RUTHFULLY YOURS

The British Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned the Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic mission from using a map showing all of Israel as “Palestine.

The “Discover Palestine” map showed Israel – from the Lebanese border to the Egyptian border – in the colors of the Palestinian Authority flag and included tourism links without referring to the State of Israel.

The ASA agreed with public complaints that the map in effect declared the country of Israel to be non-existent. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has told English-speaking audiences that he would recognize Israel based on the temporary 1949 Armistice Lines but not as a Jewish state. However, PA Arabic-language media and official statements depict the entire country as “Palestine.”

“We considered that the average consumer would infer from the map and the linked information that the total area represented by the map was the occupied Palestinian territories. Because this was not the case we concluded that the website was misleading,” the ASA ruled.

The Palestinian Authority’s diplomatic mission argued that it has changed the title of the map to “Palestine in 1948,” claiming that it represents “historical Palestine.” In fact, the term “Palestinians” in reference to Arabs in Israel was created years later.

The Palestinian Authority in recent years has educated children and the public at large that all of Israeli cities are “Palestinian,” and the map in Britain refers to the ancient port of Jaffa (Yafo) as “a Palestinian Arab city… militarily occupied by Israel since 1948.”

Haifa was also listed as being part of “Palestine.”

The Palestinian Authority map also presented a “united Arab Jerusalem” without even bothering to separate the city according to the Armistice Lines.

The British advertising authority said, “We noted that this section of the website made no reference to east or west Jerusalem or the fact that the status of the city was the subject of much international dispute. We considered that the website implied that the entire city was part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Because we understood that that was not the case, we concluded that the website was misleading.”

The map also rewrote history concerning Hevron, which it described as “one of the oldest towns in Palestine.” Hevron is the home of the Patriarchs Cave, recorded in the Bible as being purchased by Avraham for a huge sum of money – “400 pieces of silver.”