Israel bans press in the Gaza Strip

[ProgressiveMuslim]

For nearly three weeks Israel has blocked access to the Gaza Strip. Foreign journalists are challenging the Gaza ban in court, calling it a 'blow' to freedom of the press.

By Ilene R. Prusher | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the November 26, 2008 edition

Reporter Ilene Prusher talks about the frustration of foreign journalists trying to enter and report from the Gaza Strip.

Jerusalem - For more than 40 years the Gaza Strip has played a key role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, making it a place of keen interest to journalists.

But for nearly three weeks now, Israel has blocked media access to the 25-mile-long coastal territory in what journalists are calling a "mortal blow against freedom of the press."

On Monday, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel filed a petition to the Supreme Court asking it to rule on the issue, essentially forcing an overturn of the ban.

"We believe the Israeli government has an obligation to keep the Gaza border open to international journalists," says Steven Gutkin, the FPA Chairman and Jerusalem bureau chief of Associated Press. "The foreign media serve as the world's window into Gaza and it's essential that we be allowed in."

The border has been closed in the past during periods of heightened tensions and violence, but never for more than a few days at a time.

"It's been open throughout very difficult periods, and it's been closed during periods of heavy fighting. But it's been open during more tense periods than this one, and we've received no plausible explanation of why this period is any different," says Mr. Gutkin.

Israeli officials have given no specific reason why it has been closed for such a long period of time, except to indicate that opening the border – the only legal route into Gaza – would endanger the personnel who work at the heavily guarded Erez crossing.

Israel's Supreme Court responded on Tuesday by giving the state 15 days to respond to the FPA demand. But lawyers for the FPA appealed the decision, suggesting that it was an old-fashioned schedule in an age of real-time news.

"We're trying to make it clear to them that 15 days is too long," says Naomi Vestfrid, one of the lawyers on the case.

"We're in the 21st century: news travels in minutes, even seconds. We're trying to tell them that obviously, you didn't understand the urgency in the matter," says Ms. Vestfrid.

Israel has long maintained careful control over the amount of goods and people allowed to come in and out of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, home to about 1.5 million Palestinians living under great economic hardship.

As part of its disengagement from Gaza in September 2005, Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers from the territory it had occupied for 38 years and said that the Gaza Strip was no longer its responsibility. However, Israel still controls all access to Gaza via land, sea, and air. Gazans are also dependent on Israel for electricity and fuel.

Since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, Israel has further tightened its control over the territory, allowing an on-again, off-again trickle of commercial or other traffic over the border.

Israeli officials say they allow humanitarian aid and other necessary supplies into Gaza, but Palestinians say they are living under siege.

The latest clampdown on any access to and from Gaza stems from recent rocket attacks on southern Israel from militants in the Gaza Strip. Israel and Hamas had agreed to a temporary truce – called tahdiya in Arabic or regia in Hebrew – but the quiet was shattered by both sides over the past two weeks.

Human rights groups have also brought attention to the blockade of Gaza over the past month.

A new "Free Gaza" movement has sent boats from Cyprus to Gaza in defiance of the Israeli ban. Some boats have managed to dock, while in other cases, the activists were arrested.

By blocking the press from entering Gaza, the FPA charged in its petition to the Supreme Court that the ban "gives the unpleasant feeling that the state of Israel has something to hide."

more...
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1126/p06s01-wogn.html

[pelsar]

1. welcome to 2008....the internet is alive and well....

http://fromgaza.blogspot.com/

http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/

http://gaza-sderot.blogspot.com/

____

seems gaza has internet access...that means images and info
__

i guess the article is meant for the naive

[shira]

2. rotflol.....Israel must be "hiding" something

rrright.

Here are some VERY recent stories coming out of Gaza, pertaining to journalists, but that are hardly AS newsworthy as the Israel ban, maybe because Israel cannot be blamed all this is not as newsworthy:

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=32493

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33177

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=31751

Whoever is worried about Israel denying journalists in Gaza should maybe instead focus a bit more on what ELSE has been happening recently to journalists (and worse than anything Israel is doing by banning them for a brief period).

Remember rule #1:
If Israel isn't to blame, it's just not as newsworthy.

[amdezurik]

3. so why are they blocking journalists?

you make a claim, pass judgment on and then mock people for asking the question, yet you never bother to answer the question as posed. What are you afraid of ?

[pelsar]

4. saving their lives?

in the past western journalists have been kidnapped.....if they go via israel their remains some israeli responsibility .....if they really want to enter they can always go by boat or via Egypt. (They obviously aren't trying to hard)

if you read the above links, hamas doesnt take kindly to freedom of the press

[azurnoir]

6. Yup an AP cameraman would still be alive today

if he had only refrained from filming guess that was Hamases fault too.

