18/10/2011 World News Today


18/10/2011

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This is BBC World News Today with Kirsty Lang. The big prisoners what

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has taken place in the Middle East. Darryl emotional scenes in Israel

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as Gilad Shalit returns home after being held captive in Gaza for five

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years. I always believed that the day would come when I will find

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myself outside prison. In return, 500 Palestinians are welcomed home

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to garner has -- Gaza. More will be released over the coming weeks.

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The disturbing tale of four disabled people in prisons in the -

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- a basement in the United States in a plot to steal their social

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security checks. Also coming up, we report from

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inside Bahrain. What really happened to protesters when they

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tried to bring the Arab Spring to their kingdom.

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And six authors compete for the Man Booker Prize. Perhaps this award

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Hello. Welcome home at last. One Israeli soldier and nearly 500

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Palestinians are enjoying their first day of freedom after a

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historic exchange of prisoners between Israel and Hamas. Gilad

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Shalit emerged from five long years in a cellar to be greeted by an

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ecstatic crowd of friends and supporters in his hometown in

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Israel. A huge celebration was laid on in Gaza as families there

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welcomed their sons and daughters home, some of whom have been

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imprisoned for 20 years. From dawn, Palestinians were

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gathering for the welcome home. Prisoners who took arms against

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Israel are exulted in Palestinian society, their actions seem as

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heroic. Israelis regard them as killers and accessory to murder.

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His 11 year-olds is waiting for her mother, imprisoned for 10 years for

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helping suicide bombers reach their targets. Her father was not being

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released. In northern Israel, the Shalit family, after five years of

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campaigning, was picked up from their home for the Newry Union.

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Gilad Shalit, pale and thin, was released. He gave an interview.

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TRANSLATION: Of course I have missed my family. He hoped the deal

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would end wars between Israel and the Palestinians. He was flown to

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meet his family. The Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu needed him first.

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Then he had a reunion with his father, who led a tenacious

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campaign for freedom. In Gaza, a big welcome is being prepared for

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the Palestinian prisoners who were released as soon as is rare had

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Gary Shalit back. This is a victory for Hamas. On the West Bank,

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clashes started when the release took longer. There was no sign of

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any new positive atmosphere, just the old one. Stones, tear-gas and

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canons is shooting water. The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas,

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the political rival of a mass -- Hamas, welcomed the prisoners back.

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He has asked his rare many times to release them. Everyone in the crowd

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knew that Hamas had succeeded where President amass had failed. These

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men are being treated as conquering heroes. What freed them was a

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transaction between Hamas and the Israelis. It has not get them

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closer to a peace agreement, because there are still the big

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issues of war and peace and the future of this land that remain.

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By the evening, Gilad Shalit was back home. His last five years must

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have been desperately lonely. His country and its Palestinian

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neighbours will have to wait longer. Our correspondent is in Gilad

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Shalit home. Tell us about the scenes there.

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scenes there. They have been extraordinary scenes.

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The crowds have mostly melted away, but the helicopter touched down

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here late afternoon, and then Gilad Shalit was taken in a convoy of

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cars from the landing pad and brought here through the village.

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It huge number of people had turned out to line the roads. They were

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throwing flowers at the car and opening bottles of champagne and

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spraying it over the car. They were dancing and singing. Really, very

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significant and moving scenes here. One person was saying to me that

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this is the happiest day they have had over the past five years.

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Anstey most of the people in this crowd think it was a price worth

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paying? Yes, they do. But as everybody has been saying, there

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are mixed feelings. There is the concern, even amongst the people

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here, about the price which has been paid, which is the fact that

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more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners will be released. Half of

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them have been released today, and another 500 or so within the next

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couple of months. People are concerned that some of those who

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are to be released have been involved in some of the most

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serious attacks on Israeli soil over the past few decades. The

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concern is that they've -- there will be an upsurge in violence.

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There are mixed emotions even here in the Shalit East home town.

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Our correspondent has been amongst the thousands of celebrating

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Palestinians in Gaza City. He says they are claiming a victory of

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Israel. It is pretty defined and

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celebratory, really. I can hear fireworks at the moment to my left,

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and what sounds like gunfire, celebratory gunfire, to my right.

