Forget Friedman. The State Dept doesn’t know how much of the West Bank is occupied either

By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man September 29, 2017 | Edit

While disavowing the American ambassador’s erroneous assertion that only 2% of the West Bank is occupied by Israel, the State Department spokesperson isn’t able to answer how much of the territory is actually occupied. (Hint: All of it.)

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert addresses reporters at the daily press briefing. (State Dept photo)

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman caused a small stir Thursday by erroneously stating that Israel only occupies 2 percent of the West Bank. The Israeli army rules over the entirety of the West Bank under military law, of course, making it 100-percent occupied.

The truth of the matter is that nobody took Friedman’s remarks all that seriously, although the whole affair made for some great headlines. Despite being the White House’s official envoy to Israel, Friedman is known for speaking for himself instead of in his official capacity. So nobody was too surprised.

What was surprising, was that when asked to clarify, the State Department itself could not — or would not — answer how much of the West Bank actually is occupied by Israel.

In an exchange with Associated Press reporter Matt Lee at the State Department’s daily press briefing Thursday, Spokesperson Heather Nauert disavowed Friedman’s comments, stating multiple times that Friedman’s version of reality does not indicate a shift in U.S. policy.

Then things got weird.

Here is a transcript of the exchange (Video, from 25:00 minutes):

Matt Lee: [A]mbassadors to every country are supposed to speak for and with the authority of the President of the United States. Do you not see that this is causing confusion?

And then as a purely factual matter, how much of – what percent of the West Bank does the United – does the administration believe is occupied?

Heather Nauert: I don’t know that we have a map of that or that we have —

Lee: You’ve got a lot of maps on that.

Nauert: Do we have a lot of maps?

Lee: Oh, yeah.

Nauert: Do we?

Lee: Yes.

Nauert: Okay. Well, see, you all pre-date me here. I’ll go pull out some —

Lee: Heather, do you —

Nauert: — the dusty shelves.

Lee: You have many, many, many, many maps.

***

There you have it. Somewhere on the dusty shelves of Foggy Bottom, there are many, many maps that might be able to shed some light on what the United States’s policy in the Middle East actually is.

Or maybe it’s this map:

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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