Tel Aviv - International journalists demanded unfettered
access to Gaza Friday and protested Israeli government attempts to
limit the entry of reporters into the strip.
The Foreign Press Association (FPA), the body representing foreign
correspondents working in Israel and the Palestinian autonomous
areas, said it was 'dismayed' the Israeli government allowed no
journalists to enter Gaza on Friday, despite an Israeli High Court
decision that it should allow limited access.
The Jerusalem court ruled Friday morning the government
should allow into Gaza small groups of eight to 12 journalists at a
time, who must share their information with other reporters - a
practice called 'pool sharing' in journalism.
The Israeli government argued that it did not have 'enough' time
to coordinate their entry since the court decision to allow in
journalists already Friday, but the FPA charged that this argument
did not seem 'reasonable.'
Israel's border crossing of Erez with northern Gaza had been open
to humanitarian traffic most of the day, it said.
Some 266 Palestinians with foreign passports, most of them
Russians and Ukrainians, passed through the Erez crossing Friday and
were transported by their embassies to Jordan. Israel also allowed
another 63 trucks with humanitarian supplies through its border
crossing of Kerem Shalom with southern Gaza.
'We call on the Israeli government to immediately honour the will
of the court and allow foreign journalists access to Gaza,' the FPA
sent in a statement sent to journalists.
It added that only it should be able to chose the eight to 12
journalists allowed into Gaza each time, but the Israeli government
now insisted that two of them should be 'foreigners who have come
from abroad' of its choosing, who were non FPA members.
When a six-month truce with Hamas first began disintegrating in
early November, Israel for the first time refused to allow
journalists to enter Gaza for a period of some three weeks. It
re-allowed entry after pressure from the FPA and foreign governments.
The body also condemned police of the West Bank-based
administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for arresting
journalists and cameramen covering a Hamas demonstration in Ramallah.
Most of Abbas' security forces are members of his Fatah party,
which is at bitter odds with radical Islamic Hamas movement ruling
Gaza.
'The FPA insists that journalists be allowed free and unfettered
access to cover newsworthy events at all times and under all
circumstances,' the movement said.
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