While the press is largely free within Israel proper, the country’s military assault on the Occupied Territories fueled a sharp deterioration in press freedom in the West Bank and Gaza during much of 2002. Despite vocal international protest, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) committed an assortment of press freedom abuses, ranging from banning press access in the West Bank to opening fire on journalists covering events.

In late March, following a string of deadly Palestinian suicide bombings in Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon launched the country’s largest military offensive in the West Bank since 1967, when the army captured the area from Jordan. In the initial days of the six-week operation—code-named Operation Defensive Shield—the IDF declared nearly all of the West Bank’s main cities “closed military areas” and off-limits to the press. Journalists attempting to cover the action were frequently thwarted at checkpoints by troops and forced to take alternate routes into cities through orchards, back roads, or dirt paths. Israeli officials maintained that the ban was instituted for safety reasons. However, the hard-line approach against journalists trying to defy the closed military zones indicated otherwise.

CPJ documented numerous instances in which troops fired on or in the direction of clearly identified journalists. Authorities also detained and threatened members of the press, confiscated their credentials and film, and in some cases expelled them from the country. Troops raided, and at times temporarily occupied, media offices in the West Bank. In an April case that drew widespread international media coverage, IDF troops hurled stun grenades and fired rubber bullets at reporters waiting outside the besieged Ramallah compound of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Foreign journalists who covered the events said that they had never witnessed such harsh treatment from Israeli government forces. In one particularly disturbing incident on April 1, NBC correspondent Dana Lewis and his two-person camera crew came under IDF fire in Ramallah while driving in an armored car clearly marked as press. A soldier fired two rounds at their car and then a third round, after the journalists had stopped the vehicle, turned on an interior light to make themselves visible, and placed their hands on the windshield.

Throughout the operation, at least three journalists were wounded by suspected IDF gunfire. Several more had shots fired in their direction. In one case, it was unclear whether Palestinians or Israelis were responsible for opening fire. CPJ wrote numerous letters to the Israeli government protesting the army’s rough treatment of the press.

The Israeli army also detained several journalists—sometimes for weeks or months at a time—without charge. Three of the longest held were Hossam Abu Alan, a veteran photographer for Agence France-Presse; Youssry al-Jamal, a soundman for Reuters; and Kamel Jbeil, a reporter for the Palestinian daily Al-Quds. IDF troops detained the journalists in April, held them in administrative detention, and accused them of having contacts with armed Palestinian groups. All three were released in the fall without charge.

Local Palestinian media infrastructure was heavily damaged as a result of the IDF’s military operation. In January, Israeli forces dynamited the offices of the Palestinian National Authority’s Voice of Palestine radio station and Palestine Television, which the Israeli government has accused of “incitement.” Israeli troops also raided or occupied and ransacked several private Palestinian stations during 2002.

Even in the weeks after Operation Defensive Shield, members of the press continued to face movement restrictions in the West Bank. The Israeli army intermittently imposed the closed military zones, shutting out the press, during brief incursions into Palestinian areas. On June 19, the military barred journalists from covering the latest operation, Operation Determined Path, which resulted in Israel’s reoccupation of most major West Bank towns.

During 2002, the number of checkpoints increased across the West Bank, and the army blocked alternate routes that journalists had used to evade roadblocks. Journalists often waited for hours at checkpoints, and some were still denied entry.

Many foreign correspondents believe that the restrictive measures were an attempt by Israel, unhappy with what it perceived as unfair treatment in the international media, to dictate the conflict’s coverage. These reporters maintain that army constraints on the press made it difficult to verify rumors and unsubstantiated reports. In April, for example, the Israeli order prohibiting journalists from entering the West Bank town of Jenin fed confusion about the human and material toll of the IDF’s incursion and battle with Palestinian militants there.

But even when the IDF was not in the midst of a major operation, troops harassed the press, confiscating film, verbally abusing, or physically assaulting journalists. Gunfire from troops continued to pose a mortal danger. During 2002, three journalists were killed in the line of duty by Israeli gunfire. Imad Abu Zahra, a Palestinian fixer and free-lance photographer, was shot in Jenin (and later died as a result of his wounds) at a time when no clashes appeared to be taking place.

