JERUSALEM – The broadcast of television images the Israeli army wanted censored has raised concerns that Israelis are getting a sanitized view of the conflict with Palestinians.
The controversy broke out yesterday after Israel's private Channel 2 network broadcast rare footage of a recent Israeli army raid of a Palestinian refugee camp in Bethlehem.
The Israeli army insists that by broadcasting the shocking scenes – Palestinian children watch their mother bleeding to death after soldiers stormed their house – Channel 2 broke a deal that allowed the army to censor the images.
Channel 2 was the only station to broadcast the images, while other networks abided by the army's demand to delete the scene. An Israeli camera operator, working on a "pool" basis for all the networks, was allowed to enter the camp with Israeli soldiers on condition that the army's public relations office had final say on the images broadcast.
The footage, broadcast Friday and Saturday by Channel 2, showed Israeli soldiers being briefed on how to break down doors in the camp. After a sledgehammer failed to knock down a door, the soldiers followed instructions and used explosives.
The soldiers entered and found the mother wounded on the floor, and her frightened children choking back tears. The father tries to call an ambulance, but it can't get past military checkpoints.
The young daughter begs the soldiers not to break down a wall to enter the adjoining house, but they do so anyway.
Another family member asks the soldiers a question and is loudly told to shut up.
Then, one of the soldiers turns to the camera and says: "I don't know what we're doing here. Purification; apparently it's dirty here. It's not clear to me what a Hebrew soldier is doing so far from home."
The Palestinian woman later died of her wounds.
Israeli journalists, like all Israeli citizens, are barred by the army from entering Palestinian-controlled areas, so such incidents have rarely been reported on Israeli television – until last weekend.
Channel 2's dispute with the Israeli army was revealed yesterday by Aviv Lavie, media critic for the Haaretz newspaper.
"The footage showed only the tip of the iceberg of what is really happening in the territories when the IDF comes in contact with Palestinian civilians," wrote Lavie, referring to the Israel Defence Forces.
"Many civilians, women and children, have died since the beginning of this month in the West Bank and Gaza, and practically none of it has reached Israeli TV screens.
"The Israeli public – partly by choice – is living with a complete information blackout with regard to the extent of the damage and death taking place only a few kilometres away from their homes. Maybe the public doesn't want to know, but the media has a responsibility, which it has shirked," he wrote.
Shlomit Avraham, a spokesperson for Channel 2, refused to comment on Israeli army charges that the network had violated its agreement with the army.
Lavie reported that Channel 2 news director, Ram Landes, insists he made clear to everyone that he would no longer abide by right-of-veto deals after being forced to censor a previous incident.
In that case, Channel 2 agree not to broadcast images of Israeli soldiers singing a song about Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that was popular during the 1982 Lebanon War, launched by Sharon when he was defence minister.
"Come down to us ... and take us home in coffins," the soldiers sang, suggesting they were needlessly risking their lives during the 18-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Lt.-Col. Olivier Rafowicz, a spokesperson for the Israeli army, insisted the army has a right to cut deals with Israeli journalists before it gives them unprecedented access. "Given the delicate and sensitive nature of this conflict, we have a right to say, `We want a right of veto.' Those are the conditions, and reporters agree to them beforehand. ... It's a question of mutual trust," he said.
Israel has a military censor which has a legal right to delete any material from local or foreign journalists, usually on the grounds that it imperils the country's security. But in the Channel 2 incident, Israeli networks agreed to have their footage censored by the army's public relations unit. Still, Rafowicz denied the army was concerned about sanitizing its image and the sometimes deadly impact of its military activities in the occupied territories.
Palestinian police officers have several times demanded – even threatened – that journalists hand over video cassettes when they have filmed scenes police believe will put the Palestinian uprising in a bad light.
At least 1,074 Palestinians and 345 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinians began their uprising against Israeli occupation in September, 2000, when peace talks stalled.
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