Coda on Textbook Bias

1. Mr. Mink disputes that Transjordan was severed from Palestine. He might want to read the League of Nation’s Palestine Mandate (http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/palmanda.htm). The text supports my article and is inconsistent with Mr. Mink’s argument:

“ART. 25.

“In the territories lying between the Jordan and the eastern boundary of Palestine as ultimately determined, the Mandatory shall be entitled, with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations, to postpone or withhold application of such provisions of this mandate as he may consider inapplicable to the existing local conditions, and to make such provision for the administration of the territories as he may consider suitable to those conditions, provided that no action shall be taken which is inconsistent with the provisions of Articles 15, 16 and 18.”

2. In regards to Fatah as a terrorist organization, Mr. Mink may want to look at the work he cites (http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2002/html/19991.htm; Patterns of Global Terrorism: Appendix B—Background Information on Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations), which mentions the “Fatah-affiliated” Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades as a terrorist organization.

3. On the PLO, Mr. Mink has his dates correct (though he ignores the history of the PFLP). Amend the statement “The U.S. State Department considers the PFLP and Fatah, two of the original members of the PLO, to be terrorist organizations” to read, “The U.S. State Department considers the PFLP and Fatah, two of the early members of the PLO…”

4. Mr. Mink writes, “According to Jin-Tai Choi, author of Aviation Terrorism: Historical Survey, Perspectives, and Responses, the first recorded hijacking occurred in 1931, when Peruvian revolutionaries took control of a Pan Am plane over Lima.” I doubt the accuracy of the book. According to a review by Lieutenant Colonel Christopher G. Essig (http://www.securitymanagement.com/library/000106.html), Jin-Tai Choi makes “some incredible and unsupported comments. Statements such as ‘On 13 January 1975 an attempt by terrorists to shoot down an El Al plane with a missile was believed to have brought civil aviation to the brink of disaster’ (page 144) grossly overplays the threat and detracts from the work. Other mistakes, such as referring to the missile cruiser USS Vincennes as an aircraft carrier (page 173) also undermine the book.” In addition, I found no information on the Pan Am flight the author refers to. Possibly he refers to Byron Rickards’s flight from Lima, Peru to Arequipa, which also took place in 1931. A hijacking, though attempted, was canceled.

In the Cuban hijackings Mr. Mink discuses, the hijackers demanded transportation to a certain location. The Palestinians, on the other hand, first practiced terrorist hijackings, in which crew and passengers were often held hostage or murdered.