Almost a year since the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit, a repeat attempt by Palestinian terrorists during an assault on an IDF position at the Kissufim crossing between Gaza and Israel on Saturday strangely failed to make international headlines. It did, however, raise alarm bells amongst the international (and Palestinian) press due to the gunmen’s use of a vehicle disguised as a television truck to stage their assault. As the JPost reports:
In Saturday’s attack, four gunmen drove a white jeep with press markings in English and Arabic up to the Gaza-Israel border, penetrated the border fence and assaulted a guard tower in what Islamic Jihad and the army said was a failed attempt to capture an Israeli soldier. IDF troops killed one gunman, while the others escaped.
The attackers, from Islamic Jihad and the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas, abandoned the jeep. AP photographs show a white armored vehicle of a type used by reporters, its windshield pocked by bullet holes, bearing red markings reading “TV” and “Press.”
The FPA [Foreign Press Association] in its statement declared that it condemns the use of a vehicle marked with TV insignia in an attack against IDF positions in Kissufim.
“Armored vehicles marked with TV are an invaluable protection for genuine journalists working in hostile environments,” the statement said. “The FPA has long campaigned for the continued availability of armored vehicles for its members, despite official opposition in some quarters. The abuse of this recognized protection for the working journalist is a grave development and we condemn those that carried it out. Such an incident will reduce the protection offered by marked vehicles.”
The FPA pledged to continue to campaign for the legitimate use of these vehicles for its members, a job which it believes has been made more complicated by Saturday’s incident.
The foreign media faces enormous dangers reporting from the Palestinian areas (as Alan Johnston found out to his cost) in stark contrast to Israel, which allows freedom of movement for journalists, often to its own detriment. It looks like Palestinian terrorist groups are fully prepared to take advantage of Israel’s respect for freedom of the press.
