TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/050889/05088900.018

Text File | 1992-09-23 | 3.8 KB | 79 lines

                                                                                PRESS, Page 65

Forgive Us Our Press Passes


Should Israeli police masquerade as reporters?


    Journalists who cover the world's hot spots traditionally
enjoy a measure of immunity shared only by diplomats and
representatives of the International Red Cross. Recognized as
impartial observers by most combatants, reporters often venture
into battle zones with hand-lettered signs attached to their
cars identifying them as PRESS or TV. If their delicate
neutrality is compromised in any way, the system breaks down and
the danger increases. This, unfortunately, is what is happening
in the Israeli-occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza.

    During the 16 months since the Palestinian uprising erupted
in the occupied territories, international news organizations
have suspected Israeli security agents of posing as foreign
journalists in order to penetrate Arab villages. The government
denied the charges. Last March, however, a British TV crew
videotaped two Israeli agents disguised as journalists as they
subdued a Palestinian woman.

    The story created a furor in Israel and markedly increased
the hostility toward foreign journalists in the West Bank.
After leaving one village last month, Baltimore Sun reporter
Robert Ruby was pelted with rocks. To identify themselves as
bona fide journalists, some foreign correspondents began
carrying press cards issued by the Jerusalem-based Arab
Journalists Association. "I have to help journalists get the
truth and protect them from getting into trouble," says A.J.A.
director Radwan Abu-Ayyash.

    But the innocuous-looking press cards, which bear the
holder's name, nationality, news organization and passport
number in both English and Arabic, may turn out to be the cause
of even more trouble. Last week Israel's Police Minister
announced that he was launching an investigation to determine
whether the A.J.A. had the right to issue the credentials. At
the same time, outraged members of Israel's Parliament demanded
that the government withdraw the Israeli credentials of
journalists who hold the Arab cards, or even expel them from the
country.

    "Newsmen working in Italy, England or Germany would not
contemplate taking press cards from the Red Brigades, I.R.A. or
the Baader-Meinhof," says Yoram Ettinger, director of Israel's
Government Press Office.

    The A.J.A. is hardly a terrorist organization, and the
Israeli government has never classified it as such. Still,
Ettinger and other officials see the cards as part of an attempt
by the leaders of the uprising to adopt the trappings of an
independent state. Foreign journalists counter that the cards
have no political meaning and that they carry them only because
their Israeli credentials are no longer credible. "Given the
dangers my staff faces," says Reuters chief correspondent Paul
Taylor, "I owe it to them to do what I can for their security."

    Yet, like any press credential, the cards also pose a
potential threat to press freedom: if their use becomes
required, they could become de facto licenses that would give
the A.J.A. the power to determine who can report in the occupied
territories. Until some foreign reporters complained recently,
Israeli citizens working for overseas news organizations were
not eligible for the A.J.A. card. Local Israeli reporters are
still barred.

    Such discrimination may be what prompted the Police
Ministry to launch its investigation. So far, however,
two-thirds of Israel's more than 300 resident foreign
correspondents have not bothered to obtain the card and continue
to use credentials issued by their own news organizations and
the Israeli government. Should use of the A.J.A. card become
widespread, the Israeli government will have only itself to
blame.