Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Imagine a little editing

Israel's Barak, U.S. Envoy Mitchell Discuss Expansion of West Bank Settlements: Mitchell apparently stands firm, unlike the softer rendering of the settlement issue by Glenn Kessler or the Wapo editor .

As published"
"There are more than 120 settlements in the occupied West Bank that are legal under Israeli law but not internationally. The Fourth Geneva Convention, which Israel ratified in 1951, forbids an occupying power to transfer 'parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies,' but Israel disputes that this provision applies to settlements. Israel seized the West Bank and other territories in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war."

A less equivocal editing:
There are more than 120 settlements in the occupied West Bank that are illegal under international law notwithstanding Israeli claims to the contrary. The Fourth Geneva Convention, which Israel ratified in 1951, forbids an occupying power to transfer 'parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.' Israel disputes that this provision of the Convention applies to settlements, but no major government shares Israel's view. Israel seized the West Bank and other territories in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

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