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AP Eviction Story Spotlights Journalistic Failure

(CAMERA) Gidon Shaviv and Tamar Sternthal - "They (Israelis) are trying to uproot us from Jerusalem, they are stealing the houses, the trees and the stones of the city," laments Nura Sub-Laban, a Palestinian woman featured in a Wednesday Associated Press article, reflecting a narrative of supposed Jewish encroachment at the expense of blameless, dispossessed Palestinians. It is also based on grossly misrepresented basic facts about the Sub-Laban case. As the article correctly states, the Sub-Labans were never the owners of the property, but rather enjoyed "protected tenant" status. That status can be lost if the tenant abandons the property without intention of returning - and it is irrelevant whether the tenant is Jewish or Palestinian. The court found in 2014 that the Sub-Labans have been living with their extended family in another apartment for 30 years, since 1984. From 2010 until 2014, they only "pretended" to live in the apartment. Electricity and water bills for the property during this period showed virtually no usage, and a neighbor living in the apartment opposite testified that no one had lived in the apartment.
2015-12-25 00:00:00
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