Israel, Palestinians and the BBC

The BBC have a tiny report that:

'Masked gunmen have attacked a UN summer camp being set up for children in the Gaza Strip, UN officials say.

The attackers burned tents and destroyed other equipment after tying up a guard.

They also left a letter threatening the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa), John Ging.

No group has claimed the overnight raid, but observers suspect it is the work of Islamic extremists opposed to such camps for boys and girls.'

Feel free to contrast this limited report with the full-on horror that would have been on display had an Israeli soldier even looked nastily at such a camp.


Meanwhile Ynet report:

'Israel opens huge sea-water purification plant

Officials say huge new desalination facility on Mediterranean seashore, with network of pipes beneath beach reaching far into ocean, could help solve country's chronic fresh water shortage

...

The plant, one of the largest in the world, turns sea water into drinking water. It stands next to the northern city of Hadera, the third of five large facilities that will dot the coastline, designed to provide two-thirds of the country's drinking water and reroute the National Water Carrier, a water transport system that has sustained Israel for 50 years.'

Not a word about this achievement on the BBC. As A Tangled Web notes:

'Readers may recall that late last year a regional Middle East water technology conference was to be held on the key topic of agriculture irrigation in the arid climates and desalination - both things Israel is an expert in. Many Arab States threatened to pull out if Israel was invited to attend, despite the fact that these Arab countries were desperate for the technology. I believe Israel didn't attend in the end.

Shows Israel doesn't need the Arab Nations to make progress and there is a lesson in this for all those who lobbied to stop Israel from attending. Neighbours who work together prosper - but the profound anti-Semitism of the Arab States that refuse to work with Israel stops any sense of progress. Must be something in the water... '