May 5, 2002	Sunday	Safar 21, 1423

PARIS: International journalists’ rights association Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), which today issued its annual report to coincide with the 12th annual International Press Freedom Day, reports with regard to Israel, that 45 journalists were “injured by bullets” while attempting to do their work.

Palestinian journalists, the majority of them injured, have experienced more and more problems in moving about between the different territories.

As a result of the obvious decision by the Israeli Army to declare open war on journalists, the RSF has decided to declare General Shaul Moffaz, the Israeli Army chief-of-staff, as a Predators of Press Freedom.

Since September 2000, 45 cases of journalists injured by bullets have been recorded by Reporters Without Borders. Palestinian journalists have also experienced more and more problems when moving about between the different territories. At the end of the year, the Israeli authorities considered not renewing the press cards of Palestinian correspondents working for the foreign press.

On Feb 9, 2001 a Gamma photographer, Laurent van der Stockt, and a colleague with Reuters covering demonstrations in Ramallah, when the photographer was shot in the knee The photographer was taken to a hospital in Al Quds and then repatriated to France. He was bedridden for three months and suffers from serious after-effects.

On the same day and in the same place Rebhi Ahmad Mohammed al-Kobari, Palestinian cameraman with the Palestinian television channel al-Sharq in Ramallah, was injured in the left knee by shrapnel after the Israeli army opened fire on demonstrators. The journalist was carrying his video camera and wearing a cap clearly marked “TV”.

Ahmed Zaki, Palestinian correspondent for Oman Satellite Television, was hit in the knee while covering clashes on 23 March at Ramallah.

Zakaria Abu Harbeid, journalist with the local news agency Ramatan, was injured on April 14 at Khan Younis, in Gaza, while taking photos of Israeli soldiers shooting at Palestinians. The journalist was hit in the hand and had to be hospitalized for several days.

On April 20 Laila Odeh, Al Quds correspondent for the United Arab Emirates channel Abou Dhabi TV, was interviewing people in the Rafah area whose homes had been destroyed by Israeli raids in Gaza a few days earlier. As the journalist and her crew were about to leave, Israeli soldiers shot Laila Odeh in the thigh. She was immediately taken to Rafah hospital before being transferred to Al Shifa hospital in Gaza.

Bertrand Aguirre, correspondent for the French channel TF1, was injured on May 15 while covering clashes and demonstrations in Ramallah. A bullet hit the journalist’s bullet-proof jacket, causing bruising. The journalist was taken to Ramallah hospital for an examination. On June 15 a Japanese freelance journalist was hit in the hand by shrapnel after Israeli soldiers had fired in Ramallah.

Lu’ay Abu-Haikal was hit by a rubber-covered metal bullet on July 6 while covering clashe