DOING THE TWIST -- SETTLERS / SETTLEMENTS: Part 6 of 7

The twisted terminology of Arabists have dominated the media for several decades and disinform children, youth and the general public via reference materials disseminated by highly respected publishers. The terms under discussion are found in online databases of Grolier, World Book, Gale, ABC-CLIO, and Facts on File. There are as well several well-known British publishers (Routledge, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Oxford University Press). Unfortunately, bias in publications from Great Britain can only be surprising in the breach. One leading indicator to a publisher’s dedication to present controversial issues in an unbiased manner is the language that is permitted, or not permitted, to be used in articles on these issues.

  
Following is a dissection of the terms SETTLERS and SETTLEMENTS, in standard use by the above-mentioned publishers, that works to delegitimize the Jewish State of Israel.

By dictionary definition, a settler is “a person who settles in a new country or area,” and a settlement is “a small community, village or group of houses in an thinly populated area.” Another definition of a settlement is “the settling of persons in a new country or place.”¹ Although these definitions were obtained from a dictionary published in 1969, they do not differ from the following definitions found on the internet today: “set·tle·ment  a new colony, or a place newly colonized; a small or isolated community; village.”² 

Only when referring to settlement in Israeli territories are these terms used in a pejorative context. The settlements are perceived as “illegal” by the United Nations (UN) and, thus, by the rest of the world’s Arabists. This despite (1) the fact that the UN has become a corrupt body dominated by politically semi-free and unfree countries antithetical to the Jewish State; and (2) the Mandate for Palestine, which “laid down the Jewish legal right under international law to settle anywhere in western Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, an entitlement unaltered in international law.” The Mandate is still in effect, it has not lapsed, and its prescriptions are still valid and legal.³

¹  The Random House Dictionary of the English Language. (unabridged). New York: Random House, 1969.

²  http://www.yourdictionary.com/settlement

³  http://www.mythsandfacts.com/article_print.asp?ArtID=101