July 27, 2011
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 August 2011
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Arab-Israeli conflict seems to have been sidelined in this year of revolutions. But our Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen tells us that it hasn't gone away, and the signs are not good. It was 37-degrees at the Italian air base where Jonathan Marcus has been to meet some of the pilots flying NATO missions over Libya -- but not too hot for them all to tuck into a full English breakfast while Jonathan inquired: how much have the pilots contributed to the rebels' success in and around Tripoli? They've been celebrating twenty years of independence in Estonia and, not surprisingly, we find they've been doing it in song. Kieran Cooke's been to Shangri-La. This town in western China is supposed to be as close as you can get to an earthly paradise, but Kieran's not entirely convinced. And call him a hypochondriac but our man in the Hollywood hills, David Willis, is more than a little scared when he opens up an email telling him if he's likely to get Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is from our own correspondent. We make an edition for the BBC World Service as well, |
| 0:05.2 | but this is a download of the latest Radio 4 programme and here to introduce it, as ever, Kate Adi. |
| 0:11.2 | Today, a year of revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa leaves |
| 0:15.2 | Israel with a new set of challenges. Turn right for Libya we get a briefing from |
| 0:20.2 | the NATO air crew who flown 20,000 sorties over Tripoli. |
| 0:24.0 | There are celebrations on the cobbled streets of old Tallinn as Estonians mark 20 years of independence. |
| 0:31.0 | And is it Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, brain hemorrhage? Our man in California checks |
| 0:36.6 | his emails to find out. The extraordinary developments in Libya and neighboring countries this year haven't all been welcomed |
| 0:44.6 | by the authorities in Israel. |
| 0:47.8 | Security along the country's southern borders being reassessed. |
| 0:50.8 | The gunman who attacked an Israeli bus near the resort time of Elat earlier this month |
| 0:55.0 | are thought to have crossed into Israel from Egypt. |
| 0:58.0 | There are other concerns at home after a series of unprecedented demonstrations against the country's high cost of living. |
| 1:05.2 | And Jeremy Burns says the government's also looking ahead to next month's United Nations |
| 1:09.5 | General Assembly. |
| 1:11.4 | My passport say it all. |
| 1:13.0 | Like most foreign correspondence in the Middle East, I have two. |
| 1:17.0 | One for Israel, the other for Arab countries. |
| 1:19.0 | That's because some Arab states won't let you in if you have an Israeli visa. |
| 1:24.0 | My passport with the Israeli stamp shows that for almost six years until last December, |
| 1:29.2 | I was in Jerusalem about once a month. |
| 1:32.1 | Then nothing, until a quick visit last week. |
... |
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