'Travel Palestine' ad is a 'step back' to rejectionsim

Board of Deputies of British Jews responds to text in "National Geographic" ad which seems to blot out Israel's existence.

By JONNY PAUL
travel palestine 311 (photo credit: courtesy)
travel palestine 311
(photo credit: courtesy)
LONDON - The Board of Deputies of British Jews said on Monday that it found it “deeply disturbing” at this crucial period in the peace process that Israel’s very existence is being denied in a “Travel Palestine” advert in this month’s National Geographic magazine. The advertisement appears to blot out the existence of the State of Israel.
“This is not merely an affront to International Law but seems to be a step back to the darkest days of rejectionism and confrontation,” it said.
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“The Board of Deputies, like all people and institutions of goodwill, supports the efforts to achieve a lasting peace through a two state solution, recognizing the aspirations of all peoples in the region.
“In the very strongest terms we call upon the ASA to take immediate action to correct this advertisement’s dangerous distortion of the facts," a statement stressed.
Britain’s advertising regulator launched an investigation following a barrage of complaints the advert. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media, told The Jerusalem Post on Friday that in the last few days it had received 60 complaints about the advert – published by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, “the official website for tourism in Palestine” – which appeared in National Geographic’s Traveller magazine.
“I can confirm that the ASA has received 60 complaints about the Travel Palestine ad that appeared in the National Geographic magazine,” an ASA spokesman told the Post. “I can also confirm that the ASA has launched a formal investigation into the ad.”
According to the ad, “Palestine lies between the Mediterranean coast and Jordan River, at the crossroads between Africa and Middle East.”
“If you consult the map of this region you will see that this is like describing Portugal as lying between the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean,” said London lawyer David Lewis in a letter to the ASA. “At the very least it implies that ‘Palestine’ has a Mediterranean coastline; but while this is true as regards to Gaza, that territory is not within the de facto jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
“More seriously, it implies that Palestine occupies the whole or the bulk of the territory between the Mediterranean and the Jordan, ignoring the existence of Israel.”