|
Media Watchdogs Protest Israeli Clampdown on Journalists
 |
|
Israeli soldiers check a member of the International media near Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah Friday.
|
By Steve Smith, IOL Correspondent in Washington
WASHINGTON, April 6 (IslamOnline) – Several media watchdogs and human rights groups complained Friday that Israel is using serious intimidation tactics to stop journalists form covering its invasion of the Palestinian territories and hide its abuses against civilians in these areas.
"We are outraged by the Israeli army's continuing attacks against journalists,” said Joel Campagna,
program coordinator on the Middle East and North Africa for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
“On several occasions in recent days, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have opened fire on, or in the direction of, working journalists, in a clear effort to intimidate journalists reporting in the West Bank. These actions must cease and we call on the IDF to lift the restrictions now in place on media access to several towns and cities of the West Bank."
On Friday, the Israeli occupation forces, equipped with American-made weaponry, army fired stun grenades and rubber bullets at reporters in Ramallah. They shot at a group of at least two- dozen reporters attempting to cover the pending arrival of U.S. Mideast envoy Anthony Zinni, who visited the compound today to meet with Arafat.
Several other media organizations like the International Press Institute (IPI) and Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF), have protested against the incident and against the Israeli decision that certain West Bank towns and areas are "closed military areas."
The attacks on journalists are clearly aimed at discouraging journalists from covering the current crisis in the West Bank, says CPJ.
The New York based group said it was also investigating reports that Israeli forces detained a number of Palestinian journalists in Bethlehem on Thursday.
RSF, said Friday that 30 journalists have been fired at by Israeli troops. Its Secretary-General Robert Ménard called Friday on the Israeli civilian authorities to "cancel the ban immediately".
"Allowing the Israeli occupation of Ramallah to take place without media witnesses is to foment rumors and disinformation," he said. RSF is also concerned that the army's media ban was extended today to Bethlehem.
Since the beginning of the second Intifada, RSF has counted 52 cases of journalists wounded by gunfire in the occupied territories and has established that most of the shooting was done by the Israeli army.
Other groups have several times deplored the lack of any serious army enquiry into these shootings.
Italian journalist Raffaele Ciriello was killed on 13 March in Ramallah by shots from an Israeli tank. RSF appeals for the authorities to seriously investigate all the cases of journalists killed or wounded since September 2000 went unheeded.
In January, the Israeli army demolished the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation's (PBC) headquarters, studios and offices in Ramallah and decided not to renew press accreditation for Palestinian journalists.
Members of the Israeli occupation army stormed the PBC headquarters, which
also houses its main television and radio station, the Voice of Palestine.
Arriving with tanks and bulldozers, the soldiers evacuated all employees and
proceeded to place explosive charges on the upper floors of the building.
The Israeli Government Press Office's (GPO) refused to issue new press cards, which expired on 31 December, prevent an estimated 450 Palestinians, many of whom work for foreign media organizations, from covering news in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Under the new restrictions, journalists are no longer allowed to move freely from one city to another. Palestinian journalists cannot enter Israel or East Jerusalem. In addition, the GPO has allegedly prepared what it calls a "Black List" of Palestinian media workers.
Marty Rosenbluth, Amnesty International USA country specialist for Israel, the Occupied Territories and the Palestinian Authority, blamed Friday both Israel and the U.S. for the atrocities against journalists and against the Palestinians.
"While Israel says that its killings of civilians are 'unintentional,' the fact of the matter is that they are inevitable. If you fire a TOW missile into a residential area, you know that civilians are going to be killed as a result of that,” he said.
Amnesty called on the international community to act immediately to deploy
international observers.
“The U.S. government is probably violating the Arms Export Control Act by
continuing to provide billions of dollars in weapons to Israel, since it is clear U.S.-made weapons have been used offensively and to commit human rights violations; the failure to investigate this is definitely a violation of that law,” added Rosenbluth.
|
