Talking Points

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon is in Egypt today for peace talks in the hope of ending the conflict in Gaza. He will go on to meet several leaders in the Middle East. The UN’s call for a ceasefire has been ignored so far, so why will Hamas and Israel listen now ? Israeli sources have been saying that Hamas is ready for a ceasefire as they are “in shock”.

On-Air; Who’s “winning” ?

We’ve discussed before the fact that no-one really knows what Israel and Hamas are hoping to achieve. So how and when will it stop ?

In this article, Sever Plocker argues that Israel doesn’t want to win , while this article in Time magazine suggests Israel actually can’t win.

Does Israel want to topple Hamas, or merely stop the rockets ? This article tries to define “victory” .

Does Hamas want peace ? Does it want the destruction of Israel ? To mobilise public opinion in the Arab world ?

Talking Points

 
Israel and Gaza

As the death toll in Gaza exceeds 900 , protests continue to take place from the Middle East to Europe. The Free Gaza Movement Ship representing 17 nations left Cyprus today to supply aid to the region.

On air: When is a word racist?

Over the past two weeks of Gaza coverage, the use of language has been one of the hottest issues. When people come onto the radio and talk about ‘the Jews’, is it more derogatory than if they said ‘the Jewish people’?

Gaza: Nearing the goal ?

A demonstration at the Israeli embassy in London

Israeli reserve units have been sent to Gaza but Israel denies this is a new phase of attacks. Army officials said the reserve units were there to refresh troops,not to escalate the conflict.

Your questions to Osama bin Laden

What if I said we could get your questions to al-Qaeda, even Osama bin Laden. What would you ask?

On air: How is Gaza dividing world opinion?

Both Israel and Hamas have ignored a UN security council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. America abstained from the UN vote and there’s been more heavy fighting today in defiance of it. As I write there’s supposed to be a three hour humanitarian ceasefire.

Talking points 09 January

The UN has spoken. Last night as the death toll in Gaza reached 760, the UN Security Council called for an “immediate” and “durable” ceasefire in Gaza. The United States however, abstained from endorsing the call, claiming that it wanted to see the results of Egyptian meditian between Israel and Hamas also aimed at reaching a ceasefire deal.

John, Susan, Samantha and Joe Lowry

On 26 October 2007, the World Have Your Say blog hosted a post from an anonymous user on a thread entitled ‘Congo and Kids’.

The post contained a number of wholly false allegations about members of the Lowry family of Swindon who run the Hillsborough Day Nursery.

The BBC is happy to make clear that there is no foundation in any of these allegations and wishes to apologise to the Lowry family for the distress caused.

No comments will be published on this post.

What advice would you give Barack Obama?

Less than two weeks to go ’til Barack Obama takes on the most powerful job in the world….what advice would you give him? Plenty on his plate….the crisis in Gaza, the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan. What should his priroties be?