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Friday, 10 June 2011

Israel trebled in size after 1967 war

The BBC Today programme just after 08:30 pushed the 'fact' that Israel gained so much land (three times the size of Israel) in the 1967 war and that exchanging land for peace is the way forward. If you did not know any better you would be excused for believing that Israel was still three times larger than it was before the 1967 war. In fact Israel handed the Sinai peninsular back to Egypt, in exchange for peace in 1982.

The Sinai peninsular covers an area of around 23,000 square miles, Israel today covers just 8,522 square miles. The truth is that Israel gave up almost all of the land it captured in 1967 in return for peace with Egypt. Why did the BBC not report that?

Instead the BBC reported that some Israelis on a march through East Jerusalem taunted some Muslims; when was the last time the BBC reported the vitriolic attacks on Jews made by Hamas and Fatah leaders almost every day?

This sort of omission helps the BBC and the other haters of Israel to create a narrative of Israeli expansion and intransigence. This narrative is at variance with the facts that of the land promised to Israel by the Balfour Declaration, 78% was used to create Jordan and of the lands captured by Israel in the 1967 and 1973 wars almost all was returned to Egypt in return for a peace treaty.

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