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There was a mass rally in the square behind me in Gaza City. I

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would save over 100,000 people were waving green Hamas flags and

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listening to an address by it is now Haniya, the Hamas Prime

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Minister, alongside hundreds of the released prisoners. They have

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traded thousands of Brit -- 1000 prisoners for one man.

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A bit later in this programme, we will be discussing a what the

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Exchange means for peace in the Middle East. Now let us take a look

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at some of the day's other news. If there has been a greater than

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expected rise in inflation in Britain, adding to pressures on

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living standards, due partly to shop increases in gas and

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electricity. Inflation now stands at 5.2%, the highest in the last

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three years. Unemployment is high and a economic growth is slow.

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He European Court of Justice has banned the issuing of patents for

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medical treatments using stands cells extracted from human embryos.

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The ruling is based on ethical grounds and was criticised by some

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scientists. Two British teenagers have been

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arrested in Kenya on suspicion of having links with other Islamist

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group in Somalia. The men were picked up close to the border with

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Somalia. The fathers of the boys travelled to Kenya to try to find

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their sons. We had this week the appalling case

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of four mentally disabled adults locked in a squalid basement in

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Philadelphia, while their captors cashed their social security checks.

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Police discovery has led to charges of false imprisonment and

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kidnapping, after the malnourished victims were found in a boiler room.

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Our correspondent reports. A grim-faced detective opens the

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door to a tiny, terrifying world. In this cramped underground space,

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foldable adults were kept prisoner without food, without lights and

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surrounded by their own waste. They barely had room to stand up. One of

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the men was changed to a boiler. They had been looked -- locked up

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with dogs and just a single bottle of drink. Here are three of the

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alleged victims giving local television a graphic account of

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their ordeal after being freed. They are painfully thin, and it is

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not just the physical scars that a shocking. They all have severe

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learning difficulties, making them I escaped one time to one of the

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houses that we used to love him. -- live in. They got me. 50-year-old

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woman is in -- charged with false imprisonment and kidnapping. She

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has a previous convicting -- conviction. It is alleged that she

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and two co-defendants preyed on the vulnerable to pocket their social

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security checks -- cheques. When you look at these conditions, it is

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something out of a dungeon. To know that you were taken at -- you were

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taking advantage of a fellow human hit being is that discussed in.

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incite the property, police found dozens of identification documents.

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The FBI is now looking at the woman's previous homes in Texas and

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Florida to see whether others may have suffered the same experience.

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An independent report into allegations of beatings, torture

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and murder in police custody in Bahrain will be published shortly.

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It was commissioned by the king of Bahrain, following criticism over

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how his government felt with the -- dealt with the failed Arab Spring

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uprising there. Morning. Visitors from the

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political majority protest at the killing of a teenager at a recent

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clash. It is part of a movement to give the sunny people more powerful

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stop to see the other side, I joined a patrol with the special

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security force. They are feared and hated by the

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protesters. This is what they do every night, going out to the

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villages and checking out the demonstrations, the protests, the

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road blocks. They confront a sporadic civil disobedience.

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Roadblocks and rock throwing by Shi'ite youth's, the Government

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supporters called traitors. Most people have no sympathy for these

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protests. In February, at the height of Bahrain's uprising, the

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security forces? Heavy-handed tactics caused international

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outrage. One of those attacked was his doctor, he gave the BBC a

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bedside interview at the time. beat me with sticks. I told them I

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am a doctor, but that -- I believe they are not listening. They

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started to beat me. They told me to get up, we will kill you and let

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you die. The king of Bahrain has responded to allegations by

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commissioning -- commissioning an international inquiry. The

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Government is on a charm offensive. There were abuses of human rights.

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We, the Government, address those mistakes. They were not just

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mistakes done by the Government. They were done by the demonstrators

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as well. Those issues have been faced. A but the demonstrators are

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not in charge. A Yes, so what I'm saying is that abuses happen from

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everyone. Were they systematic? No, they were not. They agreed to let

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me see inside a police detention centre. This is not the main prison,

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nor is it where most of the interrogations have taken place,

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but it was the first visit by the media. Most people said they were 1

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-- well-treated, although one and whispered that he had been beaten.

