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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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URGENT ALERT: BBC BIAS ON PALESTINE REPORTING

06 August 2002

The following URL on the BBC website titled “Israel’s History of Bomb Blasts” gives a detailed account of “some of the most deadly” Palestinian bomb attacks against Israelis since September 2000.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_easet/1197051.stm

The BBC in compiling this list has failed to mention even the death of one of the 1,694 Palestinians, approximately one fifth of them children who have so far died since September 2000. Whilst the BBC have taken care to also record the injuries sustained by Israelis, again not one of the 20,000 Palestinians injured, since the beginning of the second Intifada by bullet fire, tear gas, live ammunition, shrapnel from rockets and tank shells have been mentioned.

The compilation of this report if attempting to portray an unbiased account should have mentioned the Palestinian casualties. This failure to do so can only lead to the conclusion that a deliberate attempt has yet again been made by the BBC to portray the Palestinians as the cause of the current Middle East crises.

IHRC are encouraging all campaigners to contact the BBC at info@bbc.co.uk and express their deep concern over the continued biased coverage of the Palestinian conflict.

Please use the model letter below and forward your replies to IHRC.

email: info@bbc.co.uk

Model Letter

Dear Sir / Madm

Having visited your website, I am extremely disappointed with your report titled “Israel’s History of Bomb Blasts”, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_easet/1197051.stm

Your report focuses solely on attacks made on Israelis since September 2000, whilst not mentioning once the repeated Israeli incursions into and attacks on Palestinian territories which have contributed to the deaths of almost 1,700 Palestinians since September 2000. The report again focuses on the injuries sustained by Israelis whilst not mentioning any of the 20,000 Palestinians who have been hit by deliberate Israeli fire within the same period.

Previous BBC reports have equated the struggle made by the Palestinians against continued illegal occupation consisting of daily indiscriminate gunfire, arbitrary detention of civilians, demolition of homes and the denial of access to medical personnel. This BBC report has gone one step further in ignoring altogether the much greater violence perpetrated by Israel during the last 50 years against both the Palestinian and Lebanese civilian populations.

I urge you to report accurately and fairly on the deaths and injuries suffered by Palestinians, if not your continued stance at biased reporting only leads one to believe you are happy to be a party to the continued barbaric illegal occupation.

Yours sincerely

[Name]

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“And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! Cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper.”

Holy Qur’an: Chapter 4, Verse 75

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