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Electronic Intifada

Screenshots Prove It: NYT Altered Headline to Remove Words “Israeli-Occupied”

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A New York Times headline accidentally told the truth today about Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, before it was ‘fixed.’

The story is about Friday’s action by Palestinians to establish a village called Bab Al Shams on land that Israel has seized for construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The original headline read “Palestinians Set Up Camp in Israeli-Occupied West Bank Territory.” Later, the headline was altered to remove the words “Israeli-occupied.” It now reads “Palestinians Set Up Tents Where Israel Plans Homes.”

The website Newsdiffs.org shows that the original headline was posted at 1:09 PM EST. It was discovered to have been changed at 7:10 PM EST.

A key goal of Israeli propaganda is to eliminate the term “occupied” from media coverage of Israel’s, well, occupation. Many media have adopted terms like “disputed” that grant false legitimacy to Israeli claims to the land which are totally null and void in international law.

The Times article still describes the area as “hotly contested piece of Israeli-occupied West Bank territory known as E1.” And yes, I’ve taken a screenshot in case they decide to change that too.

Thanks to Twitter user @JamieSW for spotting.

© 2012 Electronic Intifada

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Ali Abunimah

Ali Abunimah is the author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse and a fellow with the Palestine Centre in Washington, DC.  Abunimah is Executive Director of The Electronic Intifada.

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