International journalists demand unfettered access to Gaza

Jan 2, 2009, 16:24 GMT

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.