The Electronic Intifada 8 April 2001
On Friday 6 October 2000, many wire service and news organisations reported that Israel had “sealed” or “closed” the occupied territories to prevent Palestinians entering Jerusalem.
In fact, the city of Jerusalem and Israel itself have been closed to 99 percent of the 3 million Palestinians since March 1993.
The closure reported actually refers to the withdrawl of permits from the few thousand Palestinians (the 1 percent) that had passed Israel’s inscrutable and excluding application process and “security” checks and were current permit holders.
Similarly, when this 1 percent of Palestinians are permitted to enter their capital again, this will be presented as Israel “easing” or “lifting” the closure.
Black is white and white is black.
