"Palestinians rights to assemble, to visit family and friends, and to access institutions are crippled by an Israeli police presence that would’ve made Mao giddy and George Orwell vomit. This is in addition to a twenty-five-foot-high wall that is over 400 miles long, equipped with electrical fencing, sniper towers, and razor wire that keeps Palestinians where the Israeli military wants them."
Martin failed to mention that over the past three years the number of Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank was reduced from 41 to 15, through which traffic flows freely. Moreover, as Palestinian President Abbas indicated in May 2009 to Jackson Diehl of The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/28/AR2009052803614.html):
"'I will wait for Hamas to accept international commitments. I will wait for Israel to freeze settlements,' he said. 'Until then, in the West Bank we have a good reality . . . the people are living a normal life.'"
People in the West Bank are living a "normal life"? Peculiar, that's not what Martin would have us believe.
But what about Martin's twenty-five-foot-high, 400-mile-long "wall"? In fact, the Israeli West Bank separation barrier is some 470 miles long, but only 10% of the barrier consists of a concrete wall; the remainder is a fence.
Martin didn't know this? The Columbia Journalism Review didn't conduct a fact check? Anyone traveling along Israel's Route 6 can see this for himself or herself.
More to the point, who is Martin? Beside his article there is an "About the Author" blurb stating:
"Justin D. Martin , Ph.D., is the CLAS-Honors Preceptor of Journalism at the University of Maine and authors the Borders & Bylines column for CJR."
But now do a Google search using his name. Surprise: The American University of Cairo tells us (http://www.aucegypt.edu/fac/Profiles/Pages/JustinMartin.aspx):
"Justin D. Martin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication.
. . . .
His research and writing have appeared in . . . Columbia Journalism Review . . . ."
So why does the Columbia Journalism Review only refer to Martin's association with the University of Maine? When writing a scathing article about Israeli journalism, his association with a university in Egypt is irrelevant?
Martin has just written another Columbia Journalism Review article entitled "Which Countries Jail the Most Journalists Per Capita?" (http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/which_countries_jail_the_most.php), condemning - you'll never guess in a million years - Israel. In his article dated April 2, 2012, Martin writes:
"By far the country that jails the most journalists per capita is Eritrea; Israel is a distant second. The CPJ report was quick to list Iran as the world’s premier jailor of journalists, and the Islamic Republic is up there, but clearly Eritrea and Israel also need to do some explaining. Israel jails more journalists than either the Palestinian Authority (zero) or militant group Hamas (three), both of which it criticizes for human rights miscarriages."
Martin's article notes that four journalists have been jailed in Israel, which has a population of seven million. However, as observed in the Elder of Ziyon blog (see: http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-to-misuse-statistics-israel-accused.html) and by Omri Ceren in Commentary (see: http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2012/04/03/academic-attack-on-israel-press-freedoms/#more-789797), Martin's article fails to consider the extremely high number of journalists working in Israel, the numbers of arrested journalists cited by Martin are incorrect (e.g., in Turkey), and at least one of the four journalists detained by Israel engaged in terrorist activity.
I would only add that Martin might want to consider reading David Keyes April 5 opinion piece in The Washington Post, entitled "Where’s the outcry over Palestinian censorship?" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/silence-on-palestinian-censorship/2012/04/05/gIQAZ3khxS_story.html). Keyes, who is executive director of the New York based organization Advancing Human Rights and co-founder of CyberDissidents.org, writes:
"A university lecturer and single mother of two, Ismat Abdul-Khaleq, was arrested in the West Bank last week for criticizing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Facebook.
. . . .
In recent months, Hamas has cracked down on dissidents, women and online activists. It has arrested journalists, banned a social media conference and jailed several bloggers.
. . . .
Under Abbas, the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank has replicated Hamas’s brutality.
. . . .
George Canawati, director of Radio Bethlehem 2000, was arrested in September over a Facebook post that criticized Bethlehem’s health department.
Mamdouh Hamamreh, an employee of al-Quds TV, was detained last fall and charged with libel and slander against Abbas for allegedly posting on Facebook a picture of Abbas standing next to a photo of an actor who plays a traitor on a Syrian soap opera.
Journalist Rami Samara was held in February after criticizing Palestinian leaders on Facebook. And Palestinian journalist Youssef al-Shayeb was jailed last month on allegations of defaming public officials after he reported on corruption among Palestinian diplomats.
. . . .
On Sunday, yet another journalist, Tarek Khamis, was arrested by Palestinian forces after he posted criticism on Facebook of the recent Palestinian Authority crackdown."
Yet according to Martin's article, "Israel jails more journalists than either the Palestinian Authority (zero) or militant group Hamas (three), both of which it criticizes for human rights miscarriages." Zero arrested by the Palestinian Authority? What's wrong with Martin's math? The Columbia Journalism Review, published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, needs to seriously examine the kind of "journalism" it is fostering.
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