This is something I found out quite accidentally, in a discussion yesterday with a Palestinian official in Ramallah about the lack of reciprocity in Israeli-Palestinian relations [including Press accreditation for media]:
This year, for the first time since the Israeli conquest in the June 1967 war, it seems journalists holding ONLY Israeli GPO press cards [UPDATE] MAY encounter slight problems in covering Christmas events in Bethlehem…
However, yesterday, I was informed by the Palestinian official I discussed the matter with that “Anyone who thinks that they can come to cover the Bethlehem Christmas events this year with just an Israeli GPO card [and without a PA Press Card] is in for a big surprise … I will personally escort him/her back to the checkpoint”.
This morning, to clarify this surprising change, I phoned Ghassan Khatib, Director of the PA Government Media Center in Ramallah.
[Ghassan Khatib was for years the head of the JMCC [Jerusalem Media and Communications Center], based in East Jerusalem until the closure of Jerusalem to most Palestinians, and he continues to be editor of the weekly Bitterlemons online publication. Khatib also served as the PA Minister of Planning, and formerly as PA Minister of Labor, and then as the Vice-President of Bir Zeit University just outside Ramallah.]
He replied to my question about the new requirement for PA Press Cards this way: “Um, Well, Why not?”
Khatib added that this is standard practice in every place [country] in the world — to require specific press accreditation for coverage of major events.
Was there notification of this new policy?
“A statement was distributed to all journalists”, Khatib replied.
This statement was issued jointly, Khatib added, by the PA Government Media Center, by the PA Ministry of Tourism, and by the Bethlehem Municipality.
But, though I have a Palestinian [PA] Press Card, and have had for several years — and though I have several times requested to be added to the PA Government Media Center’s email distribution list — I have not ever received any of the PA Government Media Center’s emails or statements…
Khatib, who recalled one of my requests during an interview with him, in his office, in September, said he would look into it.
[During that interview, in September, Khatib suggested that he was thinking of doing away with the PA Press Cards, and wondered if they served any useful purpose…I argued that they were very important, even essential, especially in combat and conflict zones, and most particularly when crossing checkpoints and dealing with various security officials …]
I asked, what are the restrictions that will be imposed, exactly? Will holders of Israeli GPO cards only be able to enter Bethlehem but just not the Church of the Nativity? Can they go elsewhere as well? And, will this new requirement for a PA Press Card be for a limited duration of time? If so, will it just be for this holiday season, and if so, for how long?
Khatib said he did not know the answer to these questions, and either he or another official in his office would get back to me within 30 minutes — but so far this has not happened.
So, I called a Palestinian journalist friend — who happens to be in Bethlehem from now through the weekend — who downplayed the whole thing, saying that the PA statement said merely that having a PA Press
Card would “facilitate” the movement of journalists, and that there might be “inconveniences” otherwise.
[N.B. — This is not how it was phrased yesterday by one official in a position to know… However, this official indicated there MIGHT be exceptions made “if we know the person, and if we have worked with him/her before”]
- It was learned later on Thursday that the information below is incorrect [see information further down:
However, the Palestinian journalist friend told me this afternoon that there is a PA Government Media Center presence now set up in Bethlehem, just outside the Church of Nativity, across from the Police Station in Manger Square, which will, among other things, issue PA press cards during the upcoming 2011 Christmas events…
UPDATE: The information above is not correct, it was later learned: the PLO Negotiations Support media team — and not the PA Government Media Center headed by Ghassan Khatib — has set up the presence in Bethlehem, just outside the Church, and across from the Police Station, and PA Press Cards cannot be issued there…
UPDATE TWO [Saturday 24 December]: For journalists who may need help or assistance, there is a phone contact for the Christmas Media Center for JOURNALISTS at Nativity Square in Bethlehem, which just came by SMS: 0598999769 .
Meantime, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, his Advisor Jamal Zakout, and his Media Unit team sent out a Season’s Greeting wishing “all our fellow Journalists a Happy Holiday season. May the year 2012 bring joy, prosperity, success and more freedom of press. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” …