ISRAEL ADOPTS NATO'S BOMB DOCTRINE

The author is not stated but is clearly Robert Fisk, whose name has all but vanished from the pages of The Independent after his courageous reporting on the results of the Allied conflict in the Balkans.

OVER THE broken Awali river bridge staggered a young man with a tray bearing a massive strawberry and meringue cake. "Happy Birthday to Fatima Begun" the icing announced. And then another cake. And another. Each cake was three feet by two feet. Same birthday, same lady. "It was made in Zrarieh and we're taking it to Beirut," the young man said. I hoped Fatima Begun wasn't going to eat it all herself. But the Israeli air raids weren't going to diminish this lady's birthday.[...]

WE regret that by letter dated Tuesday, December 12, 2000 a Ms. Louise Hayman, the head of legal services at The Independent newspaper, requested that this article be removed from this website. We have adjusted the masthead accordingly.