Israel Declares Border Areas With Gaza Closed Military Zone(Cutting Off Access to Journalists)

Source: Global Security

29/12/2008 14:09 TEL AVIV, December 29 (RIA Novosti) - The Israeli army said on Monday it had closed the border areas adjacent to the Gaza Strip, cutting off access to journalists as it massed tanks in preparation for a possible ground assault.

Israel started large-scale airstrikes against targets in Gaza on Saturday in response to rocket and mortar fire by Palestinian militants on southern Israel. One Israeli was killed on Saturday when Palestinian armed groups responded to the Israeli attack with further rocket and mortar fire.

The area along the border has been designated "a closed military zone" due to the military operation in Gaza, which is already in its third day, an Israeli military spokeswoman said, adding that it was forbidden for anyone except local residents and emergency services employees to enter the region.

The border zone is under rocket and mortar attacks from the Palestinian side, and according to local witnesses, there is a military buildup of tanks in the area.

Tel Aviv has mobilized up to 6,500 reservists and deployed tanks on Gaza's edge in preparation for a possible ground offensive on the coastal enclave of 1.5 million Palestinians.

So far the Israeli operations have only included aerial attacks that have killed over 300 Palestinians since Saturday.

The International Red Cross said hospitals in the Gaza Strip had been overwhelmed and were unable to cope with the more than 1,400 wounded in the airstrikes.

more: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2008/12/mil-081229-rianovosti04.htm

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Of course, it will drop the pretense and act in its true nature sometimes.

Israel is the only functioning democracy in the region.

"elected democratically" but has no freedoms of speech, religion or the press, routinely kidnaps and murders those that don't agree with them, and gives few rights to women.

And some of the other regimes in the middle east are even worse.

Israel is a shining beacon of democracy, where 1.5 million Arabs live with full rights.

All the Jews were kicked out of Arab countries, and some won't even allow Jews to visit, much less live there.

Can you imagine: How dare you show the world Israel's crimes?

Guess it was easier to pull of massacres in '47 and '48...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3646675,00.html

Israeli supreme court to hear petition protesting against block on reporters seeking to cover conflict

<snip>

"Israel's supreme court will hear a petition tomorrow brought by the Foreign Press Association, which represents around 400 foreign journalists, demanding that Israel allow reporters into Gaza to cover the latest conflict.

The sole pedestrian crossing from Israel into Gaza, at Erez, has remained closed to journalists since Israel's bombing campaign began on Saturday.

Two years ago, after Hamas won the Palestinian elections, Israeli authorities stopped all Israeli journalists and Palestinian journalists with Israeli identity cards crossing into Gaza, saying it was too dangerous.

Last month, as the last ceasefire between Israel and Gaza militant groups began to collapse, the Israeli defence ministry closed the Erez crossing to all foreign journalists as well, citing "security" reasons.

Egypt has largely kept its one crossing into Gaza, at Rafah, closed except for in rare medical emergencies, and it too does not allow journalists to cross. The only reporters in Gaza now are Palestinians who live there and work for news agencies or for Palestinian and Arab satellite channels, including al-Jazeera.

In an open letter, the Foreign Press Association said this week that the closure of the Erez crossing to journalists marked "an unprecedented restriction of press freedom. As a result the world's media is unable to accurately report on events inside Gaza at this critical time," it said.

"Despite our protests the Israelis authorities have refused to let journalists in ... Never before have journalists been prevented from doing their work in this way. We believe it is vital that journalists be allowed to find out for themselves what is going on in Gaza. Israel controls access to Gaza. Israel must allow professional journalists access to this important story."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/30/israel-gaza-journalists

Israel's High Court of Justice has ordered the government to lift a ban on foreign journalists entering Gaza.

A three-justice panel, on Wednesday, ruled the State has until 10:00am Thursday to facilitate limited entry of foreign journalists into Gaza.

The Tel Aviv-based Foreign Press Association filed a court petition on November 24, following the government's ban on foreign journalists imposed two months ago. Israeli journalists have been banned from entering Gaza since the blockade began two years ago, and that ban remains in place.

Before Wednesday's High Court hearing, Simon McGregor-Wood, a member of the Foreign Press Association's board said, 'We are hoping for the Supreme Court to overturn the ban on the foreign press getting into Gaza. This is a two-sided story and there is no substitute for us being able to see the events with our own eyes.'

http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b4f088/id/448166/cs/1/

is interpreted as in limited to what?

are two separate issues. The army has declared the whole south of Israel, south of Yad Mordechai (or perhaps even north of that now that missiles are landing ever further north) a closed military zone, whether for people's safety (to keep them from being hit by missiles) or to keep them otu of the way while military materiel is being moved towards the border. This closure applies to everyone, even civilian Israelis, unless they are resident in the area, so journalists can stop hopping up and down in protest.

Not allowing journalists into Gaza is another issue. Perhaps the army doesn't want the journalists to get caught in the crossfire - and if they did I could just write the headlines myself: "Eeevil IDF targets journalists".

If the Israelis rounded up the journos and put them in jails, wouldn't that be an even better way of protecting them from missiles?

- B