This past weekend saw a flurry of articles and arguments surrounding the peace process and settlements in the state of Israel.
Ben Ehrenreich, a novelist and features writer, wrote a long piece in the New York Times Magazine about the Palestinian village Nabi Saleh, where residents have been demonstrating every Friday against the encroachment of a nearby settlement for years. The article is titled: "Is This is where the Third Intifada Will Start."
In conjunction with this, Ehrenreich published an op-ed in the L.A. Times, arguing that Zionist ideology is at the core of Israel’s problems, reigniting old debates about its validity of Zionism. Ehrenreich is also interviewed about his piece in the New York Times here.
Meanwhile, Jodi Rudoren had a front-page story in the Times about a batch of new apartments being built and bought by Orthodox Jews in the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem.
Jonathan Tobin of Commentary sees inconsistencies in Ehreinreich’s articles and believes that Rudoren’s piece shows the Times has a bias toward articles undermining the validity of Zionism and the Israeli state. In 2008, JTA covered the reverse situation: Arabs moving into Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem.