[Vegasaurus]

7. Is there freedom of the press in Gaza?

What would happen to an Israeli newsperson who happened into Gaza to report a story?

[azurnoir]

8. Perhaps you should read post #5

that poster claims Amira Hass is in Gaza reporting, or doesn't she fit the description of Israeli?

[shira]

11. she may be an israeli, but if she doesn't tow the Hamas party line ....

then this happens (from today):

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33614

let's hear it for freedom of dissent in Hamas controlled Gaza!

http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=33596

that was also from today.

so are we to reckon that the journalists pissed about not being allowed into Gaza would report fairly and even critically against Hamas???

yeah, right.

[azurnoir]

12. Does Amira Haas work for the PA?

The journalist mentioned in both articles was a reporter for the PA's newspaper, which does not excuse the alleged actions taken by Hamas which were quite despicable but I have to wonder just how many Hamas reporter could operate safely in the West Bank or Israel for that matter.
Is your implication here that Ms Haas is being less than honest in her reporting.

[Vegasaurus]

14. Like Hamas allows freedom of the press?

(or freedom of anything else)?

[azurnoir]

18. So are you saying that

Amira Hass is being dishonest?

[pelsar]

15. why exactly are you wondering?

but I have to wonder just how many Hamas reporter could operate safely ...... Israel for that matter.

are their any incidents that you know of where israel threatened to jail reporters who dont report the govt line?....or is this merely speculation to wonder if israel really does have freedom of the press?

i guess it kind of like me wondering if the blacks are still being hung down south....i have to wonder.....are they?

[azurnoir]

17. So your saying that a Hamas reporter

could operate in Israel? If so good that is what I was wondering had nothing to do with the government line as you say. right now Israel has too many of those for one to singled out.

Also why did you leave out part of my quote?

[pelsar]

20. al jazeer is in israel....

if a hamasnik is in israel..cleared by the security services.....he could get himself a press pass as does Al jazzer......nothing would prevent it

as far as your quote....i left out the part about fatah and how they deal with hamas...have no real info, so i didnt want to mention it

at one point the israeli govt was pissed at the Al Jazzer rep...so the worst they could do was bar him from govt press conferences (dont know if they actually went through with it)

[henank]

21. Amira Hass has been kicked out of Gaza

Drumroll.... by Hamas.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x226082

[henank]

23. Amira Hass has been ejected from Gaza by Hamas

For some reason my post that I put up about Amira Hass being kicked out of Gaza by Egypt has been removed from this board completely by the mods. I cannot figure out why.

But so that my above post makes some sense, here is the post to which I linked. I cannot see any reason why this link should be considered "not kosher".

[oberliner]

24. You did not follow the proper I/P posting procedure

The title of the post must be the title of the article. Then you can include excerpt from the article and link. Article must be less than 3 weeks old.

[azurnoir]

25. Also it was from a blog not an actual news article

also I/P rules I believe. The letter from Ms Haas was written Sunday so perhaps we should be hearing from her soon.

[pelsar]

9. good point

you raised a good point, i infact wasnt thinking that they would be killed by the IDF but given the fact that newsman have a habit of entering war zones and believing that they are imune to being killed, its a damn good idea for the israeli govt to do their best to keep them out.

Its not a matter censorship...there is the internet in gaza and al jazzer is all over the place.....its a good move by the israeli govt to not just save some lives but save them the trouble of attemping to explain that being in a war zone is a risky business.

[azurnoir]

13. The question concerning the AP reporter was never

one of whether or not he was in a dangerous area but whether or not he was intentionally targeted and you should well know that having "debated" that question with me and others at the time.

[pelsar]

16. being in a war zone....

means you might get killed..... especially if your hanging around the side that doesnt have the superior fire power. Keeping the reporters out of the war zone makes the point of intentionally targeted or not, mute...

a good israeli govt decision.

[azurnoir]

19. Many war reporters have died

and they should know that they are doing dangerous work. most not are intentionally targeted but some are another example of one that I believe was intentionally killed is this one- BTW Israel is most definitely not involved

On June 24, Yasser Salihee, an Iraqi special correspondent for the news agency Knight Ridder, was killed by a single bullet to the head as he approached a checkpoint that had been thrown up near his home in western Baghdad by US and Iraqi troops. It is believed that the shot was fired by an American sniper. According to eyewitnesses, no warning shots were fired.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/jul2005/iraq-j01.shtml

edit left out not glad I caught it

[Shaktimaan]

26. sorry p, I am not with you on this one. not at all.

