Israel Land Grab & Understanding the Reality in Palestine

Activists Help Mainstream Media Understand the Reality in Palestine

By Michaela Whitton   AntiMedia.org

Activists have taken it upon themselves to show some of the BBC’s most senior presenters the reality of the situation on the ground in Palestine. As a result of the broadcasting company’s persistent, biased, and misleading reporting on the situation in Palestine and Israel, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign has decided to surprise Broadcasting House with a delivery of mugs printed with maps showing how much land Palestine has lost to Israel since 1948.

Among those set to receive the gifts are James Harding, the BBC’s Director of News and Current Affairs, Evan Davis, presenter of Newsnight, Today presenters John Humphrys, Mishal Husain, Sarah Montague, and James Naughtie, and News at Ten anchors Fiona Bruce and Huw Edwards. In case of confusion, the presenters will also receive an accompanying letter reminding them who is the occupier and who is the occupied, according to the U.K. campaign group.

The renowned broadcaster’s offices in London have been the scene of regular demonstrations by activists who accuse the BBC of a pro-Israel bias and reporting that is persistently devoid of context.

On the Today radio program last week, not only did presenter John Humphrys imply that the 50 people killed since the beginning of the month were all Israelis, Middle East correspondent Kevin Connolly said “it was impossible to guess at the motives of the Palestinians who had stabbed Israelis.”

Impossible to guess? Really? Let us help you with that.

U.N. figures through October 19th list the fatality toll from the latest violence at 43 Palestinians and 7 Israelis. Thousands of Palestinians have also been injured in attacks by Israeli soldiers and armed extremist settlers.

Amid the brutal suppression of protests, elderly Palestinians died from inhalation of tear gas and ambulances were prevented from attending the injured. Israel has resurrected old techniques of punitive house demolitions, which are illegal under international law.

Choosing to ignore the 48 years of brutal military occupation, creeping Israeli settlement expansion, and vast disparities in a justice system where Israelis live under civilian rule but Palestinians are governed by military law — the BBC continues to present Palestinians as prone to committing random and inexplicable acts of violence.

In an attempt to remind the BBC of the reality on the ground, PSC Director Sarah Colborne said:

“We hope having a PSC mug, depicting everything the Palestinians have lost in the last 68 years, sitting on their desks will remind the BBC’s head of news and its senior presenters that it is the Palestinians who are the victims in this situation, not the heavily armed Israeli state.”

“And we hope they enjoy drinking their morning tea from our mugs,” she added.

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