Former reporter for The East Carolinian complains of harassment at Israeli checkpoint
Reporters who try to enter the West Bank are routinely stopped and searched by Israeli soldiers at checokpoints. And reporters who happen to be of Arab heritage -- the soldiers always ask -- are harassed even more.
Such was the experience recently of Nadiah Sarsour, a former reporter for the college newspaper The East Carolinian when she decided to visit Palestine last month. Sarsour, a journalism graduate of ECU in broadcasting. Sarsour was trying to visit relatives in the West Bank when she was offered a job with al-Watan, the Palestinian news Agency based in East Jerusalem and Ramallah.
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The real tragedy is much of what is written about events in the Israeli occupied West Bank in the Israeli press is written "long distance" -- Israeli reporters credentialed by the Israeli government often get their information directly from the Israeli Ministry of Information or the Israel Defense Forces. Oftentimes, they get the information by telephone.
Israeli citizens are prohibited from entering the West Bank. I'm not sure that prohibition applies to journalists, although Palestinians and Israelis have told me they each fear entering the other's area. They both claim that their lives "might" be in danger.
The spokesman for Israel quoted in the story asserted that suicide bombers have used press credentials and vehicles with the letters TV plastered on their roofs to enter Israel and then detonate their bombs.
I never heard of that happening before, but then reality is often based on what officials assert in the Arab-Israeli conflict, rather than being based on hard facts.
-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com