Mideast War: Our Reporter On The ‘Hill of Shame’
Our ace reporter files this compelling dispatch from the Israeli-Gaza border — on the frustrations he and his colleagues face there, day in and day out, covering the conflict: Simon McGregor-Wood reports: I cover this war in Gaza entirely from Israel, sometimes from a hill a mile or two away — at peak filing times, perhaps a hundred journalists crowd this hill — some of us are starting to call it the "hill of shame." It is enormously frustrating. From there we peer into Gaza using or long lenses to observe the puffs of smoke and listen to the sounds of Israeli artillery and helicopters shooting. Around the periphery of Gaza, we have been playing a game of cat and mouse with Israel’s military police. There is a two mile exclusion zone preventing us from filming any tanks or concentrations of Israeli troops. We’ve been fighting the Israeli Government to let us in to Gaza. The Supreme Court has said the Government should let small numbers of us in, and then share the material. But so far, the army and ministry of defense have chosen to ignore the advice. And so there are no foreign reporters inside Gaza. My Palestinian colleague and friend, Sammi Zyara and his trusty camera crew, have been our eyes and ears on the ground. Every day they brave Israeli shelling to bring ABC its pictures of what is happening on the other side of this conflict. Just before this war started we finally managed, after years of trying, to get Sammi and his crew to our offices in London for some R and R and some training. Little did we know once they got back into Gaza — things would turn so bad. Before their trip they hadn’t been out of Gaza for eight years. For them it has been a prison. And here I am, complaining about not being able to get in. This is a confusing time.
Email




RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Ummm, I wonder why the Israels don’t want reporters in the area, is it because the autrosities they are inflicting on the Palestinian people would be exposed to and include their constant lies, misinformation and spin justification for their actions.
Posted by: Vietnam Veteran | January 9, 2009, 3:14 pm 3:14 pm
Firstly, if a reporter were inside Gaza and filed a story that Hamas didn’t like, he and his news team would be kidnapped or killed. Under those circumstances do you think the reporting would be fair and unbiased. Of course not. Also, if reporters were there, Hamas would do everything it could to provoke horrors whenever possible, drawing fire to civilians and shelters. All Hamas has is the ability to manipulate opinion and the media as it has to some degree in the past and turn Gaza into a propaganda theater for their death cult.
Posted by: hopesprings52 | January 9, 2009, 3:30 pm 3:30 pm
Hang in there, McGregor-Woods. Joe the Plumber is on his way.
Posted by: hang | January 9, 2009, 3:35 pm 3:35 pm
I am glad Israel is not letting in journalist. Israel has to defeat this enemy who fires rockets into Israel. Let us not forget that Israel gave the Gaza strip back to the Palestinians. If the press was allowed into Gaza that kind of reporting would only benefit the terrorist propaganda.
Posted by: Dave T | January 9, 2009, 3:44 pm 3:44 pm
Genocide against the sematic peoples of Palestine and the politicians say… nothing. Maybe it’s because they are taking money from Israel and the ones who don’t are being blackmailed by the ADL’s illegial spy program on them as well as the rest of the Americans here and abroad through companies like Amdocs that read our emails and monitor our telephone calls. Naturally the media won’t cover this… Hmn, wonder why? Let’s ask Abe Foxman, maybe he can tell us, ya think?
Posted by: please! | January 9, 2009, 3:44 pm 3:44 pm
The Gaza offensive has probably been in the making since the failure of the Lebanon incursion with some complicit approval from the present administration. The last act of enabling that I’m aware of came with Rice’s absence from the UN proceedings yesterday when another resolution for a cease fire was agreed upon unanimously, with of course, the exception of Israel. But an absence was an improvement over the overriding vote of no given by Rice last weekend by Rice. The justification for her vote was hat a “durable and sustainable” treaty had to be proposed.
Realistically, a durable and sustainable treaty would be far easier to create during a temporary cease fire. The cessation of death and hostilities would certainly be an advantageous situation for creating a solid treaty. But that apparently would conflict with an agenda held by Israel and supported by the US.