As in previous years, the army failed to conduct thorough investigations in 2002 and has punished troops in only a handful of incidents in which journalists were wounded by gunfire or attacked by troops since the second intifada began in September 2000. In late August 2002, the IDF announced that it had concluded an inquiry into the March shooting death of Italian photographer Rafaelle Ciriello and reported that there was “no evidence and no knowledge of an [army] force that fired in the direction of the photographer,” despite eyewitness testimony to the contrary.

The army was not the only obstacle to the media. Militant Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza continued to perpetrate violent attacks against journalists. In October, settlers punched and assaulted reporters with stones while they covered the dismantling of the West Bank settlement Havat Gilad.

Many international media outlets employ Palestinian stringers or fixers, who serve as essential, front-line personnel at foreign news organizations. But only a handful of these media workers have received their accreditation, or GPO card, which facilitates movement through checkpoints. These new, more restrictive regulations affecting Palestinian journalists have handicapped media organizations’ ability to operate in the Occupied Territories.

Today, only a few Israeli journalists venture into the territories because of army restrictions barring them and due to threats from Palestinian militants. The few who go must sign a waiver absolving the army of responsibility for their safety. The army has arranged trips to the West Bank for Israeli reporters. In March, the practice was temporarily stopped after Israel’s Channel 2 television allegedly broke a pool agreement and bypassed military censors to air disturbing footage of an IDF raid on a Palestinian home, during which a mother died while her children watched.

The Israeli daily Ha’aretz reported in April that government-run Israel Radio’s Arabic-language department had implemented new guidelines restricting language used in news broadcasts, including forbidding the use of the word “victim” when referring to Palestinian civilians killed in the conflict. Ha’aretz also cited complaints from journalists about other official interference in news content.

Meanwhile, Israel’s Supreme Court dismissed a high-profile libel case launched nearly a decade ago by then defense minister Ariel Sharon against Ha’aretz and journalist Uzi Benziman. In 1991, Sharon sued over an article in which Benziman alleged that Sharon had misled then prime minister Menachem Begin about his true war aims in Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, arguing that Sharon had failed to disclose his intent to move into the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Although Israel’s Hebrew-, Arabic-, and English-language press are mostly free, government and military officials can censor media outlets if authorities deem certain news—such as troop buildups and death counts—harmful to the country’s security interests. Journalists, however, have the option of appealing to the High Court of Justice. Most media can circumvent the restrictions by attributing sensitive stories to foreign news outlets. In December, the government closed the Islamist weekly Sawt al-Haq wal Huriyya, maintaining that it posed a threat to public peace.

In the Palestinian Authority Territories, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat maintained a tenuous hold on power in 2002, despite Israel’s massive spring military offensive into the West Bank and pressure from both Israel and the Bush administration to resign as head of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). As the conflict intensified during the year, the PNA’s power weakened.

That weakness appeared to significantly reduce the PNA’s ability to restrict press freedom. Nevertheless, officials managed to impose constraints on the media, if not with the same intensity and breadth of past years, while militant groups and Palestinian civilians also harassed members of the press. In at least one case, a Palestinian gunman opened fire, on an Associated Press armored vehicle in Ramallah.

In January, Palestinian security authorities in the West Bank city of Hebron closed the weekly newspaper Akhbar al-Khalil without explanation. Newspaper staff alleged that the PNA was responding to Israeli and U.S. pressure to shutter the publication, which frequently criticized those countries’ Middle East policies.

PNA officials also confiscated journalists’ film and intimidated reporters covering sensitive news stories. In February, Palestinian police took footage from photojournalists who had filmed a Palestinian mob at a Jenin courthouse killing three defendants who had just been convicted of murder. In June, officers from Arafat’s security force seized videotapes from a France 2 television crew of a demonstration led by Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin, who was supposed to be under PNA house arrest at the time.

