[CTRL] Israeli Soldiers Beat Journalists

[William Shannon]

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,2586715%255E1702,00. html Israeli soldiers beat journalists From AP 14aug01 ISRAELI soldiers beat two members of an Egyptian television crew at a West Bank checkpoint, with the camera rolling throughout. The crew was filming at an army roadblock near the Kalandia refugee camp between Jerusalem and Ramallah, when soldiers shouted at them to leave the area. After the reporters withdrew about 20m from the roadblock, a soldier approached cameraman Abdel Nasr Ebdon and kicked him in the groin as he was filming. When Egypt TV reporter Tarek Abdel Gaber approached an officer at the roadblock to ask why Ebdon had been assaulted, Gaber was shoved and slapped by another soldier. As the tape kept rolling, the first soldier returned to Ebdon and repeatedly kicked him until he fell to the ground. The officer at the roadblock did nothing to stop the attack. "These soldiers do not respect the uniform they wear," Gaber said, shaken after the incident. In a past incident, soldiers had cut up his Israeli government-issued press card, he said. The Israeli army spokesman's unit said it deeply regretted the incident and would conduct a thorough investigation. In a statement, the army said the results of the investigation would be passed on to the journalists involved and the Foreign Press Association. Since the beginning of the current round of violence last September, the Foreign Press Association has raised more than 40 complaints about Israeli soldiers attacking reporters. No replies have been received from the military.