AP - Israel approves expansion of historic structure in Jewish settlement of Hebron

Beit Hadassah neighborhood,
just west of Beit Romano

Love of the Land
28 August '11

The Washington Post carried this brief AP news item on August 26th, with a somewhat promising title. But as has become the norm, what follows is a straight descent to the non-factual and agenda defined nonsense, that defies the most basic journalistic standards. A few of my observations are in italics.

Associated Press

JERUSALEM — Israel is allowing Jewish settlers to expand a building in Hebron, one of the West Bank’s most volatile cities.

Both the title and this sentence wish to emphasize expansion/expand but below states "gave the building permit to house a kindergarten in Beit Romano a structure built in the late 1800s by a Jewish merchant." A bit of a dramatic stretch of "to house". As this is one of the most volatile cities, to build a kindergarten is an obvious incitement to further volatility.

Palestinians object to Jewish construction in areas they envision for their future state.

"Beit Romano, a structure built in the late 1800s by a Jewish merchant" was in the heart of Ashkenazi Jewish Hebron,a neighborhood populated from the latter 19th century until the mass murder and wounding of it's residents at the hands of Arab rioters in 1929. The same treatment was meted out to the Avraham Avinu neighborhood, center of Jewish life from the early 17th century. That the "Palestinians" envision a return to the 38 year period that Hebron was free of Jews is an ideal?

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s office said Friday he gave the building permit to house a kindergarten in Beit Romano, a structure built in the late 1800s by a Jewish merchant. Today it houses a religious seminary.


Hagit Ofran of settlement watchdog Peace Now says Barak has become a “tool of the most radical settlers.”

Hagit lives in an interesting world, where the authorization to build a kindergarten, in an acknowledged historic structure of the Jewish community, makes one a “tool of the most radical settlers.”

Hebron is holy to Muslims and Jews. Today, more than 600 Jews live there in fortified enclaves amid 170,000 Palestinians.

The actual Jewish population of the area , corresponding to the Palestinian number, is close to 8,000. If one wishes to talkabout the area known as H2, then the current Arab population would need to be counted at 10% of the above number. The "enclaves" are hard to describe as fortified, as they lack both walls and fences, although there are soldiers and security in the area.

Other than that, great title!

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