Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Israel:

New York, August 20, 2008—Israeli authorities should disclose charges against a Palestinian soundman detained since July 15 or release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Ibrahim Hamad, a soundman with the Gaza-based Ramattan news agency was arrested during a 4 a.m. raid by Israel Defense Forces at his home in the Kalandia refugee camp, near Ramallah in the West Bank, according to relatives and station staff.

Editor’s note: The original text of this alert has been altered to correct the number of journalists killed in the West Bank and Gaza since 2001, and the number killed by Israeli Defense Forces.

Washington, June 11, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Israeli authorities today to release the findings of an army investigation into the killing of a Reuters cameraman by an Israeli tank shell in the Gaza Strip two months ago. In a meeting with Israel’s ambassador to the United States, the CPJ delegation also urged the government to commit to a thorough, impartial, and credible inquiry into the killing—the seventh journalist death at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in seven years.

Editor’s note: The original text of this alert has been altered to correct the number of journalists killed in the West Bank and Gaza since 2001, and the number killed by Israeli Defense Forces.

New York, April 16, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists mourns the death today of a Reuters cameraman who was killed in the Gaza strip while filming an Israeli tank.

In the Gaza Strip, anyone with a camera is fair game. That's the inescapable conclusion from the Israeli army's investigation into why one of its tank crews fired at least two shells at a Reuters television journalist openly filming them from a mile away.

The cameraman, Fadel Shana, 24, filmed the muzzle flash of the Merkava-4 tank that sent a dart-scattering shell above his head. The screen goes black as Shana falls dead in an open patch of sandy ground near the Israel-Gaza border, southwest of Gaza City on April 16. His soundman, Wafa Abu Mizyed, is wounded. Eight other civilians, aged between 12 and 20, were killed; six of them were under 16. At least seven other bystanders aged from 10 to 18 were also hit. None was armed or was a militant.

In a six-page letter to Thomson Reuters dated August 12, the Israel Defense Forces' (IDF) military advocate general, Brig.-Gen. Avihai Mandelblit, absolves the tank crew and their superiors of any responsibility or criminal wrongdoing. The letter outlines some of the findings of a confidential inquiry into the killing. It skates over testimony from witnesses quoted by Reuters and other media and human rights groups, and concludes that the decision to fire a shell designed to kill concentrations of battlefield infantry at a two-man TV crew was "reasonable" and "sound."

New York, August 13, 2008--The Israeli government should carry out an independent investigation into the killing of Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also called on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to work with journalists and media groups to ensure that journalists operating in the Gaza Strip are able to do their jobs safely.

New York, August 1, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists is very concerned about the treatment of a Palestinian cameraman who was released Thursday after five days in the custody of security agents from the Hamas-led government in Gaza.

Hamas security agents arrested Sawah Abu Seif, a cameraman with German broadcaster ARD TV, in his home in Tel al-Hawa in southwest Gaza following a deadly explosion that Hamas blamed on Fatah, according to local journalists and international news reports. The cameraman had not filmed the explosion or its aftermath; he was picked up in a roundup of Palestinians with suspected links to Fatah, according to The Associated Press.

New York, July 29, 2008--The Hamas-led government in Gaza should immediately halt a wave of censorship and harassment of Palestinian media outlets and journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ also called on the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority to end its longstanding obstruction of certain media outlets in the West Bank

On Tuesday, for the second consecutive day, Hamas banned distribution in Gaza of three newspapers--Al-Ayyam, Al-Quds, and Al-Hayat al-Jadida--deemed close to the Fatah Movement led by Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, according to several local journalists and human rights workers. On Saturday, its security forces raided the Gaza bureau of the official Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) and seized equipment, the news agency reported on its Web site.

New York, July 28, 2008--The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by the July 26 arrest of a Palestinian cameraman in Gaza by Hamas security services.

Hamas security agents arrested Sawah Abu Seif, a cameraman with German broadcaster ARD TV in his home in Tel al-Hawa in southwest Gaza following an explosion that Hamas blamed on Fatah, which killed six people in Gaza, according to local journalists and international news reports. The cameraman had not filmed the explosion or its aftermath; he was picked up in a roundup of Palestinians with suspected links to Fatah, according to The Associated Press.

Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is writing to express alarm about the treatment of an award-winning Palestinian journalist who said he was abused by Israeli Shin Bet agents at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Israel and Jordan late last month.

New York, June 12, 2008—Israel’s ambassador to the United States expressed regret in a meeting with CPJ yesterday over the death of Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana, who was killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip in April. “Israel’s Ambassador Sallai Meridor met yesterday with the Committee to Protect Journalists...