The New York Times · 13 December 1983

CP-1983-020

West Bank Censorship Is Criticized in Report

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Transcribed from the clipping

A report issued yesterday said that it had found “pervasive” censorship of Arab publications in the occupied West Bank that “mirrors the larger struggle between Palestinians and Israelis.” The 167-page study was commissioned by the Fund for Free Expression, a New York-based affiliate of the Helsinki Watch and America's Watch, groups that monitor civil liberties.

The author of the report is Dr. Meron Benvinisti, a former Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem who is also an activist in the Israeli peace movement. According to the report, Israeli censors do not merely suppress “supposed national security secrets.”

“Rather,” it says, “the primary concern is to eradicate expression that could foster Palestinian nationalist feelings, or suggests that Palestinians are a nation with a national heritage.” The study said all materials must be submitted to the censors, including photos, advertisements and crossword puzzles.

The report said that of 1,077 English-language items by one newspaper last year, 367 were suppressed and 214 more where partly censored. A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy, Victor Harel, a press counsellor, said he had not seen the report and could not comment until he did.

How this transcription was made

No graphic physical detail; nothing was compressed. Whole clipping read from 4x magnified crops in three overlapping strips. — No masthead, no folio, no dateline, no byline anywhere on the clipping — it is a cut column with only headline and text. The date 1983-12-13 is Maria's label and cannot be checked against the page. The story's own time marker is "A report issued yesterday", which would put the report's release the day before whatever the publication date is. The content is consistent with the early 1980s: the Fund for Free Expression report on West Bank censorship by Meron Benvinisti was issued in December 1983. But that is outside knowledge, not the page. — This is the complete text of the clipping. "where partly censored" in the sixth paragraph is as printed — the page sets "where" for "were". "counsellor" is also as printed. "Benvinisti" is the page's spelling.

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