Eradicating Palestine

The Israeli Ministry of Tourism has been showing its true colours on a series of new adverts in London's Underground network. The advert, extolling the beauties of Israel's landscapes and its ancient heritage (all true, of course, just a matter of acknowledging the diversity of cultures that heritage derives from), also includes in glorious yellow technicolour a map of 'Israel.' As well as the 48 territories, this includes the illegally-occupied West Bank, Gaza and Golan Heights, without even the dotted line demarcations of most conventional maps. Palestine has, in this version of the map, been totally eradicated - which I suppose is the wet dream of most of the Israeli state's propagandists.


The reality of the situation, and the agenda that this apparently innocuous little tourist advert is part of, is better illustrated by the various maps showing the swallowing up of Palestinian land by settlements. The best versions are often to be found at the website of Israeli human rights organisation BtSelem.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has a form letter of protest at these adverts - I tweaked mine slightly - to be sent to the ASA, Underground officials and the agency responsible for the advertising boards, at the following email addresses:
Advertising Standards Agency Email: new.complaints@asa.org.uk
CBS Outdoor Ltd Email: customer service manager, Richard Ashman, richard.ashman@cbsoutdoor.co.uk
Transport for London Email: enquiry@tube.tfl.gov.uk

DRAFT LETTER:

Dear …
I have noticed with concern a poster which is currently being displayed on London Underground’s advertising sites.
The poster has been produced by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism as part of an advertising campaign to attract visitors to Israel.
The map on the advertisement portrays Israel as an area which incorporates the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights.
However, none of these areas are part of Israel, but instead have been subject to military occupation or blockade by Israel since 1967.
UN Resolution 242 calls on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, which are Palestinian territories, but Israel remains in violation of this resolution, and also maintains its illegal occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights.
Israel has sealed off the Gaza Strip since 2005, making access virtually impossible, resulting in severe shortages of food, medicine and clean water, which has left the Strip’s 1.4 million Palestinians facing a humanitarian crisis. Any ‘tourists’ would be unable to visit the Gaza Strip, as Israel prevents even humanitarian aid workers and lawyers from entering.
In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Israel continues to build settlements in direct contravention of international law, taking land from the Palestinians to do so and demolishing their homes and farms in the process.
In addition, Israel is in the process of building the Apartheid Wall through the West Bank, which, when completed, will expropriate 50% of Palestinian land in the West Bank, depriving farmers and families of their livelihoods and water supply, and making movement for Palestinians almost impossible.
The Wall breaches numerous international agreements, including the Fourth Geneva Convention’s articles on the destruction of land and/or property (article 53) and on collective punishment (article 33).
The Israeli Ministry of Tourism’s assertion, through the map displayed on the poster, is insidious and wrong, and I urgently call on you to remove it from all its sites to avoid being complicit in this deliberate misinformation.
I look forward to your response.
Yours ...