So the holocaust, a word I would never use loosely, will continue on the Palestinian people. It boggles the mind that victims of a holocaust could be so unthinking and unfeeling about inflicting one on those live on the same land.
Posted by: kat | January 9, 2009, 3:49 pm 3:49 pm
Typo from my earlier post: on those WHO share the same land.
Posted by: kat | January 9, 2009, 3:52 pm 3:52 pm
Perhaps the Israelis don’t want the whining, compaining journalists to get hit with the Hamas’ missiles that the Jews have been putting up with for almost a decade. I bet that if even one Hamas rocket landed in any city in the United States, the US government would immediately blast them to meet their 72 virgins. So why isn’t Israel allowed to protect its own citizens? Enough is enough.
Posted by: Roscoe Chait | January 9, 2009, 3:57 pm 3:57 pm
This is sad! In todays world! With what happen in German with Hitler and people are doing this to others! Where is their guts! The world did not hold back in 1946, 47, 1948! but now the world closed their eyes and hears to the crying of young and innocent kids, children, and women in Gaza! Why? Why !! Why Isrealies!
Posted by: Lalo | January 9, 2009, 4:38 pm 4:38 pm
The “Hill of Shame” is in DC, where the American taxpayers are forced to buy these Israeli bombs. How is that Boeing stock?
Posted by: dragon | January 9, 2009, 8:27 pm 8:27 pm
“Perhaps the Israelis don’t want the whining, compaining journalists to get hit with the Hamas’ missiles that the Jews have been putting up with for almost a decade.” – Roscoe Chait
I rather doubt that Roscoe baby.
I’m betting the Israelis wouldn’t bat an eye if a jouralist or two got hit on the head with a Gazanian Missile.
Posted by: Noz | January 9, 2009, 10:01 pm 10:01 pm
Hamas is doing a ‘fine’ job of destroying Israel.
They hide among civilians while launching their bombs toward Israel.
When Israel strikes back, Hamas points to Israel, and says, ‘See what you did?
You killed innocent civilians?”
So, it’s like a two-for-one deal.
Hamas gets their licks in twice.
It’s very clever, and very wicked, indeed.
People in America and around the world can sit back at their computers and shake their heads in condemnation of Israel. Like I said, Hamas has a few games playing all at the same time and people are falling for it.
I feel very sorry for the Palestinians who are caught up in Hamas’ games.
Put the blame where it truly lies:
Hamas.
Posted by: Who me? | January 10, 2009, 11:03 am 11:03 am
Israel doesn’t want the world to see what is going on. Their 18 month blockade of Gaza has been countered by rocket fire which is now an excuse for total bombardment of the Palestinians in Gaza. Much of which is paid for with US taxpayer money and facilitated with American weapons. All this of course is happening as Israel continues to expand settlements in the West Bank and construct more checkpoints to protect these settlements. What a sick joke.
Posted by: Huh | January 10, 2009, 11:53 am 11:53 am
Foreign journalists= Hamas propaganda. International activists (posing as journalists) and bona fide reporters do not have an option to file a balanced report; if the news are not favorable to Hamas the reporter dissapears. Hamas has informal, but effective phycological warfare cells, ready to sprinkle morgue corpses for the massacre shot.
The battle plan seems to be working; armed terrorists are killed every day, Hamas political and military infrastructure crumbles by the day, and Egypt is warming up to the UN patrols on the border.
A Gaza strip Califate is not an option; it is a shame that the average Palestinian has to endure the consequences of governance by a terrorist organization.
Posted by: Stephen | January 10, 2009, 12:28 pm 12:28 pm
Hamas is a clever and wicked entity.
People around the world are falling for their propaganda.
Too bad.
If Hamas wanted the best for the Palestinians, they would stop bombing Israel. They would help rebuild Gaza and its people. They would put their money where their mouth is.
But no, Hamas wants no peace in the middle east – Hamas wants to keep the fires stirred until the whole world turns against Israel. That’s their goal; that’s their mission.
