Israel continues to deny media access to Gaza

Israel continues to deny media access to Gaza

Thursday January 08, 2009 20:37 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

With the Israeli assault on Gaza entering its 13th day, international and Israeli journalists continue to be denied access to the Gaza Strip, despite an Israeli High Court ruling that they should be allowed to enter.

For the last week, since the High Court decision was made, journalists have gone every day to the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip, as they were told to do by Israeli officials. And each day, Israeli military officials have turned them away, telling them not to bother returning to try to gain access to the besieged strip.

Hundreds of journalists wait in Israel for access to the Gaza Strip, which they have been denied for the last two months. But at the same time, Israeli government officials and Zionist groups from the US have been providing them with tours and interviewees inside Israel, which has led to an extremely one-sided presentation of the situation. In addition to interviews with Israelis, the journalists have also been subjected to lectures and presentations by Zionist groups and the Israeli government, presenting their version of events – a version which Palestinian leaders say is a complete fabrication.

But the journalists have not had the chance to ask the Palestinian leadership for their version, or talk to Palestinian civilians about their experiences and about the reality on the ground, because Israel continues to deny the journalists' access to the besieged and imprisoned Gaza Strip.

Nachman Shai, a former Israeli army spokesman, told the New York Times, “This is the result of what happened in the 2006 Lebanon war against Hezbollah. Then, the media were everywhere. Their cameras and tapes picked up discussions between commanders. People talked on live television. It helped the enemy and confused and destabilized the home front. Today, Israel is trying to control the information much more closely.”

Many media organizations, including the Foreign Press Association, representing foreign journalists stationed in Israel, and top executives from the Associated Press, the New York Times, ABC News, BBC News, CNN, Canadian network CTV, German network ZDF and Agence France Presse, have all lodged complaints against the Israeli government for their ongoing ban on journalists in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip.

Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights issued a statement that, “One of the cornerstones of civilization necessary for human rights is a free press and the right of human rights organization and U.N. human rights officials to travel freely to monitor situations where there are potential abuses. Israel, by denying entry of independent journalists and UN officials, by that very act, is violating the human rights of Palestinians. All repressive regimes claim that their clamp down on journalism and independent oversight is only because the journalists are 'biased.' Israel, itself a repressive regime, makes the same claim.”

Israeli military officials have claimed that by allowing journalists into Gaza to see the destruction that their invasion has wrought, these journalists would then produce reports that are 'biased' against Israel.

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