PARADISE NOW - PARADISE NOW SPARKS OSCAR UPROAR

Academy Award-nominated movie PARADISE NOW is under attack from Israeli families who lost children in Palestinian suicide attacks, and they are urging Oscar officials to disqualify the film. The bereaved relatives claim to have a 32,000 signature-strong petition against the movie's nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. The movie charts two West Bank friends hired to be suicide bombers in Tel Aviv. YOSSI ZUR, whose teenage son ASAF was killed in a bus bombing, says, "What they call 'Paradise Now' we call 'Hell Now', each and every day. "It is a mission of the free world not to give such movies a prize." The controversial film, which won a Golden Globe award for Best Foreign Language Film in January (06), explores the perspectives of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, and whether their frustration justifies resorting to violence. STEVEN SPIELBERG's multi Oscar-nominated movie MUNICH, about 11 Israeli athletes massacred at the 1972 Olympic Games, has also met with controversy. Film industry experts claim an Oscar nomination has never been withdrawn since the awards began in 1928.