But remember, Hamas also wants to destroy the western world. So don’t get too comfortable in your seats.
Posted by: for whom the pot stirs | January 10, 2009, 1:21 pm 1:21 pm
Hamas is not bombing Israel. Tell me how many people they have killed? How many people Israilis have killed?
Do you have a heart in your body or it is a rock?
Shame on those who supports the terror of Israil.
Posted by: Sano | January 10, 2009, 7:56 pm 7:56 pm
This war that Israel is waging is not just against Hamas…It is against the Palestinian people as well…Its main purpose is to break the will of the Palestinians. Also, Israel needs to restore its image as a super dominant power in the region after the defeat it suffered in Lebanon in 06. The whole Israeli idealogy of supremacy fell apart after the showdown with Hizbullah and that is something unacceptable in the Zionist culture. Their whole existence in the region is based on that idealogy which is aims to fullfill their ultimate goal and that is to rule, geographcally, economically and idealogically the region between the Euphrates and the Nile…proof? they are the only country in the world that has not declared its official boundaries. It is constantly in a state of expansion.
Posted by: mohammed | January 10, 2009, 9:06 pm 9:06 pm
“Hamas is not bombing Israel.” – from above post)
————————————-
Then who is bombing Israel?
Hamas is trying their dammest to kill and destroy Israel. It’s not from a lack of trying.
Hamas also does not give a fig about the Palestinian people. Hamas hide their bombs in innocent people’s homes.
What kind of heart do you have that you defend Hamas’ mode of operation?
Do you not really care anything about the Palestinian people?
The shame is in Hamas’s heart and those who condone their deviant ways in putting innocent civilians in harms way.
Posted by: The Palestinians are also victims of Hamas | January 10, 2009, 9:19 pm 9:19 pm
If Hamas would stop the bombing, then maybe we can get a better picture on all of this.
I don’t wish harm on anyone.
The Palestinians need peace.
The Israelis need peace.
We all need peace.
So, how do we get this?
We have no other choice but to keep trying.
Posted by: there are many victims of Hamas | January 10, 2009, 9:32 pm 9:32 pm
Israel cannot have peace…don’t you get it? Peace means declare official boundaries which means no expansion which means no Greater Israel!
Posted by: mohammed | January 10, 2009, 10:24 pm 10:24 pm
Was the terror of 3,000 Kassam rockets and mortars falling into civilian neighborhoods in the last year alone not justification enough for self-defense? Should Israel have continued to wait until a school or daycare center was struck, forcing Israel to play,Russian roulette with its children
Posted by: tim | January 10, 2009, 10:55 pm 10:55 pm
No sooner had Israel launched its offensive against Hamas than the moral arbiters of acceptable behavior were condemning the Jewish state for its perceived abuses in executing its national self-defense.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband smugly accused Israel of causing a “dangerous and dark moment” in history and voiced the preposterous judgment “that any innocent loss of life is unacceptable.” Malaysia’s deputy foreign minister obscenely suggested that Israel’s actions were crimes against humanity “tantamount to genocide,” indicating both an ignorance of what that term signifies and a blindness to actual genocides occurring presently at the hand of his co-religionists.
But the most insidious refrain, one uttered only when Israel’s enemies are killed (certainly not when Jews are murdered), is that Israel’s military response is too aggressive, that the force and effect of the excursion into Gaza are beyond appropriate boundaries.
