The current media coverage of tribal struggles in the Middle East is fraught with complexities and contradictions. The situation in the West Bank and Gaza, with Israel’s establishment of settlements and the resulting occupation, is a source of intense debate and contention.
As highlighted by Ms. Pillay in her statement, successive Israeli governments have ignored international law by creating settlements and transferring Israeli civilians into the West Bank and Gaza. This has, in essence, established facts on the ground, which are aimed at securing permanent Israeli control. Occupations resulting from unlawful armed attacks are distinct disputes, allowing the occupied state to legally exercise its right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter to recover its territory.
The 1947 UN declaration, which is foundational to understanding the conflict. It underscores the legal aspects of the situation and the potential rights and claims of both parties involved. In this context, Hamas, as the governing authority in Gaza, has a legal right to use military force to liberate their illegally occupied land, based on these UN resolutions. but of coures the heart of the matter lies in the interpretation and application of international law and resolutions.
The media’s role in disseminating information, which lacks a comprehensive view of these complexities, is a part of the current mess. #mainstreaming media falls short of its mission to tell the “truth.” Instead, they mix facts with biased narratives, creating confusion and misinterpretation. To address this and build a path toward peace, we need media that focuses on presenting the facts more clearly and more objectively, as laid out in UN statements and latter actions. This means refraining from propagating falsehoods or favouring one side over the other. The historical context, and the UN’s involvement, can serve as a useful resource for those seeking to understand the mess of the Middle East conflict.
Untangling Middle East conflicts, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, needs a better commitment to truth and accuracy in media coverage. By being honest to the principles and resolutions of international bodies like the UN, we might achieve a clearer understanding to work towards a just and lasting peace in the region.
A simple view of the current mess making in our media coverage of the tribal struggles in the Middle East.
“By ignoring international law in establishing or facilitating the establishment of settlements, and directly or indirectly transferring Israeli civilians into these settlements, successive Israel governments have set facts on the ground to ensure permanent Israeli control in the West Bank,” said Ms. Pillay. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129722
“occupations resulting from unlawful armed attacks are indeed distinct disputes that do not fall under the prohibition contained in the UNGA 2625, and the occupied state may therefore legally exercise its right to unilateral and/or collective self-defence against the occupying power(s) under Article 51 of the UN Charter to recover its territory.” Https://www.dlpforum.org/2023/04/15/lawfully-exercising-the-right-to-self-defence-under-article-51-of-the-un-charter-to-recover-occupied-territory/
In this the Hamas government has a legal right to use military force to liberate illegally occupied land under the UN 1947 declaration https://web.archive.org/web/20171010090147/https://unispal.un.org/DPA/DPR/unispal.nsf/0/7F0AF2BD897689B785256C330061D253
Our #mainstreaming media coverage is mixing this simple story with lies and propaganda. In this, they are failing in the self-declared mission of telling the “truth”. This is in part why we have way too much mess, and yes nobody in this is black and white good or bad, let’s try and stop our media adding mess to this, and please try to keep the simple clear truth of the above UN statements and actions and build a peace FROM THIS.
For a basic overview, a Wikipedia article: Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_and_the_United_Nations