The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (Mada) welcomed the resolution of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations yesterday, demanding the opening of safe passage to journalists in the Gaza Strip.

Mada thanks all the countries who voted in favor of the resolution, and Press Emblem Campaign (PEC), and the International Covenant to Protect Journalists, which called for the adoption of this resolution in a statement on 7 December. It is indeed a historic decision, and will have a positive impact on the work of journalists in various parts of the world.

Mada believes the importance of the resolution also stems from the fact that it should put pressure on Israel, which continues to prevent the media from entering Gaza Strip since the imposition of the blockade on 4 November 2008, except for a small number. Israel has fully prevented journalists from entering since the beginning of the brutal war in the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008, even though dozens of crews from international media had came to cover the war.

Israel is not only preventing journalists from entering Gaza, but has imposed strict
military censorship on them. In that context they arrested Ala’lam TV correspondent Khader Shaheen and producer Mohammad Sarhan on 5 December, accusing them of a breach of military censorship, and an Israeli court renewed their detention yesterday.

Mada Center calls upon the international community to put firm pressure on the Government of Israel, which is not tired of describing itself as an oasis of democracy in the Middle East, for the implementation of this resolution, and to allow the media to enter the Gaza Strip and to secure safe passage for them, and to stop its attacks on journalists and media outlets.