Posted by: tim | January 10, 2009, 10:58 pm 10:58 pm
tim,
How about 60 years of murder, illegal aquesition of land and property, illegal imprisonment of palestinian men and women….Currently 11,000. How about Der Yasin 250 killed at the hand of the Israelies in 1948. Kofr Qasem…The invasion of lebanon and beirut 1982… Sabra and Shatila over 1800 SLAUGHTERED…Qana in southern lebanon over 100 killed…how about ignoring a list of resolutions by the UN that’s a mile long…how about destroying the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah while under the ‘control’ of Arafat…was he Hamas too?…how about the wall…shooting live ammunition at kids throwing stones,…how about the check points where ambulances carrying pregnant women in labor are detained until the woman dies…how about shooting at the ambulances…how about preventing medical aid fron reaching the civilians that are affected by all this…
Israel has broken every UN,and Geneva Convention human right there is…what’s next…
Posted by: mohammed | January 10, 2009, 11:37 pm 11:37 pm
I am happy and relieved that the
international news media has been denied access to the Israeli
incursion into the Gaza Strip. The longer they are kept out, these lying,
biased, anti Israel journalistic clowns out of the fighting, the
better chance isreal have of winning this battle and saving both Israeli
and Palestinian lives.
For far too long the international and even some American media
have been driven by an anti Israel and even an anti American
ideology, indeed, some of these reporters are so supportive of the
Palestinian terrorists, that they will even deliberately act as
human shields to protect terrorists who are actively firing on and
trying to kill Israelis. Worse, many of their so called reports are
nothing more that the rote repetition of anti Israel lies and
propaganda provided by Palestinian terrorists. Moreover, in many
cases even the photographs these faux journalists use to accompany
their false and tendentious reports are either doctored to make the
Israeli Army seem to be committing war crimes, or are taken in such
a way as to show only Israeli military acts, and leave out the
terrorist attacks which prompted them.
I am sorry , but the international media can no longer
be trusted to provide an honest or objective news service regarding
Israel, and increasingly, your country America. Thus if Israel
wishes to protect her citizens, and by the way, protect Palestinians
from their own terrorist leadership’s excesses, then the best thing
to do is restrict media coverage of Israeli military events against
Hamas until they are successfully concluded.
Posted by: tim | January 11, 2009, 12:51 am 12:51 am
you can spin this anyway you want, but it is obvious that the Israelies are not allowing media coverage for two main reasons:
1) To cover up the civilian losses.
2) To cover up their military defeat.
Everyone knows that the US main media is totally biased towards Israel…yet they try, every now and then, to make it look unbiased, by conducting interviews with Palestinians on the inside.
Anyhow, it looks like these cowards are realizing the mess they got into…they are debating over how to withdraw their troops and protect their image at the same time. They are still unable to enter any of the cities… Mission not accomplished! They were expecting an unconditional surrender by hamas but that did not happen…now hamas is more popular than ever in the mideast…congrats!!!
Posted by: mohammed | January 11, 2009, 1:42 am 1:42 am
I never mentioned the 67 war…it is all Palestine…the Palestinians never willingly gave up one inch of it…they just lost it peace by peace part due to the Brit’s and their Belfor Declaration of 1917, then the migration of European jews that started in the twenties and after that came the Argon Army which was mainly made up of merceneries of WW2…then 1948…true, Jordan took part in the slicing and dicing of Palestine…and the Palestinians paid the price…regardless…it is what it is…they don’t have it now..Israel does and the Palestinians want what is rightfully theirs…call it what you will
Posted by: mohammed | January 11, 2009, 2:21 am 2:21 am
Hey Mohammed Since 1948 850,000+ Jews were stripped of their property and expelled from surrounding Islamic fascist states. Nobody is advocating they be allowed to “return” to their homes or be paid for their stolen property. It’s also funny (sick) that nobody complains about the 650,000 “Palestinians” that were expelled from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia after the Gulf War (for treason) back to their “Palestinian” state of Jordan. They are still refused citizenship by the Saudi terrorist state.Mohammed call a spade a spade.
Posted by: tim | January 11, 2009, 2:36 am 2:36 am
That is not true…jews were not expelled from their mideast countries…they chose to join the fascist state in Occupied Palestine…Kuwait and Saudi were never home to The Palestinians…most were there on a work visa…and they are ruled by fascist shieks..no doubt… and one more thing…Jordan is not Palestine…when will you people get it…The palestinians are not going to trade homelands with their occupiers…why don’t Israelies go back to Poland, Ukrain, Austria, Newyork etc…?
