Saturday Star Spews MRN Propaganda

The Saturday Star last week reported on 10 South African families that recently immigrated to the Israeli city of Modi'in.

Reporter Sheree Rossouw critically describes the city as located on "disputed land that straddles the West Bank". Does this mean that Jews are not allowed to live even close to the Green line? Modi'in may be close to the West Bank, but it is on the Israeli side of the Green line!

This issue propped up last year when the Palestinian propaganda machine known as the Media Review Network frantically attempted to spark outrage aimed at Jews moving to Modi'in. At the time I exlained

Modi'in is firmly WITHIN Israel's 1948 borders, within the Green Line, but close to it. All the land on which the town has been built and on which new neighbourhoods are slated to be built was Israeli territory BEFORE the 1967 Six Day War. The city of Modi’in today is located in the picturesque foothills of the Jerusalem mountains midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It is not and has never been in the West Bank – it is sited on pre-1967 land within the Green Line and has always been Jewish land within the Jewish state. The nearest Arab village to it is Beit Sira. The land between Modi’in and Beit Sira was controlled by Jordan and was part of the area designated ‘no-man’s land’ between 1948 and 1967. During that time no claims to the land were made by the Arabs or the Jordanians. Since 1967 Modi’in (and before its establishment, the land on which it has been developed) has been recognised by the members of the United Nations as an Israeli city built on the border-line but not inside the West Bank. Between 1949 until the early 1980s, the land on which Modi'in stands today was state land used by the army as a firing zone and training base.

Suraya Dadoo, responsible for the spurious lies in the original MRN press release last year, is quoted by the Saturday Star...

But Suraya Dadoo, a hate mongerer researcher at the Media Review Network, warned that South- African Jews settling in Modi'in - located near the Green Line, which separates Israeli and Palestinian territory - would be aiding a "land grab".

A land grab? Caught between Dadoo's fevered imaginations is a tiny bit of truth. Modi'in is located near the Green line. But not mentioned by Dadoo or the Saturday Star is that it is on the Israeli side near the Green line.

Are Israelis not allowed to develop cities on Israeli land that is "close" to the Green line? And why does the Star's headline describe Modi'in as a West Ban city?

Dadoo tricks the Star into believing that she is worried that the development of Modi'in will annul (her words) the option of a two state solution.  It may interest the Star that the Hamas supporters of the Media Review Network are absolutely opposed to any two state solution, preferring the destruction of Israel by demographic subjugation, something they euphemistically refer to as the "single binational state" solution.

Comments

[Garth]

The days when The Star was a trusted source of information are but a distant memory. It's probably only a matter of time before it goes down the tabloid route, where I believe it really belongs in its current form.

[Steve]

I think the Star is probably the best newspaper we have at the moment. Besides for the odd article where they havent checked their facts, they tend to be the most balanced paper when it comes to the Middle East.

The disturbing trnd is that all media outlets, whether it be newspapers or radio stations, are starting to use the MRN as a legitimate source of informarion.

[Anti-UN]

Is there any difference between the Sat Star and the Star?

Steve, what you say is correct when referring to the Star, but the Saturday Star is often not as balanced (imo) as the weekday Star newspapers.