Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The BBC has admitted that a reference it made to Israeli soldiers dying on the same day US activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza was not ‘duly accurate’. No Israeli soldiers were killed on that day.

The claim was made by veteran BBC presenter, Martha Kearney, on BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme, on the day an Israeli court ruled that Israel was not to blame for Corrie’s death.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has been lobbying the BBC for seven months, since the broadcast in August 2012, to extract an admission that Kearney’s false claim constituted a breach of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines on Accuracy.

During a segment dealing with the court ruling on 28th August, Kearney interviewed the Israeli government spokesperson, Mark Regev, to ask for his views on the case.

In the course of the interview, she said to him: ‘Clearly Rachel Corrie was one of the casualties of what happened that day – and I know Israeli soldiers died too’.

She concluded her sentence with a question: ‘But has this meant there’s a re-think of the policy of what was happening at that time – bulldozing Palestinian houses?’

PSC objected on the grounds that Kearney’s statement was false and on the additional grounds that the presenter seemed to be implying conflict ‘that day’ between Corrie – an unarmed civilian protestor – and the Israeli army which had resulted in armed Israeli soldiers being killed.

The organisation, which campaigns for justice and self-determination for the Palestinian people, said this amounted to a breach of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines, in particular:

‘The BBC must not knowingly and materially mislead its audiences. We should not distort known facts, present inverted material as fact or otherwise undermine our audiences’ trust in our content.’

Today, the BBC Trust ruled that there had been no breach of the guidelines. In its decision, published on the BBC website, the Trust acknowledged that Kearney’s question ‘was poorly phrased and therefore gave a false impression’. However, the Trust added that ‘there was no evidence to support the assertion that the audience were knowingly misled.’

The Trust also said Kearney’s question ‘had not been duly accurate; the BBC should have apologised and this had been done at Stage One.’

In an online apology printed in September 2012, the BBC continued to defend Kearney, saying: ‘Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the previous week.’ However, neither of those soldiers were killed in Gaza, but died in the West Bank, and their deaths were entirely unrelated to Corrie and her actions on 16th March 2003, the day she was killed.

In the course of seven months of correspondence, the BBC repeatedly said Kearney was right to mention the non-existent deaths of Israeli soldiers as this provided ‘context for the incident’ and for the ‘overall situation’. When questioned on why Kearney hadn’t mentioned Palestinians being killed, including Palestinian children killed on the same day Corrie was killed, the BBC said:

‘The fact that other [Palestinian] deaths occurred on the same day as hers is incidental to that topic, and I therefore don’t agree that the omission of that information rendered the report inaccurate or misleading.’

Amena Saleem, of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: ‘The hypocrisy of the BBC is breathtaking. In the same breath it is saying that Kearney’s fabrication of the deaths of Israeli soldiers on the day Rachel Corrie was killed provides ‘context’ for what happened, but to mention the deaths of Palestinians, including children, who were actually killed on that day is irrelevant.’

Saleem added: ‘While the BBC has admitted that one of its star presenters was not ‘duly accurate’ when she claimed to know that Israeli soldiers died on the same day as Corrie, it cannot just come out and say she was wrong and shouldn’t have said this at all. For seven months, the BBC has done its utmost to justify Kearney’s false statement and has made itself look ridiculous in the process.’

In total, 11 complainants took the case to the BBC Trust. Saleem said she hoped this would show the BBC that it could not take its misreporting lightly. She added: ‘In the week Rachel Corrie was killed, 27 Palestinians, including seven children, were killed by Israeli forces. If you listened to the World at One on 28th August 2012, you would think Rachel Corrie and some Israeli soldiers were killed in related incidents. You would be completely misinformed, and you would have no idea of the scale of the slaughter by Israel against the Palestinians. This, unfortunately, is par for the course with BBC reporting on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.’

March 30, 2013, marks the 37th annual commemoration of Land Day in Palestine when in 1976 Israeli military forces killed six Palestinians and wounded and arrested hundreds more during what began as nonviolent demonstrations. Protests in several Palestinian villages were in opposition to the Israeli government’s announcement of a plan to expropriate several thousand acres of land to build new settlements.  Land Day has more recently become an international day of protest through Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS).  Each year, people around the world join in solidarity actions targeting companies operating in illegal Israeli settlements.

