After Syrian mortar fire from Syria’s civil war reportedly strayed into the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights last weekend, some U.S. journalists seemed confused about the political geography of the region.
The Golan Heights are a part of Syria that’s occupied by Israel–not part of Israel. (Photo: Job de Graaf)
For instance, CBS Evening News reported (11/12/12) reported:
Syria’s civil war has now touched Israel. For the second straight day, a shell from Syria landed in Israeli territory.
Well, no. The shells in question landed on the Golan Heights, a part of Syria that has been occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War in 1967–but is internationally recognized as continuing to be Syrian territory.
A CNN Wire report, “For Second Time in 24 Hours, Fire From Syria Hits Israel” (11/12/12), mentioned that Israel “occupies” the Golan Heights, then pivoted back to the headline’s theme, the official Israeli view, that the Golan Heights belonged to Israel:
Fire coming from Syria into Israel “will not be tolerated and shall be responded to with severity,” the complaint said, according to Israeli military sources. Israeli Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich said she doesn’t think the fire from Syria into Israel was intentional.
In a later version of the story (11/13/12), CNN Wire corrected the mistake–after a fashion–with this confusing paragraph: “The Golan is regarded internationally as occupied territory despite Israeli governmental control. It is home to 41,000 residents, including Jews, Druze and Alawites. Israel seized the territory from Syria during the 1967 Israel-Arab war, and it was eventually annexed.”
This so-called annexation is not recognized by any other nation, and was rejected unanimously by the UN Security Council in Resolution 497 (12/17/81). In the resolution, the Security Council declared “the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights…null and void and without international legal effect,” and demanded “that Israel, the occupying Power, should rescind forthwith its decision.”
A Boston Globe photo caption (11/13/12), remarking on Israel’s response to the Syrian mortar fire, originally read: “Artillery shells (above) fired by government forces exploded Monday in Bariqa, Syria, near Israeli territory in the Golan Heights.” A day later, the changed wording on the Web correctly referred to the Golan as “Israeli-held territory.”
A widely circulated Associated Press report (e.g., Detroit News, 11/13/12) quoted former Israeli official Dore Gold suggesting that the Golan Heights were Israeli territory, adding that Israel, in AP‘s words, “has found itself in a difficult position as the fighting rages near the frontier with the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau it captured from Syria in 1967 and later annexed.”
Under international law, a country may not annex territory seized in battle. Even the U.S., Israel’s staunchest ally, considers the Golan to be occupied Syrian territory, and voted in favor of Resolution 497 condemning the annexation. It says something about how profoundly ingrained pro-Israel bias is in U.S. media that its journalists, often far too dependent on U.S. officials, have absorbed Tel Aviv’s perceptions of Middle East geography even more thoroughly than they have Washington’s.
Ummm, rockets also landed in Tel Aviv: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151145480557832
Why totally ignore the Tel Aviv news? And you need to look up the definition of territory.
Call it the “Smuckers” portrayal of the Middle East
If it’s Israel
It’s got to be good
The rockets in Tel Aviv are from Gaza–they are not related to the Syrian civil war.
“Under international law, a country may not annex territory seized in battle.” Was this a law before or after Nakba in 1948?
This is very confusing, along with “international waters,” because nations seem to break that law a lot too. Well, Hitler said that the Treaty of Versailles was, “just a scrap of paper.” Are we repeating that now too?
if israel says it then the american media must co-sign on the bottom line. (did i just say that?)
Thousands of rockets are falling on Israel.Lets all agree if it does not stop Israel has the right…and the means to defend herself.
Yes Israel does have the right to defend itself, but does anyone else? It would appear not. Also yet another example of the “Liberal” press that is really highly Conservative. Mistaking The Golan Heights for anything other than occupied territory is an interesting slip. Keep it coming.
If we are talking about security, then shouldn’t the Syrians have the right to use force to retake their illegally seized territory?
Illegaly seized territory?If anyone attacked me from Canada and I was Obama…I would take that territory and set it as a buffer against further attack.And if my neighbor came around bleating for its return…..Well their is a finger gesture that works well.