The Palestinian National Authority banned the Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel from operating in the West Bank for several days before reversing its decision, while Al-Arabiya TV announced months ago that its workers had received death threats. Meanwhile, many selfless workers from both television stations have paid the ultimate price of death, whether while working in Iraq or elsewhere. In any case, I believe that bans, threats and harassments against these television stations is evidence of their resounding success, or even a medal of honour on the chest of those targeted in these actions. While Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya are almost completely at odds in their approaches to news coverage - with each targeting and attracting a different Arab audience - I personally think that they actually complement one another; what one station chooses to underline or ignore for instance, the other chooses to highlight. When it comes to following Arab news, in other words, the complete picture can only be acquired through following these two stations together. What I can also say with full confidence is that both of Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya are world-class news networks, employing prominent high calibre journalists (and colleagues), some of whom are friends I have worked with. It should be mentioned here that there are also other news stations operating in the Arab world and that are no less important than these two stations. A quick word of humour: The staunchest competition between Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya probably lies in which station possesses the most beautiful female newsreaders, who all belong to a new “make-up” generation of competitive professionals. I would have judged in favour of Al-Arabiya in this regard, had it not been for the dear colleague Khadija Bin Qinna from Al-Jazeera. I carry on with other issues related to yesterday's column, because there is so much news even when it is summertime, and I don't want some of that to go in passing without offering at least some commentary. - The reason why Al-Jazeera was banned in the West Bank was its coverage of the claims made by Abu Lutf [Farouq Qaddumi] that he has documents in his possession proving the complicity of Abu Mazen and Muhammad Dahlan with Ariel Sharon in the plot to kill Abu Ammar: Abu Lutf is truly a heritage piece of the Palestinian cause. However, he no longer has any real powers in Fatah or in the PLO, ever since Yasser Arafat cast him out of the decision-making cadre following the Oslo accords. Qaddumi hence cannot play any effective role through a “remote control” from Tunisia. In any case, logic says that those who conspire to murder would not do so in writing, or by signing a contract and by having witnesses to their deeds. From experience also, we know that Mahmoud Abbas should be the last person to ever be accused of plotting to kill anybody, let alone Yasser Arafat. If he were indeed capable of these conspiracies and murders, the factions that dared to rebel against him would have instead feared him, especially that they had avoided confronting Abu Ammar before, as they knew that he was capable of violence against them should the other means fail, and that he had indeed used violence before. Briefly, I believe that Abu Lutf came out of the Fatah meetings in Amman unhappy and disappointed, which led him to make those wild and unlikely accusations. - The former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is now a candidate competing for the Presidency of the European Union. This a new post aimed at promoting the European Union around the world, but which will not become a reality until the Treaty of Lisbon – still pending a second referendum in Ireland - is ratified, and approved in the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany. Blair was the Prime Minister in Britain for ten years, and has been the West's envoy to the Middle East for the past two years. I read that he is now the most prominent candidate for the presidency of the EU, working on his campaign for the post even before it becomes a reality. Since I am a British citizen (along with my original Lebanese nationality and my passport from Belize which I have never used) I object to his nomination before he exonerates himself of the role he played along with George W. Bush in the invasion of Iraq based on fabricated or exaggerated evidence - to which Britain also contributed. I do not accuse Blair of anything specific, but I want to say that his role in the Iraq war raises concerns and suspicions, and I hope that he will be tried along with the gang of war in the U.S., to prove he is innocent if he was indeed so. I believe that Tony Blair does not deserve the nomination as long as there is this cloud of doubt hovering above his head. - Meanwhile, the cloud above Silvio Berlusconi's head is even bigger. However, he owns half of the Italian media, something that helped him immensely in becoming prime minister. The media continues to defend him, even though he was proven to have paid money to prostitutes, from the Italian mainland to Sardinia. Patrizia Dadariu, for instance, is a professional prostitute who said that she had received money from the Prime Minister in return for “special” services. She recorded some of her phone conversations with him such as the one in which he proposed that she meets him in Putin's bed, i.e. the bed where the current Russian Prime minister slept when he was the President of the Russian Federation. Nevertheless, Berlusconi still denies everything and says “nothing happened”. I think that he should have been the Prime Minister of Israel, because he is even a
