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Mideast War: Our Reporter On The 'Hill of Shame'
January 09, 2009 2:35 PM
Our ace reporter files this compelling dispatch from the Israeli-Gaza border -- on the frustrations he and his colleagues face there, day in and day out, covering the conflict:
Simon McGregor-Wood reports: I cover this war in Gaza entirely from Israel, sometimes from a hill a mile or two away -- at peak filing times, perhaps a hundred journalists crowd this hill -- some of us are starting to call it the "hill of shame." It is enormously frustrating.
From there we peer into Gaza using or long lenses to observe the puffs of smoke and listen to the sounds of Israeli artillery and helicopters shooting.
Around the periphery of Gaza, we have been playing a game of cat and mouse with Israel's military police. There is a two mile exclusion zone preventing us from filming any tanks or concentrations of Israeli troops.
We've been fighting the Israeli Government to let us in to Gaza.
The Supreme Court has said the Government should let small numbers of us in, and then share the material. But so far, the army and ministry of defense have chosen to ignore the advice.
And so there are no foreign reporters inside Gaza.
My Palestinian colleague and friend, Sammi Zyara and his trusty camera crew, have been our eyes and ears on the ground. Every day they brave Israeli shelling to bring ABC its pictures of what is happening on the other side of this conflict.
Just before this war started we finally managed, after years of trying, to get Sammi and his crew to our offices in London for some R and R and some training. Little did we know once they got back into Gaza -– things would turn so bad.
Before their trip they hadn't been out of Gaza for eight years. For them it has been a prison.
And here I am, complaining about not being able to get in. This is a confusing time.
January 9, 2009 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (38)
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Ummm, I wonder why the Israels don't want reporters in the area, is it because the autrosities they are inflicting on the Palestinian people would be exposed to and include their constant lies, misinformation and spin justification for their actions.
Posted by: Vietnam Veteran | Jan 9, 2009 3:14:55 PM
Firstly, if a reporter were inside Gaza and filed a story that Hamas didn't like, he and his news team would be kidnapped or killed. Under those circumstances do you think the reporting would be fair and unbiased. Of course not. Also, if reporters were there, Hamas would do everything it could to provoke horrors whenever possible, drawing fire to civilians and shelters. All Hamas has is the ability to manipulate opinion and the media as it has to some degree in the past and turn Gaza into a propaganda theater for their death cult.
Posted by: hopesprings52 | Jan 9, 2009 3:30:01 PM
Hang in there, McGregor-Woods. Joe the Plumber is on his way.
Posted by: hang | Jan 9, 2009 3:35:20 PM
I am glad Israel is not letting in journalist. Israel has to defeat this enemy who fires rockets into Israel. Let us not forget that Israel gave the Gaza strip back to the Palestinians. If the press was allowed into Gaza that kind of reporting would only benefit the terrorist propaganda.
Posted by: Dave T | Jan 9, 2009 3:44:27 PM
Genocide against the sematic peoples of Palestine and the politicians say... nothing. Maybe it's because they are taking money from Israel and the ones who don't are being blackmailed by the ADL's illegial spy program on them as well as the rest of the Americans here and abroad through companies like Amdocs that read our emails and monitor our telephone calls. Naturally the media won't cover this... Hmn, wonder why? Let's ask Abe Foxman, maybe he can tell us, ya think?
Posted by: please! | Jan 9, 2009 3:44:45 PM
The Gaza offensive has probably been in the making since the failure of the Lebanon incursion with some complicit approval from the present administration. The last act of enabling that I'm aware of came with Rice's absence from the UN proceedings yesterday when another resolution for a cease fire was agreed upon unanimously, with of course, the exception of Israel. But an absence was an improvement over the overriding vote of no given by Rice last weekend by Rice. The justification for her vote was hat a "durable and sustainable" treaty had to be proposed.
Realistically, a durable and sustainable treaty would be far easier to create during a temporary cease fire. The cessation of death and hostilities would certainly be an advantageous situation for creating a solid treaty. But that apparently would conflict with an agenda held by Israel and supported by the US.
So the holocaust, a word I would never use loosely, will continue on the Palestinian people. It boggles the mind that victims of a holocaust could be so unthinking and unfeeling about inflicting one on those live on the same land.
Posted by: kat | Jan 9, 2009 3:49:49 PM
Typo from my earlier post: on those WHO share the same land.
Posted by: kat | Jan 9, 2009 3:52:36 PM
Perhaps the Israelis don't want the whining, compaining journalists to get hit with the Hamas' missiles that the Jews have been putting up with for almost a decade. I bet that if even one Hamas rocket landed in any city in the United States, the US government would immediately blast them to meet their 72 virgins. So why isn't Israel allowed to protect its own citizens? Enough is enough.
Posted by: Roscoe Chait | Jan 9, 2009 3:57:47 PM
This is sad! In todays world! With what happen in German with Hitler and people are doing this to others! Where is their guts! The world did not hold back in 1946, 47, 1948! but now the world closed their eyes and hears to the crying of young and innocent kids, children, and women in Gaza! Why? Why !! Why Isrealies!
