06/12/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-09940

JOURNALISTS’ GROUP VS. TERROR

A major tool of terrorists is deception. Terrorists infiltrate refugee camps. They disguise themselves as ordinary people going about their business. They fake credentials as professionals engaged in legitimate activities -- charity or relief officials, ministers of religion, emergency medical workers -- even journalists.

The International Federation of Journalists has called on Palestinian leaders to condemn Arab terrorists who may be pretending to be journalists. The Brussels-based global association of journalists’ unions issued a statement on May 27^th, in response to an incident near the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian photographer and Israeli citizen, Suhaib Salem (PRON: Sue-hye-eeb Sah-LEM), works for the Reuters news agency. He was arrested at an Israeli checkpoint on the Gaza border. Salem was traveling in a car marked "Press." Salem and others were detained after a grenade was found in their car.

On June 1^st, Israeli authorities announced they had investigated and cleared Salem. But another of the detainees who claimed to be a journalist later told investigators that he worked in an industrial plant. He also said he had hidden a bomb belt with the intent of smuggling it across the border from Gaza into Israel.

This incident echoes the suicide-bomb murder of Afghan anti-Taleban leader Ahmed Shah Massoud just before the September 11^th attacks on the United States by the al-Qaida terrorist network. Massoud was assassinated by two Algerians posing as television journalists. The killers used false credentials produced by Yasser al-Serri, an Islamic extremist now in jail in Britain. Al-Serri has been charged with complicity in Massoud’s death.

The International Federation of Journalists has called on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to condemn the May incident near Gaza. Aidan (PRON: A-den) White, International Federation of Journalists general secretary, warned that the situation of Palestinian journalists can only get worse if their status is compromised by terrorists. As Mr. White said, "people engaged in terrorist actions are ready to use media business as a cover. . . . It is a shocking and deplorable development that could undermine legitimate journalism and puts all reporters at risk in the region."