In March, Palestinian information minister Yasser Abed Rabbo urged the Qatar-based satellite channel Al-Jazeera not to air a live interview with Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon because of his aggressive attitude toward Palestinians. The interview was eventually canceled because, according to Al-Jazeera, Sharon failed to cooperate with the station’s terms, which required a Doha-based interviewer rather than an Israel-based one.

In August, the pro-PNA Palestinian Journalists’ Association barred journalists from photographing Palestinian children wearing military uniforms or carrying weapons, arguing that such footage violated children’s rights and served “the interests of Israel and its propaganda against the Palestinian people.” However, the group has no legal power over the media and did not say what the consequences would be for those who violate the ban. The order was rescinded a few days later amid local and international protest.

In September, Israeli authorities arrested an aide to Palestinian Legislative Council speaker Ahmed Qurei for allegedly threatening a Jerusalem Post reporter. The newspaper reported that its correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh had received threatening phone calls after writing that Qurei had spoken with Sharon to request a meeting to discuss the siege on Arafat’s Ramallah compound.

Meanwhile, Palestinian militiamen and demonstrators repeatedly attacked reporters and occasionally prevented them from covering stories. In one April incident in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Palestinian militants threatened journalists working for international media outlets and forced them to hand over footage of the body of an alleged Palestinian collaborator who had been murdered. In October, also in Bethlehem, a group of Palestinians assaulted photographers covering the funeral of a militant kilýed by Israeli forces. A Reuters photographer was seriously injured in the incident. That same month, another group of Palestinians assaulted several journalists covering a Gaza City explosion in which three Hamas members had died, apparently while making bombs.

The escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict has made the mainstream Palestinian press—already staunchly pro-PNA—more loyalist, while years of physical attacks, arbitrary detentions, threats, newspapers closures, and official censorship have increased self-censorship. The media avoid criticizing Arafat and the security services, as well as reporting news that reflects negatively on PNA leadership. Indirect pressure, such as phone calls, are said to be common. Two of the three main daily newspapers—Al-Ayyam and Al Hayat al-Jadida—have direct or indirect relations with the PNA and its officials, either because the editor is an aide to Arafat or because the PNA finances the paper’s payroll. (The third main daily, Al-Quds, is privately owned but avoids criticizing the PNA.)

In an effort to crack down on militants, in late 2001, authorities closed the opposition Islamist weeklies Al-Risala and Al-Istiqlal—Gaza-based publications affiliated with the Khalas Party, which comprises former Hamas members, and the Islamic Jihad group, respectively. But in April, the Palestinian High Court of Justice ruled that Al-Risala’s closure was illegal and ordered it reopened. The PNA at first refused to comply but in early November gave the paper permission to resume publishing. Al-Istiqlal remained closed at year’s end.

Some Palestinian journalists criticize the Palestinian media’s failure to discuss important issues affecting the Palestinian community, such as the movement for PNA leadership and structure reform, which gained momentum after the siege on Arafat’s compound was lifted in May. After the PNA shuffled its Cabinet and security chiefs in June, one Palestinian journalist lamented in the online publication Amin.org that “it was not the Palestinian media who carried out news about the reform; instead, non-Palestinian media like Arab satellite channels, the foreign media, and the Israeli press [did,]” and that “it was not Palestinian journalists who started the debate but Palestinian academics and political analysts.”

The PNA controls the official Palestine TV and Voice of Palestine radio, which loyally reflect PNA views. These stations operated under extreme duress after Israeli forces destroyed their offices. Israel has repeatedly accused the stations of inciting Palestinians to commit violence against Israelis. But these official outlets garner few viewers among Palestinians, who prefer local news from the popular Al-Jazeera satellite channel, Abu Dhabi TV, or even Lebanese Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV. For example, during Israel’s March and April West Bank offensive, Al-Jazeera provided local information about emergency services available to citizens there.

To some extent, private Palestinian broadcast stations have served a similar role during the second intifada, but during Israel’s 2002 offensive, several were forced off the air or had their studios destroyed or vandalized by Israeli troops. Some of those unable to broadcast beamed Al-Jazeera on their frequencies.

