Sloppy journalism on Gaza

I happened to hear a CBS Radio news report today (1:00 PM Mountain time), and I couldn't believe the spin that they put on this thing.

The report began, "Before 1967, all of the land in Gaza belonged to the Palestinians. Soon, it will again." Putting aside the obvious bias in this statement, let us examine its factuality (or lack thereof). The land in Gaza has never belonged to the Palestinians. Before 1967, the Gaza Strip belonged to Egypt, which took it as a consolation prize for losing the Israeli war of independence in 1948 (the same time Jordan occupied the West Bank). The land was to be used for a Palestinian state, but Egypt and Jordan (not Israel) decided not to allow that and take the land for themselves. Before that, Gaza belonged to the British. Before that, the area was under the control of the following groups, starting with the most recent: the Ottoman Turks, the Egyptian Mamelukes, Saladin's forces, the Crusaders, the Seljuk Turks, the Islamic Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and the Roman Empire (Thanks to World Book Encyclopedia for that chronology). I could go back farther, but that would be pointless as I have already far enough back to predate the inception of both the Islamic religion an the term "Palestine".

My point is this: There has never been a self-governed Arab state in the Holy land. In fact the use of the term "Palestinian" to describe the Arabs of the region only goes back to the 1940s. Before that, there was no such thing as a Palestinian (or a Jordanian, for that matter), there were only Syrian Arabs.

So, CBS Radio News, it that a sufficiently adequate fact check?

Tags: Gaza , Israel, Disengagement