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LETTER: Incorrect statistics on Palestinian prisoners

February 19th, 2018 8:00 PM

By Southern Star Team

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His report of the number of Palestinians in prison in Israel is directly contradicted by statistics published by Betselem, the Palestinian 'human rights' organisation.  

SIR – Daniel Teegan's letter (January 20th, 'Pacification of Palestine') contains several inaccuracies. His report of the number of Palestinians in prison in Israel is directly contradicted by statistics published by Betselem, the Palestinian 'human rights' organisation.  

Their November 2017 report indicated that around 5,900 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons, less than half the number provided by Mr Teegan.  Of those prisoners, almost 5,200 (85%) were serving a sentence or detained awaiting the conclusion of legal proceedings. The slow decline in the number of prisoners in the last six months indicates that they are not imprisoned 'permanently' as Mr Teegan states.

The UN has not condemned the ‘ethnic cleansing of Palestine.’ The UN has in fact disowned a blatantly biased report that accused Israel of ethnic cleansing.  This report was written by Richard Falk, a former UN official who was condemned repeatedly by the UK and other governments for anti-semitism and who was denounced in 2011 by his own boss, former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, for espousing 9/11 conspiracy theories.

The Palestinian population has increased by about one million in the last ten years – a strange sort of ethnic cleansing!

The entirety of Mr Teegan's letter, including the modern variant of the anti-semitic trope of global domination by Israel (i.e. Jews), should be treated with the same respect he apparently accords to readily available statistics on prisoners and populations: in other words, none.

Yours,

Teresa Trainor,

Dublin.

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