We hope you will help us commemorate Land Day by educating about the Israeli company SodaStream that produces at home beverage carbonation systems.   We know you’ve heard about SodaStream, but did you know that the company is located on occupied Palestinian land in an illegal settlement, in violation of international law? Your local SodaStream distributor might not know either!  Follow this link for a template of a letter you can send or deliver  to stores near you asking them to stop selling SodaStream products in your community!

For those in the Seattle area March 30th, come out and join our friends and partners at Palestine Solidarity Committee-Seattle (PSC) for an afternoon of music, dance, and BDS action beginning at 1 pm at Westlake Park at 4th and Pine. Click here for more details. In other places, create your own gathering to creatively carry the word about SodaStream to local businesses supporting the settlement enterprise and Israeli occupation.

For more information about Land Day follow these links:
Press TV-Land Day
BDS Movement- Land Day

The Rachel Corrie Foundation for peace and justice fully endorses the 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS.  We continue to increase our BDS efforts locally, nationally, and internationally. If you are interested in getting involved, please let us know! Send inquiries to amirah@rachelcorriefoundation.org.

Reem Kelani will provide an authoritative, captivating introduction to music of the Arab uprisings drawn from her experiences in Tahrir Square during the 2011 Egyptian revolution, with short demonstrations of song accompanied by jazz pianist Bruno Heinen. The singer’s debut album “Sprinting Gazelle: Palestinian songs from the Motherland and the Diaspora” gained worldwide acclaim for musical excellence and intellectual integrity.

“Her voice combines the poignancy of Billie Holiday with the glass-busting power of Aretha Franklin ” – Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, The Independent

She currently studies and records the music of Egyptian composer Sayyid Darwish (1892-1923), “the father of contemporary Arabic music.” Her profile in the Arab and non-Arab world continues to grow, all the more to her credit as an unsigned artist who has preserved her independence – musically, spiritually and politically. For the past decade, Kelani has worked with the best of British jazz musicians, introducing them to and training them in Arabic music. She has toured extensively in the UK and internationally, and brought musicians together on international tours, extending her UK based line-up to include performers from Syria, Egypt, Iran, Turkey and Portugal. Kelani is back in Washington five years after her residency at Seattle International Children’s Festival. She will also perform April 12th at Seattle’s Town Hall.

“Palestinian singer Reem Kelani was a new name in my world, but the woman was so endearing I’ll never forget her.” – Gary Bannister, Artistic director, Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley, Seattle

Tickets: $15, Student/low income: $10
Traditions Café and World Folk Art
300 5th Avenue SW, Olympia, WA 98501
360-705-2819

http://reemkelani.com/
http://www.traditionsfairtrade.com/pages/tradhome.html?../events/index.php~Content

This event is cosponsored by the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.

The Corries’ Ten-Year Quest for Justice—Tom Wright & Therese Saliba
March 15, 2013

On March 18, 2013, Democracy Now! covered Rachel’s story.  View the story here (segment starts at 13:23)

Click here to view the embedded video.

Link to this video on youtube

Call to Action!

Farmers attacked by Israeli army and settlers, preventing them from planting olive trees in memory of Rachel Corrie

By Lisa Marchant

Farmers peacefully planting olive trees in the land of Asira al Qiblya were today disrupted by Israeli soldiers who halted the planting. The presence of Palestinians on their own land also attracted the attention of illegal settlers from the nearby settlement of Yizhar, leading to them attacking Palestinians farmers and volunteers, throwing and catapulting stones. The army moved immediately to protect the attackers, shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at Palestinians.

The olive trees were being planted in the vicinity of an Israeli military tower, recently built on a hill above Asira al Qiblya. Because of this, soldiers hassled farmers throughout the day, with an escalation of hostility mid-morning, when around 20 soldiers approached and demanded that farmers should stop planting trees and leave the land, despite the fact that the Palestinian owner of the land notified them that he wished to continue farming. The commander advised that the village should contact the Israeli district coordination office (DCO) to request permission – if permission was granted, he intimated, then the farmers would be allowed to access their land unhindered.

However, the villagers of Asira al Qiblya know this not to be the case. Just last week, access was requested and granted for three days through the DCO – despite this, a shepherd grazing his herd on the land during this “permitted time” was ordered to leave the land and was severely beaten by soldiers. It is clear that the outcome for villagers is the same whether permission is granted by Israel or not.  Continue reading…