Two days ago, after seeing this map, I fired off a message to the Palestinian International Press Center:
Why does your map not show Israel?
Does it reflect a change in official policy?
Officially, Palestine is supposed to be composed of
the West Bank and Gaza Strip regions, while the rest
of the area indicated on the map is Israel.
Does the map indicate that Palestinian Authority now
consider all of Israel as part of the state of
Palestine? Since the IPC is an official governmental
agency, your media and press releases should coincide
with the views of the Palestinian Authority.
If this represents an official policy change, it
should be made known, as most of the world believes
that you are striving for an end of the occupation of
the West Bank and Gaza areas, not the annihilation of
Israel.
Otherwise, you might wish to find a better map, one
that does not leave you open to charges of duplicity
and outright lying.
Well they responded to me, after a fashion. Here is their reply:
Dear sir,
Thanks for your comments
Their is no change in policy.
the map shows the historical location of Palestine.
the Palestinian had to give up part of Palestine in order to attain
peace
in the region.
Yours Truly
International Press Center
Is it just me, or is this an extremely vague reply to a specific group of questions?
posted on May 03, 2002 06:57 AM
