4th December 2001

I am writing to complain about the James Naughtie interview with Dore Gold (Advisor to Israeli PM Ariel Sharon).

a) James Naughtie introduced the segment by referring to the 'killing of 10 Israeli people'. This was misleading. Those killed in yesterday's attack on the bus near Emmanuel were Jewish settlers who were living in illegally occupied Palestinian territory.

b) I thought Mr Naughtie was nowhere near as robust as he should have been in his questioning of Mr Gold. Why did he not ask Mr Gold why the Israeli government is still illegally occupying Palestinian land - for over 34 years now - in defiance of UN resolutions?

c) Mr Naughtie condemned the attack on the Israeli settlers when surely his role is to report the facts. Are an occupied people not allowed to resist the occupation of their land by military means?

d) I believe it is crucial that you highlight how many Palestinians and Israelis have been killed in total since this second Intifada began, so that these events can be put into context. This is important because every day Palestinians are being killed, sometimes 1, sometimes 2 or 3, but this does not make the headlines.

e) I did not get a chance to hear all the rest of the Today programme as I was listening to it on my way in to work. But I am worried that no Palestinian representative (from either the Palestinian Authority or from the group which claimed responsibility for the attack) was interviewed to put their case across. I hope I am wrong.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Inayat Bunglawala
Secretary,   Media Committee