On Tuesday, May 27, the Opinion article titled “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians is Not a Conflict, it’s Colonialism” was temporarily taken down from our website after one of our readers voiced concerns over historical errors and harmful language. Providing relevant and reliable information to the Triton community is of the utmost importance to The UCSD Guardian. The article has since been revised for accuracy and clarity to ensure that it meets our standards of journalistic integrity. 

The original piece failed to clearly and accurately report the events that led up to the first airstrike, as it said that “the strikes began on May 10 after Israeli militants set off rockets toward Jerusalem in response to Hamas firing rockets into Israel.” In order to clarify that Hamas initiated the strikes, the piece has been revised to explain that “the conflict began on May 10 when Hamas fired rockets into Israel in protest of Israeli security forces occupying the Jerusalem compound, where fighting between Israeli police and Palestinians had occurred for days prior.” 

Additionally, the piece has been updated to better recognize the decades of conflict that has occurred between Israel and Palestine, including the two Intifadas and the UN Partition Plan of 1947. We have also changed some of the harsh language throughout the piece in order to clarify the article’s intent of critiquing governmental systems, not communities of people. 

We do not condone nor promote anti-semitism and implying such sentiments has never been the intent in publishing this piece. 

As Opinion Editor, I sincerely apologize on behalf of The Guardian for the lack of oversight regarding the original article and its potential to spread misinformation. The original piece has undergone a thorough editing process to remedy this issue and uphold our standards.  

In order to pay special care to divisive topics such as these moving forward, we will make sure that these types of articles are reviewed by a variety of students that hold differing opinions. We will also make it a priority to include a diverse array of sources to improve our fact-checking process, and guarantee that we are not engaging in the spread of misinformation. Both of these steps have been taken in revising this piece and will be applied to future opinion pieces as well.

I would like to thank our readers for pointing out these inaccuracies, and for working with us to ensure that we can provide an argument that is sound in its sources. In revising this piece, we hope to continue providing reliable and relevant information to our student body.

Assuring that the Opinion section showcases a variety of perspectives that engage and educate our student body is integral to maintaining an open and honest dialogue with our community. If you would like to reach out, please email me at [email protected].  

Sincerely,

Zara Irshad
2020-2021 Opinion Editor