Thanks to your stunningly swift and articulate
             response, cartoonist Malcolm Mayes of the Edmonton
             Journal issued an apology for his gross transgression.
             The paper received literally HUNDREDS of emails from
             pmwatchers and beyond, and I can assure you that our
             massive response was a determining factor in pushing
             them to issue the public apology.  As of yesterday
             morning, they still refused to apologize -- but thanks
             to you all, they thought better of it and gave in.

             That a paper would get hundreds of pro-Palestinian
             rights emails in a day or two is truly a milestone to
             be celebrated.  For the first time, I feel very good
             about our reaction.  Now you know how it must feel on
             the other side.  They don't like something and so they
             react swiftly and en masse.  And guess what: the get
             results.

             Regarding Mr. Mayes' apology (see below).  Officially,
             it is an apology and we will take it for what it's
             worth: a public statement of a wrong done and an
             expression of regret.  Now, whether it reflects
             sincerity and penitence from Mr. Mayes, that's
             something that can be debated.  I for one am not so
             naive as to believe that the man could not fit words
             such as "Sharon", "Ariel", "Settlment", "Sniper",
             "IDF", "Tanks", "F16", etc. into his crossword.  I
             think the paper and the cartoonist got a bit
             frightened by the massive reaction and decided that it
             was not worth it to have it snow ball out of control.
             But be that as it may, his sincerity is not that
             impoart, nor even his apology: what is important, as
             far as I am concerned, is that we have proved to
             ourselves, more than to anyone else, that we can
             mobilize together, in unison, and have an impact.

             Thanks again for your continued support.  I will be
             issuing a call shortly.  I hope you will mobilize with
             the same energy and fervor as you did in this one.

             The apology is below.

             Yours,
             Ahmed Bouzid
             President
             Palestine Media Watch
             http://www.pmwatch.org
             ----------------------------------------------------
             An apology

             A cartoon of mine that appeared in Tuesday's Journal
             has offended many people of Palestinian and Arab
             background. It was most certainly not my intention to
             give such offence, and I deeply regret the distress
             caused.

             The cartoon, labelled Cross Words, used a crossword
             puzzle to comment on the situation in the Middle East.
             The cartoon attempted to reflect the harsh rhetoric of
             both sides back at them. The words I selected,
             "terrorists," "animals," etc. were words used by
             Israelis, while "murderous," "brutality" and 
             "killers" (which was shortened from "baby killers")
             were words taken directly from Palestinians.

             The cartoon failed because the structure led many
             people to see the harsh quotes as applying only to
             Palestinians. That was not my intention. But my
             intentions don't matter; what matters is how a great
             many people interpreted it.

             The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt all those
             Canadians of Arab descent, especially those who make
             such a great contribution to our city.

             I did hurt many of them, and I apologize.

             Sincerely,
             Malcolm Mayes
             June 7, 2001