.
Correction (06/5/97): The Associated Press erroneously reported on May 21 that Arabs who live outside Israel cannot own land any-where in the Jewish state even if it was once their property. Israel does allow foreigners, including Arabs, to purchase private land in Israel for building purposes. Private land accounts for 6.5 percent of the total land in Israel.