A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
Tom Friedman Gets the Facts Wrong on the Geneva Accords

In his Times column yesterday in support of the Geneva Accords, Thomas Friedman stated that copies of the accord are being mailed "in Hebrew and Arabic to every home in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza."

Friedman is wrong. The text is being mailed only to Israelis, not to Palestinians.

Friedman also gets it wrong on the refugee issue. He writes that about 30,000 would be allowed into Israel, while the others would receive compensation. In fact, the accord does not state a number of refugees who would enter Israel, but merely says that the number "shall be at the sovereign discretion of Israel." Presumably, Palestinians will try to sway Israel's discretionary decision via their usual means of persuasion: wanton murder of Israelis.

Friedman also wrote that "The Israelis get to keep settlements housing about 300,000 of the 400,000 Jews in the West Bank (in return for an equivalent amount of land from Israel), including virtually all the new Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem built in the Arab side of the city." The 400,000 number includes parts of Jerusalem that were developed after 1967, such as Gilo, French Hill, Ramat Eshkol and Ramot. Nobody considers these areas to be "settlements." They also are not now and were not prior to 1967 "in the Arab side of the city." While Jordan occupied northern Jerusalem from 1948-1967, those areas have a large Jewish majority, in contrast to the eastern parts of the city.

Finally, Friedman insists on referring to Beilin as a "moderate." In fact, in the election in January, Beilin ran on Meretz's line, and failed to even win a Knesset seat. Friedman has every right to support the political positions of Beilin and Meretz, but to describe those positions as "moderate" is akin to referring to Ralph Nader as a moderate.
posted on 11/17/2003