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October 09, 2005

UK Activists Prompt Change at BBC

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What a difference individual citizens can make. In response to complaints from a few UK activists, BBC editors have removed a tendentious, editorialized television listing for a program airing tomorrow night, "Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace."

Before the activists weighed in, the listing stated:

The story of how Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak persuaded President Clinton to devote his last 18 months in office to helping make peace with Yasser Arafat. But Barak got cold feet twice. Then Ariel Sharon took a walk around Jerusalem's holiest mosques, and peace making was over.

And, after:

The story of how Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak persuaded President Clinton to devote his last 18 months in office to helping make peace with Yasser Arafat. But after tense negotiations the deal was never made.

Kudos to those who intervened. Let's just hope the documentary isn't as biased as its description was. (Hat tip: Terry M.)

Posted by TS at October 9, 2005 04:57 AM

Comments

For anyone wanting a preview of the likely manner of coverage of the upcoming 'Elusive Peace' documentary to be aired first on BBC this Monday at 10pm, one can follow the link on this page to see an interview with the producer on the BBC newscast which covered the 'Bush God' story.
In the above article titled Bush God comments 'not literal', PM Abbas was quoted as saying:

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, who attended the meeting in June 2003 too, also appears on the documentary series to recount how Mr Bush told him: "I have a moral and religious obligation. So I will get you a Palestinian state."

'Strong faith'

But in an interview for the BBC Arabic service on Friday, he said the president - who had just announced an end to hostilities in Iraq, was merely expressing his heartfelt commitment to peace in the Middle East.

"President Bush said that God guided him in what he should do, and this guidance led him to go to Afghanistan to rid it of terrorism after 9/11 and led him to Iraq to fight tyranny," he said.

"We understood that he was illustrating [in his comments] his strong faith and his belief that this is what God wanted."
Contrast this with what the Palestinian negotiator claimed, which is that Bush said:

the US president said he was "driven with a mission from God".

"God would tell me, George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan. And I did, and then God would tell me, George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq... And I did.

"And now, again, I feel God's words coming to me, Go get the Palestinians their state and get the Israelis their security, and get peace in the Middle East. And by God I'm gonna do it."

Although both Palestinian officials state different accounts and understandings of what Bush was supposed to have said, instead of the BBC questioning this disparity, they prefer to go with the one that makes Bush look a fool.
The real fools are them and those who suck this rubbish up.

Posted by: Teddy Bear at October 9, 2005 08:48 PM

I hope the link to the above works this time
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4320586.stm

Posted by: Teddy Bear at October 9, 2005 08:54 PM

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