The international
Reporters Without Borders (
RSF)
organisation has initiated an
Internet signature campaign to call on Israel to
re-open the Gaza borders to international reporters.
The Israeli army started attacks on the Gaza Strip
on 27 December, and around 900 Palestinians have died in attacks in the last 16
days.
Do not exclude press
In its letter
of appeal, the organisation says:
“We,
the news media of the entire world, join the international press freedom organisation
Reporters Without Borders in urging the Israeli authorities to allow our
reporters back into the Gaza Strip.”
“In
view of the scale of the military operations and the repercussion they are
having throughout the world, we believe the Israeli government’s decision to
exclude the press from the Gaza Strip is untenable and dangerous.”
“It
is incomprehensible that Israel is preventing the press from providing
independent coverage of events that concern us all.”
“There
is only one solution to this situation: while taking the necessary security
measures, the Israeli authorities must grant immediate access to the Gaza Strip
to the media personnel who have been sent to cover this conflict.”
Two Iranian reporters arrested in Jerusalem
Meanwhile, Kadir Şahin, a reporter for the
Iran-based El Alam TV station, and his assistant Muhammed Sahran were arrested
in Jerusalem on 5 January. They have been accused of violating censorship rules
and they will be detained until 11 January. The police is preparing an
indictment for “state security violations”.
One local reporter dead, one's home hit
Local radio reporter Ala Mortaci died in the evening
of 9 January when an Israeli tank bombed his house in the Zeytun neighbourhood.
The house of another local journalist, Samir Khalife, was hit.
Journalists attacked in Amman and Algiers
In Amman, Jordan, the police attacked Al-Jazeera
reporter Yaser Ebu Hlaleh during a riot between demonstrators and police
preventing a march towards the Israeli embassy. The reporter’s camera and
mobile phone were confiscated, and he was taken to hospital.
Reporters
Without Borders regrets that Hocine Ben Rabie, a reporter with the
Arabic-language daily Ennahar, sustained serious head injuries in unclear
circumstances during a similar pro-Palestinian demonstration in Algiers
yesterday. He was taken to the Mustapha Pacha hospital in the city centre where
he was reported to be in a serious condition and underwent an operation.
900 dead
In the last 16 days, Israel first carried out air
attakcs, and then began ground operations against the Gaza Strip. So far around
900 Palestinians, 275 of them children, have died and up to 4,000 have been
wounded. On the Israeli side, 13 people have died. Hamas has launched 550
rockets into the south of Israel since the beginning of operations. (EÖ/AG)