Yahoo! and McClatchy: ‘Illegal West Bank Outposts’

Posted in AP and Reuters Can Go Jump in the Lake, Apartheid, Corporate Media Can Jump in the Lake, Israel, Jaded Numb over the BS They Peddle for Truth These Days, Journalistic Integrity, Palestine by Dan Alba on April 1, 2008

Pinch me.

This is the first time I have ever seen that stated as an uncontroversial fact by a corporate (mainstream) news medium.

The quote comes from a March 30, McClatchy Newspapers report pertaining to the decades-old ethnic cleansing campaign being waged against Israeli Arabs of the Negev Desert by the state of Israel:

[After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the] Bedouin, who accepted Israeli citizenship, set up villages that the government still refuses to sanction.

Because Israel doesn’t recognize these communities, they receive no running water, no state electricity and no local services. Power lines serving Jewish towns run over Bedouin homes. A toxic waste site sits not far from one Bedouin community. Compared with Jewish settlers at illegal West Bank outposts that often receive basic power and security, the Bedouin get second-class treatment. [Source: Yahoo! News*]

There’s much to comment on as it relates to the subject of the report, but this particular excerpt deserves mention on its own. Good moments in reporting—moments I’d dare call journalism—must be recognized and encouraged. Although the remainder of the report is lightly spotted with hasbara hooey, it’s much closer to reality than the CAMERA-cookie-cutter-editing of AP et al.

* Thanks to WhatReallyHappened for the link.