The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 2

29 December 1996 The Observer Stent attacks Hime stand snOcflDfiia mm abortioE by Victoria Oar mm kind of fearless leadership which he alone can said Prof Scarisbrook. According to one Mori poll, fewer than two-thirds of the 4.4 million Catholics in England and Wales share the Cardinal's views, but he was boldly exercising what he sees as Church leaders' right to become involved in politics. Cardinal Hume seemed to be counterbalancing a recent impression that the Catholic Church in Britain was encouraging its members to vote Labour. That impression was conveyed by a Church document entitled 'The Common Good', published by Catholic bishops, that emphasised social concerns and said that Catholics could support a candidate even if they differed with him oh one issue. Labour and the Catholic Church also clashed over abortion in October when Cardinal Thomas Winning, leader of Scotland's Catholics, attacked Tony Blair's stance on the issue.

Clare Short The Catholic Church lost almost all the women of my generation because of its attitude to sex' which are clearly However, a spokesman for the cardinal stressed that he had not been launching any kind of campaign. But, as it has in the United States, abortion could become an issue which costs MPs then-seats, although Ms Short doubts it. 'They'll get a handful ofvotes we're not a Christian fundamentalist country. They're making a big she said yesterday. The row over Cardinal Hume's affirmation of an important Catholic doctrine has Cardinal Hume: 1 am convinced that abortion is a great evil in our society and really unworthy of a civilised society of the pro-choice National Abortion Campaign.

Pro-choice groups said the Cardinal's strong words did not reflect the opinions of Women faced with unwanted pregnancies. 'His remarks will heap the burden of guilt on said Ann Furedi, director of the Birth Control Trust. 'It is an inhumane thing to But Professor Jack Scarisbrook, chairman of the Pro-Life group was delighted by the Cardinal's help in keeping the issue alive. 'It is the moral dilemma' every woman faces when considering an abortion. Her own upbringing dictated adoption rather than abortion when she found herself pregnant as an 18-year-old student.

Having relinquished her son, Toby, at six weeks old, she was reunited with him last October. She described the Catholic Church's view of morality as distorted', and said she favoured a law regulating the availability of abortion but leaving it to the individual to make her choice. Current legislation, embodied in the 1967 Abortion Act and subsequently amended in 1990, sets out three criteria under which the operation can take place. There has to be an immediate risk to the mother's life; a danger of abnormality in the baby; and the agreement of two doctors that there is a risk to the mental or physical wellbeing of the woman if she continues with her pregnancy. It is the final exception to LABOUR frontbencher Clare Short yesterday attacked Cardinal Basil Hume's views on abortion, saying that the Catholic Church's attitude had cost it the support of her generation of women.

She was protesting about an interview on 'today's edition of GMTVs Sunday, in which the leader of Britain's Roman Catholics describes abortion as 'a great evil in our society and really unworthy of a civilised society Ms Short, who had a strict Catholic upbringing but describes herself as 'ethnic' rather than practising, told the Observer. If very sad that the Catholic Church retreats back on to this territory. It lost almost all the women of my generation because of its attitude to sex. They suggest that abortion is the primary moral question; it is not' Ms Short stressed the 'acute First direct 'official conversation' leads to hint of deal to end siege of envoy's Perm rebels free 20 hostages after talks lI'lNMiWilYMnMim ran 300 the law that causes most controversy and which led to the reduction of the time limit for termination from 28 weeks to 24 in 1990. Ms Short said: 'We know that an ovemhelming majority of Catholics, and an even higher proportion of the general population, agree with In his television interview (Cardinal Hume said: 'We have to explore why people want their child aborted.

There are some things which are clearly good. There are some things been through the Red Cross, but the agency has been keen to promote direct contact with the government. The pair spent about two hours inside the residence ear-heron Saturday, leaving and theri returning with Palermo just before 1pm local time. Red Cross officials have saig previously that Peruvian agency; head Michel Mtaitig has been conveying messages; Bishop Juan Lids apriani has said his visits are pastoral. Shortly before Palermo entered the residence, Red Cross spokesman Roland Bigler said there was hope 'that more channels can be opened that will lead to a more direct dialogue between the interested parties'.