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This country harbours thousands of human rights allegations. How the

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Government reacts to the findings of an investigation will determine

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More now on our top story this hour - the prisoner exchange in the

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Middle East. Today's swap - the Israeli Gilat Shalit for more than

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400 Palestinian prisoners is just the latest in a long history of

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asymmetric exchanges between Israel and the Palestinians. But what will

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it mean for Middle East peace? Mouin Rabbani is a senior fellow

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with the Institute for Palestinian Studies and he joins me now from

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Cairo. Daniel Levy is a senior fellow and

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co-director of the Middle East Task Force for the New America

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Foundation and he joins me from New York.

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Mr Rabbani, a total of 1,000 Palestinians for one Israeli -

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that's a pretty good deal. It would be an even better deal if Israel

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did not have an additional 5000 or so Palestinians in its prisons. The

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explanation for this is that Israel was able to arrest Palestinians at

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will add to try them up in kangaroo courts at well I give them absurdly

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high sentences. Palestinians are not in a position to arrest Israeli

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soldiers or settlers guilty of crimes against Palestinians. I

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think that is the short answer to your question. Part of the deal is

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that they will not all go home to Gaza. What do you make of that?

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think if Palestinian public opinion is probably overwhelmingly and

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genuinely best tactic -- delighted. They did not expect to see so many

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prisoners see the light of day. But at the same time, the intention is

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that they will not be able to communicate with family in the West

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Bank. I should also add that as a matter of international law,

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deportation is a grave breach by the occupying powers, even if

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Palestinian negotiators and prisoners have agreed to it.

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David Levy, what will the political fall out be in Israel? Will this be

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seen as an act of weakness by Bejamin Netanyahu? I can tell you

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what an opinion poll in yesterday's newspaper said, which was that 79%

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of the public supported this. Binyamin Netanyahu has one of the

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issues raised against him that he does not make decisions, he is not

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a leader. He will win some support by having shown leadership. He will

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want to change the conversation when at the Parliament reconvenes

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next month. A where this could go wrong is if any of those released

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are implicated in any future action for fatalities against Israel. He

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won overwhelming support in his own Cabinet, but a monster those who

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-- but amongst those oppose the deal, who oppose the deal were

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possible contenders for his leadership.

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Mouin Rabbani, Hamas will gain from this deal, won't it, at the expense

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of President Abbas and Fatah? now have this bizarre reality where

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Israel has demonstrated that it is prepared to negotiate seriously,

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but with Hamas rather than the movement that wants to reach our

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comprehensive two state settlement. Talks and negotiations continue to

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be rejected between Hamas on behalf of his surreal while Israel is

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negotiating with Hamas. You are nodding during that. Do you agree

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that this is bad for any future peace process? I would not say that,

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because the peace process is at a dead end and negotiating with only

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one part of the Palestinian Party is not going to get us anywhere. It

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will now be ever more impossible to pursue that track. Binyamin

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Netanyahu has shown that is a real does respond, but only when there

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is pressure and the reason for responding. This undermines any

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sense that they are going to negotiate seriously with mud would

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:19:46.:19:46.

have us. In the next few hours, the winner

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of the most prestigious literary prize will be announced. Critics

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say the Man Booker Prize has been dumbed down as the head of the

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judging panel says this year's finalists were chosen for their

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readability. The BBC's Gavin Esler is at the award ceremony in Central

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London. Yes, we will know with them a few hours who has won the price.

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-- with them back. There is a row about the short list, is it

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:20:26.:20:26.

literary enough? Let's hear from the six authors of the short list.

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We live in time, it holds ask. But I have never understood it very

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well. It may exist elsewhere in parallel versions. It was so cold

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that there was nobody smoking in the streets. The traffic police had

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:20:55.:20:57.

been issued with old fashioned to Boots. The expected the mettle to

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drop when a large spider fell to the ground on its back. My pulse

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was printing and I became weak headed because I am very much

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afraid of spiders and snakes and crawling things. When we came up

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blinking out on to the foreshore, there was a vision of beauty, a

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:21:30.:21:30.

tall and local three-masted clapper blink t from India. -- Clipper

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bringing tea Edinburgh. He did not go to my school. He could have ride

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his bike with my hands. I said a prayer for him inside my head.