As discussions about reform intensified in May, Arafat signed the Palestinian Basic Law, which, among other statutes, guarantees press freedom. Legislators had originally adopted the law in 1997. At year’s end, amid the chaos of the renewed conflict in the West Bank and Gaza, it was too early to tell what impact the law would have. While it prohibits censorship and other restrictive practices against the press, the law leaves open the possibility of imposing future constraints on the media.

VOP resumed broadcasting at the facilities of a private West Bank Palestinian radio station. The Gaza-based Palestine Television also continued to broadcast through its main facility. The Israel Defense Forces described the action as a response to a Palestinian gunman’s attack on a banquet hall in the Israeli city of Hadera two days earlier, which killed six Israelis and wounded dozens.

Moments before the incident, a soldier at an IDF roadblock located in Israel proper, about one-half mile (1 kilometer) from the Karni crossing, tried to prevent Bashan from entering the area. Bashan asked the soldier to produce an official military order to justify barring him access as a journalist, which the soldier could not do. Bashan then told the soldier that he intended to approach the Karni crossing. He re-entered his car, put the vehicle in reverse, and headed for the crossing via a side road.

Moments later, several rounds of live gunfire struck his car. Ricocheted bullets grazed Bashan in the arm and leg, and he was later treated at a hospital. An IDF spokesperson contacted by CPJ said that the incident was “under investigation.”

Israeli forces fired on the hotel, which is located some 300 yards (275 meters) from the Al-Amari camp, for about 15 minutes, according to press reports and journalists on the scene. Israeli forces gave no prior warning of the attack. Journalists said thÀ gunfire smashed windows and damaged the interior and exterior of the building. There were no injuries. However, gunfire destroyed an ABC camera after the fleeing crew left it on its tripod.

An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman told CPJ that the army was responding to Palestinian gunfire coming from the hotel’s upper floors and other nearby buildings. The spokesman added that the army was unaware that journalists were in the hotel, and that Israeli forces ceased fire after news agencies alerted the IDF to the situation.

Several journalists who spoke with CPJ vehemently denied that a gunman was in the hotel, which was located away from cross fire and provided a good vantage point on the refugee camp. Journalists argued that the army should have been aware that media representatives were inside the hotel because some 20 clearly marked press vehicles were parked outside. Several Israeli tanks drove by the hotel before the attack, they said.

The gunfire came from a tank stationed about 111 yards (100 meters) away from the office and struck a window where a second staff cameraman was filming Israeli-Palestinian clashes occurring some 333 yards (300 meters) away from the station. Another round entered the fifth floor office and hit a wall, narrowly missing a cameraman’s head. Other staff members ducked for cover, while some rounds hit the outside of various floors of the building, Al-Jazeera sources said.

Both men said that there was no exchange of fire in the area that morning. The soldiers ordered the men out of the car and motioned for Khader to approach. When he was about 20 meters (66 feet) away, the soldiers ordered Khader to place his camera and cell phone on the ground and to remove his flak jacket, shirt, and pants. Mina was ordered to do the same. When he refused to remove his pants, Khader said a soldier threatened to shoot Mina. The journalists were forced to kneel in their underwear for about 25 minutes before being allowed to leave.

÷s they approached the square, the group decided to leave because it was too dangerous. They turned their car around and began to leave the city center. After traveling about 220 yards (200 meters), they encountered two Israeli armored vehicles.

The journalists spoke through a loudspeaker to inform the troops that they were journalists who were attempting to leave. The soldiers did not respond but motioned for the journalists to leave the area. Some of the journalists exited the car, raised their hands in the air, and walked toward the vehicles, identifying themselves as journalists. The journalists told CPJ that the immediate area was clear of fighting.

As the journalists approached, the troops opened fire at the car with four journalists inside. “One of the soldiers aimed his weapon at us and other soldiers shot at the car,” Innaro told Israel’s daily Ha’aretz. “The photographers got back in the car. We turned around and headed for the church.” Innaro telephoned a Franciscan monk at the Church of the Nativity compound and asked him to open the door to the monastery so they could take refuge.

