More4 News Blog

'Anything to declare? Just a gift from Hamas'

One of our intrepid journalists staggered into the office the other day, the Middle-Eastern sun still in her hair, so soon had she left Syria.  She had been to interview Hamas, asking them about their position in the current crisis.  Our reporter received a departing gift.

It came wrapped, in a box.

Struggling to be polite, she thanked them and then set off to the airport.  She went to check-out.  Then, when asked if she had been given anything to take on the plane, rather than saying: "Oh, I have a wrapped parcel that has just been given to me by people recognised by many governments as a terrorist organisation", she mumbled: "No", and headed into the plane.

As she took the parcel out to open it in the Newsroom, people made excuses and went for coffee.  Luckily there was no loud bang.  Instead she had been given a 3D picture of the Masjid Al Aqsa.  It now sits behind her desk.

We won't say which airline she flew with.

Why Bush should have allowed Blair to talk to the enemy

Concentrating on the 'Yo, Blair' has meant most people have missed the far more significant 'No, Blair', says Jon Snow in this week's Snowmail.

Behind George Bush and Tony Blair's matey joshing at the G8 summit was a very real offer to talk to the powers involved. Bush rejected the offer instead choosing more publicly to ostracise those behind Hezbollah, Iran and Syria.

But while the UK spends £20m of taxpayers money maintaining relations with Iran and Syria, the US spends nothing on diplomatic relations with Iran beyond a servicing charge to the Swiss for handling consular matters - and merely maintains a charge d'affaires in Damascus.

Britain is exceptionally placed to talk to the enemy.

Listen to Snowmail now or sign up here to receive Snowmail on More4 every week

The Foreign Office and the mystery of the missing transcript

When Jon Snow interviewed Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, on our sister programme Channel 4 News earlier this week it caused a small tremor.

Beckett declared she was unhappy that a consignment of US bunker busting bombs destined for Israel were shipped through a British airport apparently without permission.

The interview featured prominently in the programme and was picked up the following morning by The Times, The Sun, the Daily Mail, The Guardian, the Daily Telegraph and the Today Programme among others.

Strange then that an edited transcript of that very interview posted on the Foreign and Commonwealth website was published sans the most newsworthy sound-bites.

So, in the spirit of co-operation and with an awareness of the dangers of RSI from too much transcribing we offer the following - missing - exchange:

JON SNOW: Foreign Secretary, are you happy to discover that bombs and rockets and missiles are being sent through Prestwick Airport from the United States to Israel?

MARGARET BECKETT: No I'm not happy about it, not least because it appears that insofar as there are procedures for handling that kind of hazardous cargo - irrespective of what they are - it does appear that they were not followed. I've already let the United States know that this is an issue that appears to be seriously at fault, that we will be making a formal protest if it appears that that is what has happened. We're still looking into the facts but I have already notified the United States that we are not happy about it.

CTRL C then CTRL V and it's all yours...

Everyday life in Israel

Jon Snow is in Israel, talking to ordinary people about the war.

From the Israeli troops in Humvees in Ramallah on the West Bank, to students in Jerusalem's Hebrew University, to a bomb shelter in Haifa, he hears a diversity of opinion, but similar experiences.

The Israelis in the bomb shelter have the same look of weary resignation as the Palestinians stuck at the illegal roadblock on the West Bank.

But where, in all this, are the Western Powers?

Listen to Snowmail now or sign up here to receive Snowmail on More4 every week

The view from Syria

Always first on the scene, Kate Clark had taken time off from reporting for us to learn Arabic in Syria when the whole region exploded last week.  Here she tells us what life is like on the ground.

Everyone, everywhere in Damascus is following the news from Lebanon, all the time. There is talk of little else, but the war. In shops, taxis, restaurants and homes, Syria has become a news-obsessed country. Beirut is only a two hour drive from here and many Syrians have friends or family in Lebanon.

Most people believe they and the Lebanese belong to the same nation, divided by colonial boundaries. Small wonder then that the response to the television pictures of civilians suffering in the Israeli bombing is visceral; people wince like they might if they saw a relative in pain. 

You say Hizbullah, I say Hezbollah

How can we possibly expect peace in the Middle East when we can't even agree on this...

Britain's Fourth Estate is split - as is the rest of the world's media - over the correct spelling of the Lebanese-based political party and militia. The result? Chaos to rival the crisis itself.

The Times and the BBC go with Hezbollah as does the US triumvirate of CNN, Fox News and The New York Times.

The Guardian elects to use Hizbullah, echoing the Daily Star of Beirut, the leading English-language paper in the region. Oddly defiant the Guardian's sister title, The Observer, chooses Hizbollah, as do the Daily Telegarph and The Independent. Al Jazeera goes, perhaps unsurprisingly, with the more exact arabic transliteration, Hizb Allah.

Refugees stream across the Syrian border

More4's Nima Elbagir is at the Syria-Lebanon border, where refugees are spending hundreds of dollars for the short taxi ride to safety.

With many of the major roads destroyed by Israeli fire, they have been forced to use minor tracks to get there. Nonetheless, an estimated 150,000 have already crossed the border.

Watch her report on More4 News.

Behind the scenes in Syria

"What they need to do is to get Syria, to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over." So said President Bush, in what he thought was a private conservation with Tony Blair - which just happened to be broadcast across the world.

He's not the only one who thinks Syria is pulling the strings behind this current crisis.

More4 News' Nima Elbagir has been in Damascus, to get the Syrian angle on the story. She talks to demonstrators, enraged that the nations of the Arab world are standing inactive while one of their number is attacked.

She has an exclusive interview with the Syrian information minister, Mohsen Bilal, and hears a voice of moderation from an unlikely source - Iran.

You can watch Nima's report here.

You can the FULL VERSION of the private conservation that wasn't here.

Lebanese bloggers on the Israeli attacks

As Israel attacks targets in Lebanon, and Hizbullah threatens 'open war', fear and uncertainty spread. As citizens on both sides of the border try and make sense of the situation, bloggers write about life on the ground.

The Lebanese bloggers have been covering the situation, posting every report and rumour as it appears. Here's their latest post:

I don't know what to say anymore. [Hizbollah leader] Sayyid Nasrallah is still alive and declaring an open war. Where is our President? Where are our Ministers? Prime Minister? Members of Parliament?

All these institutions and the guardians of these institutions are obsolete at this point. Nasrallah is leading the show. He's defying everything and everyone. He is assuming the position of the guardian of the Prophet's Family, against all odds. This is not about Lebanon anymore; this is about Nasrallah's pride.

Readers of all shades of opinion from both sides of the border, and around the world have posted huge numbers of messages. Some argue about history, some point the finger of blame, and others just want to know what's going on. Well worth reading.