Posted on 12/19/2001 3:16:25 AM PST by kattracks
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JERUSALEM, Dec 18 (Reuters) - The Israeli army said on Tuesday it had largely concluded a review of complaints by journalists wounded while covering Israeli-Palestinian violence and decided against any further action against soldiers. The Foreign Press Association (FPA), representing foreign journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, described the findings as incomplete and said they contributed to an atmosphere in which soldiers were not held accountable for shooting reporters in the field. The army said in a statement its review "indicates that all the cases in which journalists were injured took place during violent confrontations". It noted reporters covering a 15-month-old Palestinian uprising put themselves at "certain risk", adding "there is nothing in the complaints to suggest a pattern, or to suggest premeditated or wilful intent on the part of IDF (Israel Defence Forces) troops to harm the journalists". The army cited six examples of journalists who were shot -- including a Reuters photographer and cameraman -- saying that in each case violent demonstrations or exchanges of fire were taking place between troops and Palestinians at the time. In some instances, the army said, it did not have conclusive evidence the wounds were caused by Israeli fire. The FPA said the release of the army's findings more than a year after the complaints were made, and the overall lack of punitive measures, did not suggest the probes were thorough. "The message this delivers to soldiers, whether the army intends this or not, is that preventing the shooting of journalists and punishing those who shoot them are not of utmost importance," the FPA said in a statement. It demanded that the army "treat any such future incidents with greater seriousness than it has applied to date".
40 JOURNALISTS SHOT Press freedom groups have cited some 40 cases of journalists wounded by shooting while working for foreign news organisations in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The army mentioned two cases in which soldiers were reprimanded and removed from serving in an area in which reporters were wounded by Israeli fire. It said one incident involving an Abu Dhabi television reporter was still under review. The army said it had taken steps such as educational programmes for soldiers and closer coordination with representatives of the press to prevent future incidents. "The IDF has an unequivocal commitment to the professional freedom of journalists and to their safety in all that regards their contact with the IDF," the army statement said, adding it viewed journalists "as innocent civilians". © Reuters Limited |
The City of Detroit was not established until 1701.
I hear Ramallah is much more comfortable this time of year, if you hate Israel.
Don't confuse her with facts. She might forget the mantra.
You're aware that a free press exists in Israel so reporters can write pretty much anything they want without fear of reprisals other than libel suits. Just because the report makes the IDF "look bad" doesn't necessarily mean that it's G-d's truth.
Why don't you comment on the treatment of journalists by the Palestinians?
I'll have nightmares the rest of my life
Mark Seager, 29, a British photographer, was working on a pictorial study of Palestinian refugees when he found himself caught up in the horrific lynching of two Israeli army reservists in Ramallah. The only journalist to witness the beating, as he tried to take the photograph that would have made his fortune, the crowd turned on him with such hatred, destroying his camera, that he feared for his own life.
This is his eyewitness account:
I had arrived in Ramallah at about 10:30 in the morning and was getting into a taxi on the main road to go to Nablus, where there was to be a funeral that I wanted to film, when all of a sudden there came a big crowd of Palestinians shouting and running down the hill from the police station.
I got out of the car to see what was happening and saw that they were dragging something behind them. Within moments they were in front of me and, to my horror, I saw that it was a body, a man they were dragging by the feet. The lower part of his body was on fire and the upper part had been shot at, and the head beaten so badly that it was a pulp, like red jelly.
I thought he was a soldier because I could see the remains of khaki trousers and boots. My God, I thought, they've killed this guy. He was dead, he must have been dead, but they were still beating him, madly, kicking his head. They were like animals.
They were just a few feet in front of me and I could see everything. Instinctively, I reached for my camera. I was composing the picture when I was punched in the face by a Palestinian. Another Palestinian pointed right at me shouting "no picture, no picture!" while another guy hit me in the face and said "give me your film!"
I tried to get the film out but they were all grabbing me and one guy just pulled the camera off me and smashed it to the floor. I knew I had lost the chance to take the photograph that would have made me famous and I had lost my favorite lens that I'd used all over the world, but I didn't care. I was scared for my life.
At the same time, the guy that looked like a soldier was being beaten and the crowd was getting angrier and angrier, shouting "Allah akbar" -- God is great. They were dragging the dead man around the street like a cat toying with a mouse. It was the most horrible thing that I have ever seen and I have reported from Congo, Kosovo, many bad places. In Kosovo, I saw Serbs beating an Albanian but it wasn't like this. There was such hatred, such unbelievable hatred and anger distorting their faces.
The worst thing was that I realised the anger that they were directing at me was the same as that which they'd had toward the soldier before dragging him from the police station and killing him. Somehow I escaped and ran and ran not knowing where I was going. I never saw the other guy they killed, the one they threw out of the window.
I thought that I'd got to know the Palestinians well. I've made six trips this year and had been going to Ramallah every day for the past 16 days. I thought they were kind, hospitable people. I know they are not all like this and I'm a very forgiving person but I'll never forget this. It was murder of the most barbaric kind. When I think about it, I see that man's head, all smashed. I know that I'll have nightmares for the rest of my life.
Are not then, a settler or sorts, occupying land that used to belong to others ?
You were not here. What right do you have to that occupied territory ?
Have you ever shot at the IDF, or have you spoken with people that have shot at the IDF (bombs count too) ?
So is willful ignorance.
The IDF, like the American military, has rules of engagement.
Trying to film terrorists in action could qualify as willful ignorance, depending on whether they had permission it be in a zone of fire. I would think it easy to mistake them for terrorists.
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