Hamas hampering persistent press
The Foreign Press Association accused Hamas of imposing restrictions on foreign journalists entering the Gaza Strip, which the government denied.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The Foreign Press Association accused in a statement on Aug. 22 Hamas and the security services in the Gaza Strip of imposing restrictions on the entry of foreign journalists to Gaza.
The statement listed some of the practices it deemed unjust, imposed by Hamas on foreign journalists in Gaza — such as the increase of the fee for armored cars used by those journalists — from 2,100 shekels a year (around $550) to 4,000 shekels a year (about $1,050).
Josef Federman, the chairman of the association whose headquarters is located in Jerusalem, told Al-Monitor that it was not easy to take this position in the statement. He said, “Many alarming issues emerged in the past months: For example, a number of journalists were asked intrusive questions on entry [into Gaza], two other journalists — at least — were barred entry to Gaza and the procedures to grant entry permits to foreign journalists were changed.”
Federman said that the association has been demanding for several months to amend the procedures. These demands prompted a meeting between the association and the government media office in Gaza in July. A positive atmosphere prevailed at first during the meeting. However, during the same meeting, a member of the Foreign Press Association was questioned for 45 minutes for being suspected of recording the minutes of the meeting.