Posted by: mohammed | January 11, 2009, 3:00 am 3:00 am
Tim posted: “how about the check points where ambulances carrying pregnant women in labor are detained until the woman dies..”
*************
Tim – normally a woman in labor doesn’t die – she has a baby. It is sad though when you can’t trust terrorists not to have a suicide vest attached to a woman pretending to be in labor.
Posted by: Gorgegirl4 | January 11, 2009, 7:56 pm 7:56 pm
And now human rights agencies are saying that Israel is using white phosphorus. Please folks don’t support what Israel is doing. Don’t support the 18 month blockade of Gaza. Don’t support the expanding settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Don’t support the increasing number of checkpoints in the occupied territories. Call Gaza what it is, a watered down concentration camp. Ron Paul said so and he always tells the truth.
Posted by: Ben Straub | January 11, 2009, 9:00 pm 9:00 pm
Gorgegirl4,
Tim did not post that, I did and it’s true, there were many cases, but You can believe what you want…and don’t you people ever have anything better to say about this conflict other than to throw the blame on the suicide bombers?…It’s a freaking war…what do you expect? go back to the history of the conflict…better yet look up zionizm…the map of the (Greater Israel) is on their currency, it is public information.
Posted by: mohammed | January 12, 2009, 12:33 am 12:33 am
Muslims throughout the world simply cannot learn that when they bomb and terrorize their neighbors, the neighbors will want to retaliate. The powerful ones can actually give the Muslims the justice that they deserve. The weak must accept terror over and over again. I respect Israel as one of the few nations that gives it back to terrorists and much more. India should have done the same.
Posted by: Lyn | January 12, 2009, 1:44 am 1:44 am
Gaza is not a “watered down” concentration camp. it’s the real thing. “Never again” Unless it kills Palestinians. The one lesson that Israel took from the WWII is if you are going to commit genocide, make sure you have the unquestioning backing of the world’s only superpower , don’t photograph or let anyone else photograph your war crimes, invoke the Holocaust and call your victims terrorists, radicals, militants, fanatics, insurgents. Kind of like Iraq.
Posted by: Jim Doody | January 12, 2009, 2:41 am 2:41 am
I think being poitically correct about criticizing Israeli governmental and IDF tactics is going to become a thing of the past.
Posted by: kat | January 12, 2009, 11:10 am 11:10 am
Clarification: I meant political correctness by refraining from Israeli criticism. My sentence may not have been clear.
Posted by: kat | January 12, 2009, 12:54 pm 12:54 pm
I’d understand Mohammed, he never read anything but Qoran.
I’ve assumed western names belongs to people with education. They should now that on the dwwn of Sionizm jews were buying desert land from arabs/turks/who ever owned it. Then arabs did pogroms and grabbe orchards/improved land.
In ’48 all arab stats attaked Israel.
They were plunged face in sewer once and once again.
Hamas is getting his next lesson now.
Smart warriers, before they were leaving battle under women skirts.
Today they hide behind schools and infants
Posted by: cassander | January 12, 2009, 2:49 pm 2:49 pm
Each side has own point of view.
Bottom line: innocent people are dying.
Whoever is unwilling to stop, then that is the side that will be judged harshly.
(whether its one or both parties)
Who has influence with Hamas? with Israel?
Who gains from this turmoil?
Both sides need to stop crying ‘victim’, and stop the bombings on their side.
Each side will be judged harshly if this madness does not stop.
What good is it to be ‘right’ if everyone is traumatized and victimized by this madness?
Posted by: we must all open our eyes | January 12, 2009, 3:32 pm 3:32 pm
lyn,
Not sure where you’re going with this! Are you accusing Muslims of being terrorist? let me refresh your memory…WW1 10,000,000 killed…WW2 40,000,000 what part did we take in the two wars? How about the Crusaders and who knows how many died there! who started those wars, and why? I think everyone is better off by leaving religion out of it!
Posted by: mohammed | January 13, 2009, 7:01 pm 7:01 pm