War reporting is inherently dangerous business and the reporters doing it have accepted the risks. Gaza is not particularly any more dangerous right now than Vietnam was during the war, or being embedded with soldiers in Iraq would be right now. Having a fully free press is one of the crucial pillars of democracy. Restricting the press in any way is ALWAYS a step towards totalitarianism, (even if it is sometimes necessary.) Sunlight is the only real way there is of ensuring that government, military, civilian and all other sections of society are operating honestly. Even if Israel has nothing to hide, restricting press actually encourages abuses... eventually there will be something that someone'll want to remain hidden. Something that probably wouldn't have happened had there been press in the vicinity. It is a cycle that can lead us down a very dangerous path.

There are reasons for restricting the press. As during wartime for instance. But those reasons are very few and should only be undertaken after careful consideration as to the damage it does to a democracy. And I believe that damage to be inevitable, even if it is SOMEtimes necessary for the survival of the state. Now is not one of those times.

You may think I am blowing this out of proportion but consider the repercussions. As someone who defends Israel, one of the best arguments I have is the fact that Israel is a free, western-style democracy on par with any other in the world. Once Israel begins visibly restricting the press it becomes much harder for people like me to make a convincing argument. The truth of the matter is that Israel IS actually sacrificing some of their democracy's credibility by taking actions like this. Freedom of the press is something that all Americans hold very dear. There would be no quicker way for Israel to lose our support than by restricting their press. (Unless they started perhaps feeding Christians to lions or something. You'd lose our support quicker that way.)

Out of love for Israel I desperately hope they change their mind on this policy as soon as possible. Barring an excellent reason for it, restricting the press like this is a truly awful thing to do. I am sorely disgusted by this news and hope that common sense soon prevails.

[pelsar]

31. i agree with the principle of freedom of the press

and freedom of speech..in fact i tend toward the fanatic side (i dont agree that should be against the law to deny the holocaust ....). But gaza is not israel, and israel has no responsibility to send reporters to gaza.

They have three other options: tunnels, Egypt formally and small boats. Democracies do restrict freedom of movement, as its forbidden for israelis to enter many parts of the westbank and gaza.

Simply Gaza is not israel and israel has no moral responsibility to open the borders..... Information in fact is not being denied, as the internet is alive and well in gaza and the news agencies are represented there.....

the scenario that is bring prevented?....small jihad groups (this is where the action is today) planting bombs on the gaza border and getting wiped out as they approach...put a newsguy there, as that is where the action is and we have another "israel targets journalists". I believe the local reporters understand that its not even a "risk" but sure death to join these groups, something an overzealous intl reporter might not appreciate. If they enter via israel, then israel has some responsibility towards them, if they enter via egypt then they dont.

they arent being prevented from getting into gaza, not if they really want to enter....

[shira]

5. news is getting out,...there is internet there...

even Amira Hass is there reporting for Haaretz.

Did you know Egypt also shares a border with Gaza and can allow journalists in if they decided to do so?

[Shaktimaan]

28. Egypt's choices are not the issue here.

Egypt's decision to allow journalists into Gaza has nothing to do with Israel's decision to restrict them. It does not alleviate Israel of ANY of their responsibilities to uphold democratic values at all. Yes, that fact that Egypt could help could potentially benefit the Gazans, who have a right to a free press... but it does not mean that Israel's act is any less reprehensible.

Israel had a right to wage war on Gaza, to restrict the flow of goods in and out and otherwise protect themselves. But they do not have the right to deny them a voice. Especially in light of the other restrictions that are in effect.

Incidentally, the day that Israel must rely on the likes of Egypt to buttress it's democracy is the day I truly begin worrying for her future.

[Kurska]

10. Because we need another reporter getting a face full of needles

Israel doesn't want to be responsible for non combatants wandering around the battle field, imagine that.

[Shaktimaan]

29. tough titties Israel.

No one said that being a democracy was easy.

[LeftishBrit]

22. That's very bad. But Hamas are not exactly shining examples of the freedom of the press.

[Shaktimaan]

27. I am thoroughly disgusted by this news.

I can only hope that this is quickly struck down by Israel's court system, thus validating that their democracy functions as well as any western state's.

Whomever made this decision should probably be stripped of their rank and decision-making powers, barring some kind of awesome excuse that we have yet to be made aware of.

[pelsar]

30. its not just newsmen...

gaza is simply closed off...period. The newspeople simply are not getting the exceptions that they want.....they arent special, nor do they deserve any special status. Gazas borders are dangerous.....

They do have other options...Gazas tunnels bring in people all of the time....and the small boats are the obvious.

Freedom of the press is present in israel......Israel is not responsible for sending reporters to jordan, syrian, lebanon or gaza.....