Correcting the Correction

Yesterday’s New York Times Corrections section includes this item:

An article on Saturday about Israel’s promotion of its plan for a withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank misstated the estimated number of Palestinians who fled their homes when Israel was established in 1948. It is about 700,000, not in the millions.

How surprising that the Times would inflate the number of Palestinian refugees. Actually, I think the number was closer to 500,000 than 700,000, let alone “millions.”
What is really significant, though, is not the exact number, but rather the story of why these Arabs became refugees. Here is what the corrected article, published on March 27, actually said:

Israel also wants an understanding from Washington that in a final deal with the Palestinian side, there will be no “right of return” by Palestinians

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