The crisis began on December 17, when around 20 members of the Tupac Amaru movement infiltrated the residence during a gala cocktail party held to honour the birttt-' day of the Japanese emperor. More than 400 guests were initially held hostage. gotiator, Education Minister Domingo Palermo, and rebel leader Nestor Carpa. About 80 hostages are thought to be still inside the embassy. In a communique read by one of the freed hostages, Auturo Pendavis, the rebels said they resented being called 'terrorists' and being compared to the Shining Path group, which they had repeatedly condemned.

The breakthrough raised hopes that a deal was being brokered between the government and the guerrillas, who are demanding the release from prison of more than 300 comrades. The latest group to walk free included the Dominican Republic ambassador, Jose Ramon Diaz, and his Malaysian counterpart, Ahmad dMakhtarSela. Palermo, appointed negotiator by President Alberto entered the residence yesterday afternoon accompanied by a Red Cross official and a Roman Catholic bishop. Previous contact had by Pchoel Dorhani and 8MCtas LEFT-WING Peruvian guerrillas last night released at least 20 hostages from the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, following the first face-to-face contact between terrorists and the government It was the biggest release in the 12-day-old siege since guerrillas from the Tupac Amaru rebel group set free 225 hostages a week ago, raising hopes of an end to the crisis. Carrying plastic bags of clothes, the first group of three hostages left the residence followed by a larger group.

They smiled broadly and shook hands before walking to a school bus outside the embassy compound to be transferred to a military liospital The release followed what was described as 'an official conversation' between the Peruvian government's chief ne Some of the hostages released yesterday from the Japanese ambassador's residence In Tupac Amaru rebels who seized the compound 12 days ago sun hold about 80 hostages. Israeli secures a home for CERANO SOFA 279 been intensified because, MPs, including Ms Short, could be challenged by up to 50 pro-life candidates in the general election. Pro-choice campaigners were more incensed by the Cardinal's pronouncement. They pointed out that abortion could not be banned and would only become more dangerous if forced underground. 'People like Cardinal Hume make an awful lot of noise considering how few of them there said Janet Mearns laps water from a bowl in the manner of a domestic pet and has no muscle control.

Her sisters keep her clean by hosing her and her cage once a week. Or they did. Now she has a new home in an institution for the mentally handicapped, in the Galilee village ofKfarKana. Hanan has become a a pawn in the battle for the future of the Middle East. Her parents say her suffering was, in part, the fault of the Israeli government.

Israel blames the newly created Palestinian Authority. As officials traded insults, she lived 'half-human, half-beast' in her cage in the Arab village of Jabal Mukabar. The Observer story shocked readers. One phoned to say that, the picture of the teenager, staring through the bars of her cage, had reduced her to tears. It also caused outrage in cakes to tbe Almighty This might seem as American as apple pie or, at least, apple pie in moderation.

'Well, I accept it does combine two of America's greatest obsessions dieting and says Eric Major, the vice-president of Doubleday Religious Pubhshing. Diet books and courses come in all shapes and sizes, with the hip and thigh diet of Rosemary Conley, herself a practising Christian; the Hay diet, which stops the mixing of starch and protein; Audrey Eyton's Plan, whose disciples, including Terry Wogan and David Owen, concentrate on eating fibre; and the Nigel Lawson diet, which made the former Chancellor look like a cadaver. Yet the Weigh Down Diet says there is no food that God dislikes. 'You can eat says Shamblin, who points to Paul's epistle to the unice. unu-uaw postage paio ai chanty Arab girl kept 'halfrbeast' residence Lima leave for hospital.

