-Caveat Lector- Foreign journalists have no one to fear but Israel As the uprising raged on, more and more journalists were shot at or harassed by the Israeli army and the Jewish settlers By Ramzy Baroud June 05, 2001, 07:34 PM http://www.arabia.com/news/article/english/0,1690,48496,00.html OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - The kidnapping and freeing, four hours later of two foreign journalists in the southern Palestinian town of Rafah by an apparently Palestinian faction on Tuesday May 29, has sent shock waves through the foreign correspondent community, according to Arieh O'Sullivan from the Israeli Jerusalem Post. Joshua Hammer, 43, the American head of Newsweek's Occupied Jerusalem bureau, and Gary Knight, a 36-year-old British photographer were on a mission to interview members of the Fatah Hawks movement in Rafah, when they were told that they are hostages in a symbolic kidnapping. Also held for four hours with the two journalists were their Palestinian driver and Arabic interpreter. The two reporters were allowed to phone their news agencies to distribute the message of their kidnappers. Hammer told the Israeli Ha'aretz following his release we were treated very well. We were doing a story on the resistance against the Israelis and therefore wanted to talk to the people doing it, he added. Both journalists refrained from referring to the time spent at a Palestinian house as kidnapping and said that they are staying in Gaza for the rest of the week, according to previous plans, to finish their work. Israel however, used the incident to its best advantage. Israeli daily newspapers magnified the event and managed to depict it to the ever-eager western media as a near turning point in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Papers reiterated and generously described the embarrassment the Palestinian authority must have felt as a result of the kidnapping. The Jerusalem Post quoted a foreign correspondent as saying: This is a really bad omen for journalists who work in the territories. These sorts of things tend to be infectious, and others may surely get ideas. Politically educated Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are well aware of the contribution their uprising has made in exposing the vile face of the occupation, by mainly conveying their daily suffering through camera lenses and honest journalists' narration. Despite extreme bias showed by mainstream media in the West, mostly in the United States, the suffering of the Palestinian people and the inhumanity of the Israeli army was evident, clearly reflected in the frail faces of dying Palestinian children, weeping mothers and angry young men questing freedom. Yet no matter how biased the media can be, there is only one way to interpret an image of a Palestinian child baring his chest before a column of Israeli tanks approaching his village. But the Israeli reaction to the kidnapping in Rafah truly resonated in a statement made by a defense official to the Jerusalem Post saying "now the foreign correspondents can see the true face of the Palestinians." While we can hardly settle for a word less than racism to describe the values reflected in the officials statement, we can confidently declare that its a classic case of a person shooting himself in the foot. By browsing through a well-categorized Palestinian listing of the actualities during the current Intifada (Uprising) youll find list of foreign journalists who were gunned down by Israeli troops. In a report issued (Nov. 09, 2000) shortly after the outbreak of the uprising The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released a report regarding Israel's targeting of foreign journalists. CPJ has documented more than two dozen cases of journalists injured or harassed while covering political violence in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since late September, stated the report. CPJ is particularly disturbed by seven cases in which journalists either charged that they were intentionally targeted by Israeli forces or where the circumstances of the shootings raise concerns that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) were at least guilty of extreme negligence. As the uprising raged on, more journalists were gunned down and more critical reports were issued, yet unfortunately never managed to generate as much media attention as the Rafah four- hour kidnapping garnered. As the killing of Palestinian civilians fails to attract full-page reports in most western media, the killing of a Palestinian journalist Aziz Ibrahim Tannah was hardly mentioned. Thirty-two-year old Tannah was gunned down by an Israeli sniper while covering the news of the Intifada in Bethlehem late October. He was the head of the Palestinian news agency WAFA bureau in the Bethlehem area. Killing Tannah was preceded by the serious wounding of a French journalist who, like the rest had PRESS clearly inscribed on his jacket. In later reports issued by CPJ, the group said, In addition to journalists wounded by gunfire, CPJ has documented three cases in which working journalists were severely beaten by Israeli troops or undercover agents. Two journalists were arrested or summoned by Israeli authorities for questioning in response to their coverage of recent events. But the Israeli harassment, beating and wounding of journalists never ceased, which compelled Ann K. Cooper Executive Director of CPJ to appeal to Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon time and again, first on March 10, and later on April 25. We remain deeply concerned about the IDF's record of harassing, intimidating, and attacking journalists, despite the Israeli government's stated commitment to press freedom, she said. Cooper denounced the shooting of dozens of foreign journalists by Israeli gunfire, lamenting, meanwhile, physical attacks by Jewish settlers against journalists continue with impunity. Unlike the Palestinian reaction to the four-hour kidnapping of the two Newsweek reporters where PA officials promised to hunt the kidnappers down and bring them to court, the Israeli government has failed to adequately address attacks on the press committed by the Israeli army and security forces and Jewish settlers. On one occasion, Israeli army spokesman Olivier Rafowicz characterized the shooting at three Reuters Journalists in the Netzarim Junction in Gaza on March 18, as "warning shots," according to Reuters. The symbolic kidnapping of two foreign reporters in the Gaza Strip is a simply a wrong act, harmful to the Palestinian image, whom Israeli is ceaselessly striving to vandalize. However, while on one hand the incident reflects the frustration many Palestinians bear toward the unmistakably biased American media, on the other hand it represents a golden opportunity for Israel to frighten honest journalists who attempt to cover the news by examining both sides of the story. The incident could also be used by Israel as an excuse to prevent journalists from entering into areas where most of the human rights abuses against Palestinians take place, justifying such actions by fearing for the journalists safety. Palestinians have always been very welcoming to foreign journalists and to even ordinary visitors who choose to listen to what they have to say. Israels attempts to scare foreign correspondents by showing them the true face of the Palestinians," shall fail for documented evidence shows that Israels killing and wounding of journalists is the real safety hazard in the region. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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