The Middle East correspondent for a British national daily broadsheet has responded positively to an email from Arab Media Watch regarding an article about Hebron.

AMW chairman Sharif Hikmat Nashashibi wrote to him on 8 August 2008, expressing concern at the following statement: "around 700 Jewish settlers live under massive Israeli army and police protection amid some 180,000 Palestinians."

The correspondent replied the next day: "Thanks for the feedback. I see your point and that that line could be read in a certain way: will try different formulations in future, as I'm sure I'll be writing about Hebron again before too long."

He also expressed his interest in meeting AMW's chairman in London or Israel / Palestine.

Nashashibi's letter is below, with certain details ommitted to respect the correspondent's privacy.

I hope you're well. I hope you don't mind me giving you some feedback on your article. It's an excellent article, on an important issue that went largely unreported elsewhere in the national British press.

However, I found the following problematic: "around 700 Jewish settlers live under massive Israeli army and police protection amid some 180,000 Palestinians."

While I know it isn't your intention, this sentence implies that Hebron's Palestinian residents are the aggressors against a besieged and benign settler community.

As you and other journalists and human rights groups have thoroughly documented, Hebron's settlers are notoriously hard-line, and often behave violently and with impunity towards Palestinians. Your article contains a video showing such violence, and you rightly pointed out two days earlier that it's a "common occurrence" in Hebron.

As you know, the Israeli army and police often either watch on without stopping the attacks, or take part alongside the settlers. Their presence, illegal under international law, has devastated Hebron.

Thank you for your time and consideration in reading my feedback. If you aren't too busy, I look forward to your thoughts on this matter.

On a lighter note, I'd be grateful if you let me know when you'll next be in London as it would be great to meet you and perhaps host you for one of our regular media panel discussions. It's a pity we weren't able to meet when I was in Palestine in March.