Last update - 08:18 17/10/2002 By Sharon Sadeh, Ha'aretz Correspondent

The BBC's Middle East bureau chief Andrew Steele has asked BBC London to boycott Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's bureau, not to ask Sharon's people for any comments or reactions and to interview only Foreign Ministry officials, because of what he says is the government's refusal to give press accreditation to Palestinians employed by the BBC.

In an internal memorandum to BBC producers, Steele said, "The Israeli government is withholding press accreditation from Palestinians working for the BBC, as part of a long war of attrition between the Prime Minister's Bureau and the foreign media. It is difficult to find appropriate ways of retaliation without losing our journalistic objectivity. Except for one thing - I would like to deprive the prime minister's spokesmen of their platform. Until we resolve this, I would appreciate it if any guest bookers would approach Foreign Ministry officials only - Gideon Meir, Arye Mekel, Mark Sofer and others - and not Ra'anan Gissin, Dori Gold etc. who work for Sharon."

BBC management sources said Thursday, "We always aim to cover the Middle East conflict in a fair and balanced way. The BBC and other media in Israel are currently looking to resolve the issues with the Israeli government regarding the press accreditation."

The spokesman of the Israeli Embassy in London said Israel regards this request with severity and that "this behavior is not surprising."

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2002