A study in deceit, part V

In our previous installment, we noted how Reuters accepts at face-value and conveys as indisputable truth, the Palestinian view that Jewish settlements in the West Bank (also Judea and Samaria) prevent the formation of a Palestinian state.  This, despite the fact that the presence of dozens of predominantly Arab/Muslim communities in what is today Israel did not prevent the formation of a Jewish state, and a historical record which reflects no proclivity on the part of the Palestinian Arabs for peaceful coexistence with a Jewish state -- even at a time when there were no settlements.

Reuters' Helen Long continues misinforming her audience:    

Whether their [Jewish settlement] construction is frozen or just restrained seems too fine a point for Palestinians to whom the fenced-off, red-roofed towns all over the West Bank are immovable facts on the ground that have been part of their lives for years.

A listener here would likely have the image of thousands of sprawling tract house communities traversing the West Bank when the reality of course, is that built-up Jewish settlements are contained within 2% of the disputed territories.

Reuters then segues to an interview with another Palestinian worker whose perspective Long paraphrases this way:

The idea that Israel will eventually leave the West Bank is wishful thinking.

Here's the actual (translated) quote by the Palestinian:

These are fanciful dreams about the Jews ever leaving.  The Jews will never leave.  What was taken by force will only be won back by force

Note that for this Palestinian as for many others like him, the issue is not -- as Reuters falsely characterizes it -- one of Israel leaving the West Bank but rather whether Jews are to live in the West Bank, or be forced out.  Just as they were forced out -- or more precisely, ethnically cleansed -- from the area after the Arab Legion invaded and conquered the territories in the 1948 war.

Though Reuters assiduously attempts to frame Palestinian Arab rejectionism and violence as a piece of "a yearning for an independent Palestinian homeland" and resistance to foreign "occupation", it is the ugly truth of Palestinian racism and antisemitism which reveals itself in Reuters otherwise carefully crafted presentation.