Journalists Call for Lift on Israeli Ban of Journalists in Gaza

[holyland]

Palestinian journalists demonstrate
in Gaza City, April 2008 [Ma'anImages]
Bethlehem – Ma'an – A letter from five major players in Palestinian and international media called on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to lift a ban on journalists in the Gaza Strip.

The secretary general and president of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Aidan White and Jim Boumelha, respectively, signed the letter.

IFJ is the largest journalists' union in the world, maintaining some 600,000 members.

General Secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Jeremy Dear and Gerry Morrisey, general secretary of Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (BECTU) signed, as well as Betty Hunter, general secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC).

The letter read, "We the undersigned support the calls from the biggest news agencies in the world including the BBC, CNN, Reuters and the Foreign Press Association, who are calling on Israel to lift its current ban on foreign journalists."

"Israel's siege on the Gaza Strip is creating a humanitarian disaster, blockading food, water, electricity and medical supplies. Israel clearly does not wish the rest of the world to see the impact of its siege," the letter said.

A separate letter from broadcasters calling on Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to lift the ban last month has been met with silence. It included signatures from Associated Press Chief Executive and President Tom Curley, Reuters Editor-in-Chief David Schlesinger, New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller, ABC News President David Westin and BBC News Director Helen Boaden.

Other top executives from CNN, the Canadian TV network CTV, the German broadcaster ZDF, and the French news service Agence-France Presse signed on, as well.

The three-week ban was lifted for one day last week. The Foreign Press Association called on the Israeli Supreme Court to overturn the ban, which Israel has until next Tuesday to decide.

The Association's chairman, Steven Gutkin, who also serves as Associated Press bureau chief in Jerusalem, said, "We believe the current denial of access amounts to a serious violation of freedom of the press and runs counter to Israel's own claims that it is a democracy that respects media liberties."

Friday's letter called for media associations to be allowed to report the situation in Gaza and for "this ban to be lifted immediately."  
 

   

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[Ognir]

The Nazis let the Red Cross in at least

[MikeWB]

You can't show journos the inside of a concentration camp... I'm sure Israel won't allow this.

[holyland]

Actually I have heard that the fact that the Red Cross never saw any evidence of the 6 million, ovens, mobs wiped by dogs, etc. has incurred the wrath of the zios ever since.