Ramallah, 06-01-09: Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, the Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative strongly condemned this morning the Israelis refusal to allow foreign journalists to enter Gaza and report on the events. “This is a harsh violation of the Freedom of the Press”, he said.
Despite the Israeli official decision –publicly stated on the 1st of January this year- that foreign journalists will be allowed to Gaza, no one has been able to enter the besieged Strip.
The Israeli decision is a result of a petition that was handed by the Foreign Press Association in Israel to the Israeli High Court, demanding Israel to put an end to the media blackout in Gaza, imposed since November.
On the First of January, Israeli officials announced that they will allow “8 journalists at a time” into the Strip trough Erez crossing “when open”. But although the crossing has been briefly open since then, journalists were denied of entry.
“We, of course, know why they are not allowing any journalists to enter the besieged Strip”, said the Deputy. “The current media blackout that is imposed on the Strip and the deny of journalists most basic rights are clearly an attempt of the Israeli Public Relations machine to force journalist to present only one side of the conflict.”
“Israel is violating the basic human rights of the Palestinian people in impunity. Now it is violating the commonly agreed standards of the Press Freedom”, emphasized Mustafa Bargouthi. “When will the world, react and stand up to put a final end to those violations?”
There are 145 dead since the ground invasion began, and now 578 dead in total since Israel launched its attack on the Gaza Strip. 19 Palestinians were killed last night.
Sources testified that yesterday night some 40 Palestinians of the same family were forced to gather in the same house. The Israelis then shelled the house, killing at least tens of the family members.
“The gruesome killing of our people has to be reported. Journalists and Governments should stand up against the Israeli arbitration decision. Let’s them stop biasing the conflict. Let’s them stop acting as only a dictatorship would do. Let’s prevent them from wining the media war!”