“We parked the car by the monastery and ran, under fire, to the door of the monastery,” Innaro said. Because they were running, he said, it was not possible to determine whether the fire came from Israeli troops or Palestinian militants.

On April 2, Israeli government press spokesman Daniel Seaman ordered the journalists to turn over their press credentials, and al-Azawi was given two days to leave the country. No specific reason was cited for the deportation. Before al-Azawi’s accreditation was revoked, he and Odeh had reported a story on March 31 alleging that Israeli troops had executed surrendering Palestinian police officers in Ramallah. Police took al-Azawi from a Jerusalem press building and escorted him to a police station and then to his East Jerusalem hotel to pack his belongings before going to the airport.

Eyewitnesses told CPJ that the journalists had driven to the compound in several armored press cars. Shortly after they arrived and exited the vehicles, IDF troops arrived and hurled about six stun grenades in their direction. According to CNN, the grenaýes “produce a blinding flash and a very loud explosion, designed to disorient those targeted.” One grenade exploded under CNN reporter Michael Holmes’ foot. The IDF troops ordered the journalists to leave and then fired rubber bullets at their armored vehicles, CNN reported. The journalists regrouped and tried to return to the area, but Israeli troops turned them away.

Some journalists had their press accreditation confiscated, CPJ sources said.

Jbeil’s lawyer told CPJ that in early July, an Israeli military judge had extended the journalist’s administrative detention for another three months. In a June 23 letter to CPJ, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s adviser Ranaan Gissin wrote that Jbeil and other detained journalists were “arrested on suspicion of having contact (unrelated to their journalistic work) with a terrorist organization.” The letter provided no details supporting those allegations.

The soldiers detained the two journalists for about three hours and confiscated their cameras. Dana was released and his camera was later returned, but Abu Alan was handcuffed, blindfolded, and taken to an undisclosed location.

After repeated protests from AFP, the army said in a May 3 letter that it suspected Abu Alan of “assisting the terrorist Tanzim organization.” AFP repeatedly asked Israeli authorities, including Foreign Minister Shimon Peres during a Paris press conference, to furnish proof of Abu Alan’s involvement in wrongdoing but received none.

AFP quoted lawyer Mohammed Burghal as saying that on July 24, a military judge had extended Abu Alan’s detention for three months. He was then moved from Ofer Prison to Ketziot Prison, in Israel’s southern Negev desert. On October 22, Abu Alan was released without charge.

Reuters told CPJ that according to a June 18 military court decision, al-Jamal was to be released on July 10. But sources at Reuters said that the detention was later extended for three months. On July 11, Reuters protested to Israeli authorities and noted that it had been denied access to information about its employee’s detention.

Israeli officials accused al-Jamal of having contacts with Palestinian militant groups but provided no evidence to support the allegations. On October 9, al-Jamal was released without charge.

Reuters reported that Israeli soldiers produced a plastic bag containing a grenade while they were searching Salem’s car. “I had never seen it before,” said Salem when he was released. “I don’t know where it came from.”

Dana did not see who fired the shot but said there was no exchange of gunfire in
the vicinity of the building at the time of the shooting. He added that he had been filming from the same window for about
40 minutes without incident. Other Palestinian residents had been watching the demolition from a window one floor below where Dana was stationed, also without incident. The Israel Defense Forces spokesman’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The journalists, who were in the area with IDF permission, were traveling in a white armored Mercedes with Israeli license plates. The army apologized for the incident and said the unit that opened fire had not been informed that the journalists had permission to be in the area.

An army spokesman told CPJ that the soldier responsible for firing the shot was not punished, but that his commanding officer received a suspended 21-day jail sentence. In addition, the IDF ordered a second soldier confined to base for 35 days for failing to alert the unit that the journalists had permission to be in the area.

The syndicate’s statement said that such footage serves “the interests of Israel and its propaganda against the Palestinian people,” reported The Associated Press (AP). The AP also quoted syndicate deputy chairman Tawfik Abu Khosa as saying that photographs of children in these situations violates children’s rights and has “negative effects” on Palestinians. The ban was reversed a few days later after local and international protests.