On Aug. 20th we posted about a report at The Telegraph by their Middle East correspondent, Robert Tait, which grossly inflated the number of Palestinian Arab refugees from the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli war.
Here’s the passage in question:
On the table are the familiar sticking points that have defied several previous peace-making attempts — namely borders, Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian lands, the fate of almost five million Arab refugees expelled to neighbouring countries during Israel’s 1948 war of independence, and the status of Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital.
We complained to Telegraph editors, explaining that the number of refugees from the war was actually, per UN figures, 711,000 (of whom only 30,000 remain today), while the 5 million figure only represents those who presently qualify for “refugee” benefits (which includes the descendants of refugees) under UNRWA’s bizarre guidelines.
Shortly after our complaint, the passage was amended as follows:
On the table are the familiar sticking points that have defied several previous peace-making attempts — namely borders, Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian lands, the fate of almost five million Arab refugees and their descendants expelled to neighbouring countries during Israel’s 1948 war of independence, and the status of Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital.
Unfortunately, the ‘revised’ passage (as we noted in a new post) was still extremely misleading, as it would likely be understood to mean that there were 5 million refugees from the ’48 war plus an additional number of descendents from these 5 million.
So, we again contacted Telegraph editors, and recently saw the following new revision to the passage:
On the table are the familiar sticking points that have defied several previous peace-making attempts — namely borders, Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian lands, the fate of 700,000 Arab refugees and their descendants (a number that has now swelled to almost five million) expelled to neighbouring countries during Israel’s 1948 war of independence, and the status of Jerusalem, which both sides claim as their capital.
Though it took a while, we commend Telegraph editors on finally getting it right on the number of Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war.
Related articles
- CiF Watch prompts improvement to false Telegraph claim on Palestinian refugees (cifwatch.com)
- The Tripod: CAMERA Links in Three Languages – August 22nd-23rd edition (bbcwatch.org)
- The Guardian asks if 4.9 million Palestinian “refugees” will “return” to cities…where they never lived. (cifwatch.com)
- BBC’s ‘Obstacles to Peace’: wrong on right of return – Part 1 (bbcwatch.org)
- Telegraph’s Mid-East reporter grossly inflates the number of Palestinian refugees (cifwatch.com)
- CiF Watch prompts correction to false BDS victory claim by Irish Times (cifwatch.com)
- CiF Watch prompts correction to Guardian publication claim about Israeli immigrants (cifwatch.com)
