Reporters Without Borders calls on army to return confiscated film

Reporters Without Borders protested today at the seizure of a Reuters journalist's film by Israeli soldiers and suggested it was an attempt to cover up evidence about clashes with Palestinian demonstrators. It called for the confiscated videotape to be returned at once. "This incident shows the general attitude of Israeli troops, who have disobeyed the rules set by their superiors," said Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard in a letter to Chief of Staff Moshé Yahalon. "We would be very shocked if we were now told that once again, as in the past, that the cassette has been 'lost' and so cannot be returned." At the end of a day of clashes in Nablus on 30 September, Israeli troops seized the film from Reuters cameraman Hassan Titi, who had gone to a checkpoint on the outskirts of the West Bank city to give it to an Israeli driver to take to the Reuters office in Jerusalem. An Israeli army spokesman said the soldiers had disobeyed regulations and said every effort would be made to return the cassette to Reuters. Violations of press freedom have increased since the start of Operation Rampart on 29 March this year. The work of Palestinian journalists in particular has been obstructed, through cancellation of press cards, warning gunfire, arrests and threats. Foreign journalists have been obstructed too, by the use of closed military zones.