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Think about it. German and American children growing up in Paris

:21:55.:22:05.
:22:05.:22:08.

between the wars making joyful music. The legend survives. That is

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just a flavour of the opposite reading from their work. To debate

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:22:22.:22:23.

the bigger issues here I am joined by a former publisher. Is the fuss

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good for business? It is tremendous. Nothing stops you redeem the worm

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so it had been rejected from the short list. -- nothing stops you

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reading of the ones that have been rejected a from the short list. I

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think it is true to a certain extent that there are some

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:22:57.:22:58.

surprises. Some wonderful authors and books did not make it to the

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:23:08.:23:08.

short list. But in literature, we are always amazed at the choices of

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others. The debate was partly about readability, partly about genre.

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:23:26.:23:30.

There is a thriller and a Western. You could go back to 1989 and ask

:23:30.:23:40.
:23:40.:23:42.

for the run-up in that here was a crime novel. Nothing is bad, but

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thinking makes it so. What is a readable it depends on the

:23:48.:23:58.
:23:58.:23:58.

individual. Some people prefer a more literary stuff. This opens up

:23:58.:24:06.

the prize to the most -- it to the widest audience. Julian Barnes is a

:24:06.:24:16.
:24:16.:24:19.

big name on the list. He is famous for saying the whole system is...

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At the end, it will be the alchemy and their individual personalities

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of the judges which makes their choice. All six are fabulous books.

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But, yes, it is posh Bengal. Gisela is saying it is partly a lottery

:24:38.:24:42.

because on the night, none of them know what the who is going to win

:24:42.:24:47.

and it is awful to be in that position. They do look like circus

:24:47.:24:54.

animals almost. Julian Barnes has a fantastic pedigree and has a

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wonderful writer and has written a marvellous book. I do not see, with

:24:59.:25:06.

him on the list, how people can say that the list is terrible.

:25:06.:25:11.

Readability is not to do with that. People should pick the best books,

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whether they are readable or not is a secondary condition. What do your

:25:17.:25:22.

bit of the others, the less familiar names, Patrick deWitt I

:25:22.:25:31.

had never heard of before? These are super books. The fact that they

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are not known, ought known only end assure -- or only known in a small

:25:40.:25:50.
:25:50.:25:55.

circle, that adds a certain because it. -- a certain element. In each

:25:55.:26:02.

year, there is a different panel of judges, and each panel adds his own

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character. This year, it has been much more open and accessible.

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choices they made for the short list have been more surprising than

:26:13.:26:20.

people have expected. The books are wider ranging. The Booker, because

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it picks books from that Commonwealth has always had a

:26:25.:26:34.

variety and has always picked books that people have not heard off. It

:26:34.:26:40.

is one way to discover brilliant writers. Ethic that is one of the

:26:40.:26:45.

appeals of the prize. The problem is partly about discovering writers

:26:45.:26:51.

and judging writers are on their books. In a way, your first book is

:26:51.:26:54.

going to be your best book because there is nothing to judge it

:26:54.:27:03.

against. After nine or 10 books, people could say that it is a good

:27:03.:27:09.

book, but not the best book so do not put it on the list. This could

:27:09.:27:19.
:27:19.:27:19.

transform the lives of the authors. It could change it for them in

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terms of writing, film sales, it is an international praise and the

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most important one in the whole world. Thank you very much. We will

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know the winner very shortly. A reminder of our main news. The

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Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, held captive in Gaza for more than five

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years, is now back at home after being released and reunited with

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his family in Israel. The colder weather has arrived with

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showers in the North and West that will continue over night. Clear

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spells elsewhere. Tomorrow, we start with the showers in the same

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area as but then the move south east. It was still be windy. The

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wind coming in from the north-west. High pressure coming in from

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Wednesday. On Wednesday morning, it is a cool start. The showers at

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moving into the south-east. But plenty of sunshine across northern

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England. The showers will move through the Midlands into East

:28:36.:28:41.

Anglia and the South East. Some of these could be on the heavy side.

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Just a 13 degrees in London and most of us will fall well short of

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that. Sunny spells through its south-west England, showers few and

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far between in Wales. Few were showers for the afternoon in

:28:58.:29:05.

Northern Ireland. Coastal showers in Scotland, some towards the north

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