Message of support from Jonathan Steele 

Jonathan Steele - the Guardian's multi-award-winning correspondent and columnist whose book Defeat: Why the US and Britain Lost Iraq Arab Media Watch launched earlier this year - was scheduled to speak at AMW's fundraising dinner on 7 June 2008. Unfortunately he was unable to attend due to an unforeseen work commitment, but wrote the following message of support that was read out at the dinner:

"I'm sorry I cannot be present with you this evening, but please accept my support for the vital work which Arab Media Watch does.

"At a time when prejudice about Islam and its adherents is on the increase in Europe, it's crucial to have an organisation which carefully monitors the British press for signs of prejudice and seeks to inform journalists about the facts.

"At the state level, it is also important to challenge those who try to drive political and ideological wedges between Sunnis and Shias and make sectarian identity the driving force of their relations with other countries.

"Just as a unity government between Hamas and Fatah is the essential precondition for Palestinian progress, it is equally necessary not to allow artificial suspicions to be created between Iran and its Arab neighbours if stability is to be maintained in the Gulf.

"I whole-heartedly support whatever Arab Media Watch can do to ensure mutual tolerance and sensible state-to-state relations in the Middle East, as well as among those who write about the region."