Now that piece about the Haddassah massacre posted by Janice at 21 Mar 03 - 10:49 PM provides a clear example of the distortions that creep into reports on a cycle of violence.

Read that report about the massacre of April 13th out of context and the fact that out follows hard upon the massacre of Deir Yassan on April 9th and was a reprisal form that isn't apparent. But a context is provided for a later atrocity - "In retaliation, 2 buildings housing British, Iraqis and local Arabs, are blown up on May 13th."

And I'm not accusing Janice of distortion here. Nor am I suggesting that a counter-atrocity in reprisal for an atrocity (which is itself a counter-atrocity) is in any way ever justified. But inevitably any account of these kind of events risks distorting what is going on, by virtue of the date at which is starts and finishes, and the incidents which are included and not included.

That is the process by which two sides in any intercommunal conflict build up completely different stories about what has happened over the years, and each presents a one-sided picture. Even when story is factually true, neither is complete. And half the truth is in effect a kind of lie.

What Carol C seems to me to be doing is to try to ferret out and present the half of the truth that tends to be left out.

But as I said up the thread, I think that making sense of the past and setting record straight is not the main priority, in face of some of the things that are being done right now, while the attention of the world is turned to other things.