Dozens of Palestinian intellectuals and journalists held a protest outside the BBC office in Gaza City against the BBC's decision not to air a Gaza humanitarian appeal on its television service.
The BBC, which has a 24-hour news channel watched in the Middle East and has closely followed Israel's three-week war in which 1,300 Palestinians were killed, said they will not air the appeal for fear of being seen to take sides.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) PROTESTER, ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY TEACHER NEHAD ALSHEIKH:
"What happened in Gaza was an aggression, not a war. It was a criminal aggression that took place in Gaza. Nobody blamed the BBC during the coverage, because all the Palestinians know that the BBC doesn't have the principles which enable it to be biased towards the Palestinian cause, so nobody blamed them. But (the BBC is blamed) when the rudeness reaches this level, a level in which they (BBC) ban a call for humanitarian help."
