Sunday, May 12, 2013

A Bowen Blooper

A BBC Jeremy Bowen bloop.

Here, on Jerusalem:

WHAT’S THE FIRST THING YOU DO? 

You should go to the Old City, home to the Western Wall (the holiest place in the world for Jews to pray), the Aq sa mosque and the Dome of the Rock, not to mention the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I like to visit the Old City’s various quarters – Jewish, Palestinian and Armenian.

a) the Western Wall is not the holiest place for the Jews to pray.

The Temple Mount is but we are prohibited from doing so by the Israel government since Muslims will riot and engage in violence.

b) there are but four "Quarters" in Jerusalem's Old City: Arab, Jewish, Armenian and Christian.

No, no "Palestinian Quarter".

The quality of BBC information.

And Bowen lived there for five years.

^

2 comments:

Unknown said...

You have caught Jeremy's mistakes, to be sure. But the four traditional quarters are the Jewish, Christian, Armenian, and Muslim (not Arab) Quarters, at least since the 19th century.

So, I guess even an American Jew who makes aliyah to Israel and becomes a citizen, who then lives and works in Israel - and even participates in the government! - can, even after decades of living and working in Israel, also make mistakes on the level of Jeremy Bowen.

You'll forgive me if I subsequently doubt the veracity of the claims to the land of "Judea and Samaria" made by the Yesha.

YMedad said...

thank you for correcting me. Yes, Muslim and not Arab. And as for your additional comments, I can assure your readers that that one error should not put you off from trusting my historical recounting about Jewish nationalism, the Land of Israel and the Arab campaign against Israel and its Jews. as for what some might think are some snide expressions you composed, I forgive you - even if you knew what you were doing.