Israel Matzav

'Palestinian' terrorists use 'press vehicle' for terror attack

Four 'Palestinian' terrorists infiltrated the Kissufim crossing from the Gaza Strip into Israel this afternoon using a jeep marked "TV" to camouflage their true intentions. They then attacked a group of Israeli soldiers stationed on the Israeli side of the border. One of the 'Palestinians' was killed while the other three escaped. IDF troops are searching the area to make sure that there are no terrorists remaining on the Israeli side of the border.

Yes, of course this violates the Geneva Convention. Under Article 79 of the Geneva Convention, journalists have civilian status:

“Article 79 – Measures of protection for journalists
1. Journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict shall be considered as civilians within the meaning of Article 50, paragraph 1.
2. They shall be protected as such under the Conventions and this Protocol, provided that they take no action adversely affecting their status as civilians, and without prejudice to the right of war correspondents accredited to the armed forces to the status provided for in Article 4 (A) (4) of the Third Convention.
3. They may obtain an identity card similar to the model in Annex II of this Protocol. This card, which shall be issued by the government of the State of which the journalist is a national or in whose territory he resides or in which the news medium employing him is located, shall attest to his status as a journalist.”

Article 79 stipulates that journalists engaged in dangerous professional missions in areas of armed conflict “are” civilians within the meaning of Article 50 (1) and thereby benefit from all the protection conferred by international humanitarian law on civilians. Journalists are thus protected against the effects of the hostilities and against arbitrary conduct on the part of a party to the conflict if they are captured or arrested by it.

But journalists are only protected so long as they are not actively engaging in hostilities. And the same goes for their vehicles. If people whose vehicles are marked "TV" are going to engage in hostilities, the risk is that the combatants will fire on real press vehicles thinking that they are terrorists.

Of course, the 'Palestinians' don't care about such niceties, since the only journalists in Gaza these days are 'Palestinian' stringers and Alan Johnston.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:09 PM