Small Victory at the Associated Press


Friends,

The Associated Press missed badly on a point implicating the creation of Israel in 1948 for the displacement of Palestinians. As you know, AP is picked up by newspapers throughout the country and the world. After two emails and a somewhat tense phone call with a member of their world news department, the story was changed. Below is one of the letters followed by the change.

Michael



From: mberenhaus@comcast.net
To: info@ap.org
Subject: Clarification requested
Date: Thursday, May 15, 2008 1:52:43 PM

Dear Editor,

Contrary to the article by Jennifer Loven, "Bush envisions Middle East free of oppression" (May 16, 2008), there were no Palestinians displaced following the creation of the Jewish state in 1948. The Palestinians were displaced only after they started a genocidal war against Israel - and lost. This is the history. What has been reported is just Palestinian propaganda that has made its way as alleged fact into mainstream media sources like AP.

Please clarify/correct.

Sincerely,

Michael Berenhaus
Potomac, MD


The quote:

"Bush made no acknowledgment of the hardship Palestinians suffered when hundreds of thousands were displaced or otherwise left following the creation of the Jewish state in 1948, a counterpoint to Israel's two weeks of jubilant celebrations." - Bush envisions Middle East free of oppression (May 16, 2008)

New quote: “He did not mention the Palestinians' plight” - Bush urges Mideast leaders to advance democracy (May 18, 2008)