Author: |Posted: 5:30 pm on 15/07/09
Category: Snowblog
Breaking the Silence is one of the myriad groupings in Israeli civic society that offers a thread of hope in the current impasse in the Middle East.
Author: |Posted: 5:07 pm on 04/06/09
Category: Snowblog
You had to pinch yourself to remember that he IS an American president, I mean a president of the United States of America.
The world view Obama laid out in Cairo today was something it is almost impossible to imagine any other US leader ever attempting. I urge you to read it or watch it if you can possibly find the time.
Author: |Posted: 11:08 am on 02/06/09
Category: Snowblog
US president Barack Obama heads for the Middle East and Europe this week. Having inaugurated his “opening” to the Muslim world during his inspired stop in Turkey on his first foreign foray, he heads for Egypt to make his keynote speech setting out his Middle East ambitions.
The Turkey trip remains a touchstone of his presidency, a completely counter intuitive move.
He did not do what all previous presidents would have done in this regard. He did not include Israel on his itinerary.
Author: |Posted: 4:05 pm on 06/05/09
Category: Snowblog
Getting on for 100 phone calls last night about our interview with Mark Regev, the Israeli Government spokesman.
This after the United Nations had accused Israeli forces of “negligence and recklessness” in their attacks on UN compounds in Gaza during the January assault.
Reasonably evenly balanced between those who thought it was too hard and those who thought it about right.
It’s always difficult interviewing well-trained government voices. Mr Regev is more accomplished than most.
But here it is anyway.
To watch my earlier interview with Mark Regev, from January 23 2009, click here.
Author: |Posted: 5:36 pm on 24/03/09
Category: Snowblog
Twice in the past week I have attended events focusing on Israel’s assault on Gaza. Last week an organisation called Just Journalism invited me to participate in a debate at Hampstead Town Hall.
Yesterday another organisation called Hoping invited me to a private gathering in Notting Hill to hear the UNRWA director in Gaza, John Ging, give an account of what is happening there.
Author: |Posted: 3:02 pm on 06/03/09
Category: Snowblog
People are incredibly generous. Last night I attended a concert to raise money for the children of Gaza. Sir Colin Davis, the 81-year-old conductor, and the English Chamber Orchestra gave their services free, and the Barbican in London provided the venue.
The redoubtable Syrian ambassador provided the support for getting it staged, with what seems a vast Syrian diaspora in attendance.
Author: |Posted: 4:10 pm on 24/02/09
Category: World News Blog
I read an account in The Observer on Sunday by my Newsnight colleague Mark Urban who set out in pursuit of his great-uncle’s war grave in Gaza. (He’s got a piece on this on his programme tonight, but I don’t know how my editor will take to me flagging this up.)
The reason this particularly caught my attention is because when I was in Gaza, straight after the recent ceasefire, I too went to visit the war graves – but I went to a different cemetery to the one in which Mr Urban’s great uncle is buried. He mentions being greeted by Ibrahim Jeradah MBE, former chief gardener, now night watchman.
I was greeted by Mohammad Hussain Mohammad Awaja (below), who for 23 years has been the custodian and gardener of the Deir el-Belah War Cemetery on the outskirts of al-Zawaida village, near the town of Khan Younis.
Author: |Posted: 3:46 pm on 11/02/09
Category: Snowblog
Given that Israel voted yesterday on the heels of the recent Gaza conflict, I thought I would return to a blog I did during my visit to shoot a Dispatches programme, Unseen Gaza, last month. Here it is.
There is nothing quite so instructive as the 5.00am start from Jerusalem down the highway to Ben Gurion airport outside Tel Aviv – because, of course, the road traverses parts of the West Bank. The high walls from time to time remind you of that.
Author: |Posted: 10:52 am on 09/02/09
Category: World News Blog
Click the image or this link to launch a full-screen slideshow.
Author: |Posted: 6:05 am on 06/02/09
Category: World News Blog
The Israeli government has now picked up on the story of what they’re calling “the school” in Gaza (which I wrote about yesterday). It concerns the UN’s apparent “reversal” of its position over an incident during the war in which 43 people died.
The Israeli prime minister’s spokesman, Mark Regev, this morning drew attention to the UN’s “clarification” over this incident in an interview on Radio 4’s Today programme.
It’s the first time that the Israeli government itself has talked about this clarification in the international media. Because what happened in Jabaliya on 6 January is something I’ve looked into in detail, I’d like to clarify a couple of points myself. read more
