Alan Hart (deceased 2017) was a former ITN and BBC Panorama foreign correspondent with a vast first-hand knowledge of the conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel. His first book Arafat, Terrorist or Peacemaker? was published by Sidgwick & Jackson in 1984 and subsequently in several updated editions over a decade, in America by Indiana University Press as ARAFAT. In the early 1970s, his independent production company produced the first ever and to date only documentary on the true dimensions of global poverty and its implications for all. The film, Five Minutes To Midnight, had its world premiere at the opening of the 7th Special Session of the UN General Assembly (called to discuss the need for a New World Economic Order), was shown on television in many Western countries, was versioned for schools and became a standard work of reference. For that effort Alan was credited with having played a leading role in getting the North-South issue on to the agenda for political and public debate.