Posted by: Lalo | Jan 9, 2009 4:38:18 PM
The "Hill of Shame" is in DC, where the American taxpayers are forced to buy these Israeli bombs. How is that Boeing stock?
Posted by: dragon | Jan 9, 2009 8:27:46 PM
"Perhaps the Israelis don't want the whining, compaining journalists to get hit with the Hamas' missiles that the Jews have been putting up with for almost a decade." - Roscoe Chait
I rather doubt that Roscoe baby.
I'm betting the Israelis wouldn't bat an eye if a jouralist or two got hit on the head with a Gazanian Missile.
Posted by: Noz | Jan 9, 2009 10:01:28 PM
Hamas is doing a 'fine' job of destroying Israel.
They hide among civilians while launching their bombs toward Israel.
When Israel strikes back, Hamas points to Israel, and says, 'See what you did?
You killed innocent civilians?"
So, it's like a two-for-one deal.
Hamas gets their licks in twice.
It's very clever, and very wicked, indeed.
People in America and around the world can sit back at their computers and shake their heads in condemnation of Israel. Like I said, Hamas has a few games playing all at the same time and people are falling for it.
I feel very sorry for the Palestinians who are caught up in Hamas' games.
Put the blame where it truly lies:
Hamas.
Posted by: Who me? | Jan 10, 2009 11:03:33 AM
Israel doesn't want the world to see what is going on. Their 18 month blockade of Gaza has been countered by rocket fire which is now an excuse for total bombardment of the Palestinians in Gaza. Much of which is paid for with US taxpayer money and facilitated with American weapons. All this of course is happening as Israel continues to expand settlements in the West Bank and construct more checkpoints to protect these settlements. What a sick joke.
Posted by: Huh | Jan 10, 2009 11:53:31 AM
Foreign journalists= Hamas propaganda. International activists (posing as journalists) and bona fide reporters do not have an option to file a balanced report; if the news are not favorable to Hamas the reporter dissapears. Hamas has informal, but effective phycological warfare cells, ready to sprinkle morgue corpses for the massacre shot.
The battle plan seems to be working; armed terrorists are killed every day, Hamas political and military infrastructure crumbles by the day, and Egypt is warming up to the UN patrols on the border.
A Gaza strip Califate is not an option; it is a shame that the average Palestinian has to endure the consequences of governance by a terrorist organization.
Posted by: Stephen | Jan 10, 2009 12:28:25 PM
Hamas is a clever and wicked entity.
People around the world are falling for their propaganda.
Too bad.
If Hamas wanted the best for the Palestinians, they would stop bombing Israel. They would help rebuild Gaza and its people. They would put their money where their mouth is.
But no, Hamas wants no peace in the middle east - Hamas wants to keep the fires stirred until the whole world turns against Israel. That's their goal; that's their mission.
But remember, Hamas also wants to destroy the western world. So don't get too comfortable in your seats.
Posted by: for whom the pot stirs | Jan 10, 2009 1:21:39 PM
Hamas is not bombing Israel. Tell me how many people they have killed? How many people Israilis have killed?
Do you have a heart in your body or it is a rock?
Shame on those who supports the terror of Israil.
Posted by: Sano | Jan 10, 2009 7:56:05 PM
This war that Israel is waging is not just against Hamas...It is against the Palestinian people as well...Its main purpose is to break the will of the Palestinians. Also, Israel needs to restore its image as a super dominant power in the region after the defeat it suffered in Lebanon in 06. The whole Israeli idealogy of supremacy fell apart after the showdown with Hizbullah and that is something unacceptable in the Zionist culture. Their whole existence in the region is based on that idealogy which is aims to fullfill their ultimate goal and that is to rule, geographcally, economically and idealogically the region between the Euphrates and the Nile...proof? they are the only country in the world that has not declared its official boundaries. It is constantly in a state of expansion.
Posted by: mohammed | Jan 10, 2009 9:06:01 PM
"Hamas is not bombing Israel." - from above post)
-------------------------------------
Then who is bombing Israel?
Hamas is trying their dammest to kill and destroy Israel. It's not from a lack of trying.
Hamas also does not give a fig about the Palestinian people. Hamas hide their bombs in innocent people's homes.
What kind of heart do you have that you defend Hamas' mode of operation?
Do you not really care anything about the Palestinian people?
The shame is in Hamas's heart and those who condone their deviant ways in putting innocent civilians in harms way.
Posted by: The Palestinians are also victims of Hamas | Jan 10, 2009 9:19:23 PM
If Hamas would stop the bombing, then maybe we can get a better picture on all of this.
I don't wish harm on anyone.
The Palestinians need peace.
The Israelis need peace.
We all need peace.
So, how do we get this?
We have no other choice but to keep trying.
Posted by: there are many victims of Hamas | Jan 10, 2009 9:32:35 PM
Israel cannot have peace...don't you get it? Peace means declare official boundaries which means no expansion which means no Greater Israel!
Posted by: mohammed | Jan 10, 2009 10:24:16 PM
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