Reporters
Without Borders Protests Israel’s Expulsion of Reuters Cameraman
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Israel
expels, humiliates, and throws grenades at foreign journalists
covering atrocities in the West Bank and Gaza
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PARIS, August 18
(IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Media watchdog Reporters Without
Borders (RSF) protested Sunday, August 18, Israel’s expulsion of
Ahmed Bahaddou, a cameraman with the British news agency Reuters, who
was put on a flight to Jordan August 15, after having been refused
entry and detained overnight at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion airport.
Bahaddou's expulsion was
"new evidence of the discriminatory policies pursued by the
Israeli authorities towards Arab journalists", Reporters Without
Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said on RSF website.
Two other Arab journalists
have been expelled since the Israeli occupation army began its
incursion into Palestinian territories in March.
"We also call on
Danny Seaman, the head of the Israeli government's press office, to
comply promptly with the undertakings he gave to Tim Heritage, the
head of the Reuters bureau in Jerusalem", Ménard added. Seaman
reportedly said Bahaddou would be able to return to work in Israel on
condition that he did not cover the Gaza Strip or the West Bank.
A Belgian
national, Bahaddou was held for 20 hours in a cell at Ben-Gurion
airport after being refused entry August 14, RSF reported.
''I feel
humiliated,'' he told Reuters by telephone from the airport. Seaman
said August 14 that the Interior Ministry had denied Bahaddou entry
under pressure from trade unions that oppose foreign cameramen working
in Israel. "Bahaddou attempted to enter Israel without the proper
visa," he said.
Bahaddou had
often covered the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since November 2001,
until now without any problem. Like most foreign journalists, he would
enter Israel on a three-month tourist visa and would subsequently
obtain the accreditation authorizing him to work. However, in early
July, the Israeli authorities had asked him to get a work permit.
The Israeli
cameramen's union recently protested to the interior ministry about
the large number of foreign cameramen employed by the international
news media in Israel, to the detriment of Israeli cameramen.
At the same time,
the international press agencies are obliged to use foreign cameramen
to cover the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This is partly because Israeli
journalists cannot go into these areas for security reasons. It is
also because many Palestinian journalists, lacking press cards, cannot
move freely between the different territories.
Since the start
of the year, the Israeli press office has refused to renew the
accreditation of many Palestinian journalists, said RSF. Some now only
have an accreditation valid for several months, as opposed to the
two-year accreditation that used to be issued. Others only have a new
document describing them as "media assistants".
Other Arab
journalists have been expelled in recent months. On June 3, 2002,
Mashhour Abou-Eid, a correspondent for the Jordanian government news
agency Petra, was escorted back to the border between Israel and
Jordan.
A U.S. national,
Jassem al-Azzawi of Abu Dhabi TV, was expelled April 6, after his
accreditation was withdrawn.
Meanwhile, Yousri
El-Jamal, a Reuters sound man, is still held by the Israeli
authorities, following his arrest April 30. A military court rejected
demands for his immediate release June 18, and on July 11, his
detention was extended for three months.
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