An Agence France Press article by Safaa Kanj about water shortages and contamination in Gaza suffered from one-sidedness, distortions and factual inaccuracies. The writer consulted only Palestinian sources, put the onus entirely on Israel (mostly incorrectly) for water scarcity problems, and ignored any information which implicated the Palestinians or which portrayed Israel in a positive light.
Wire stories yesterday from the Agence France Presse and Associated Press blame Israel for killing a 20-year-old Palestinian in an incident which is now under dispute. The Israeli army says that their Palestinian counterparts informed them the young man was a victim of an internal Palestinian feud.
Judging by some of today's AFP reports, timeliness came at the expense of objective reporting. The timeline entitled "Major events in Palestinian history" whitewashes Palestinian Arab violence and responsibility for the conflict.
An egregious error in a June 28, 2005 Agence France Presse (AFP) story has been corrected. The report initially claimed that a 1969 arson attempt at the Al Aksa mosque was carried out by "Jewish hardliners," when in fact it was carried out by an Australian Protestant.
