On 18 July 2008, Arab Media Watch chairman Sharif Hikmat Nashashibi wrote to the Daily Telegraph in response to a commentary by Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor.

A day earlier, Nashashibi wrote to the Times in response to an editorial on the Israel-Hezbollah prisoner swap.

Letter to the Telegraph:

Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor seems rather confused. His latest commentary in the Daily Telegraph describes the "enduring partnership" and "deep and warm connections between Israel and Britain," the latter being an "ally in the march of freedom" (Britain is our friend and ally in freedom - 18 July 2008).

In a marked flip-flop, last month in the same newspaper he claimed that this country is "a hotbed for radical anti-Israeli views," whose media coverage is "routinely tainted with bias and a surprising lack of context," and whose citizens are "painfully unaware" of Israel's position (10 June). Is his memory so short, or does he think ours is?

Letter to the Times:

Your editorial expresses surprise over the Israel / Hezbollah prisoner swap because it "flies in the face of a long-declared policy of not negotiating with terrorists," but this is not the first time Israel has negotiated with Hezbollah over prisoners (Terms of trade - 17 July 2008). This shows that dealing with organisations it claims to shun can be done, and can produce mutually beneficial results.

The editorial also says the deal "perpetuates the cycle of hostage-taking," but now that Israel no longer has Lebanese prisoners, Hezbollah has no further incentive to take hostages. The same might not be true of the Palestinians, but then there are 11,000 of them - elected officials, civilians, women and children - languishing in Israeli jails, denied their basic human rights and due process.