The Photograph by Luis ChiangReuters in a cage found a place for Hanan in the home in Galilee. The Jaafreh family are Bed-ouinsl They have lived in Jerusalem for at least 50 years, but do not have Israeli identity cards. Nevertheless, Hanan's father, Mahmoud, pays taxes to the Jerusalem municipality. But because he has no identity card, he is not entitled to health care or social security. In effect, the Israeli social services washed their hands of his daughter.

Legally, they were right. But the tough interpretation of the law shocked social workers and the public. The Israeli charity lobbied the Minister of Labour and Welfare and humanity prevailed. Now Hanan is receiving the care and attention she needs. Last night Heddell said: This is marvellous news, especially at this time of ply will not want that second potato, let alone that second helping, thanks to prayer, spiritual guidance and the Bible, where John 4:34 has Jesus saying: 'My food is to do the will of Him who sent me to finish His Weigh Down advocates believe their diet will be followed long after the 12-week course has been completed.

'God is too smart to let somebody like Weightwatchers or Jane Fonda be your saviour and get all the says Shamblin. 'God will not let other diets However, Clarissa Dickson Wright, one of BBC2's Two Fat Ladies, counters that this sounds like 'religious Nazism'. A practising Catholic, like her cooking partner, Jennifer Pat-erson, Wright thinks it is nonsense that a craving for food can be replaced by God. 'It's one for fundamentalist she says. 1RF.

ISSN 0029-7 ISSN 0029-7712 MIRACLES are scarce in Palestine these days, but over Christmas something special happened. An Arab girl who spent the first 14 years of her life tethered like an animal in her parents' garden, and the past few months locked in a cage, has been released. Three weeks ago the Observer revealed the plight of Hanan Jaafreh, an innocent victim of the Arab-Israeli conflict. In Britain, Hanan would be designated a child with special educational needs; in Israel, she is categorised 'mentally handicapped'. Whatever the tenninology, there is no doubting her many problems.

Hanan cannot speak; the only noise she makes is mimicked from the sheep with which she used to live. She The divine diet: Let God be your rock and the stones will go as if by miracle the offices of Mencap, the British mental health charity. Fred Heddell, its chief executive, took up the case with Mencap's sister organisation in Israel, Akim Israel. On Christmas Eve, Mencap received the news it had been hoping for. Akim Israel had Hanan Jaafreh had become a pawn In Arab-Israeli politics Colossians, in which he says you should let no man judge you by what you eat.

'Even hamburgers and candy bars are OK. No food is Weigh Down's supporters claim that more than 200,000 people have successfully followed courses in about 5,000 churches across the United States. So far in Britain about eight churches have begun programmes. 'I was more than 17 stone but the weigh Down Diet got me to less than says Lynda Bessell, who has followed the course at a church in Ilford, Essex. 'I tried others, such as Slimfast, before but simply put the weight back on as soon as I had stopped.

With Weigh Down, you chew less food and, with God's help, want less. Now 90 per cent of my head hunger has That head hunger is replaced by a hunger for God. Follow the diet and you sim unampiam, ny izsia. ff by Richard Brooks IF YOUR belly is groaning under the weight of turkey, mince pies and plum pudding, and the prospect of an encounter with the bathroom scales fills you with dread, fear not. Help may be at hand.

Divine help. The Weigh Down diet, which has swept America in the past few months and has now arrived in Britain, cuts your appetite, and your weight, through prayer and Bible reading. In the new year comes the accompanying book, written by the course's founder, Gwen Shamblin, a Tennessee dietician. 'It tells you how you can move from a relationship with the refrigerator to one with she says. 'People think of food all day.

But food will never fill the heart. This diet means your crush goes from pizza and habitat sale NOW ON For store details call 0645 334433 (local call) anytime 1996 Published by Guardian Newspapers Limited, 119 arringdor i Rpdd, London EC1R 3ER (tel 0171-278 2332) and 164 Deansgate. Manchester M60 2RR. Printed alW! Farrv Printers 2M WestFerry Road London E1 4 8NX and Yorkshire Post Newspapers Ltd. P.O.

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