RSF has expressed alarm over new rules for accrediting journalists that are expected to be introduced shortly in Israel. Under the new rules, journalists will have to be cleared by the Shin Bet state security service. RSF described the new rules as a serious threat to press freedom and a flagrant violation of journalists’ rights, and called for their cancellation. The new rules, which are to take effect on 1 January 2004, apply to all journalists working in Israel, including foreign, Palestinian and Israeli journalists. Read more about Israel's secret service becomes press card authority 

Reporters Without Borders, a top media watchdog, has accused Israel and the United States of unacceptable behaviour towards journalists in occupied Palestine and Iraq. RSF said on Monday the US had caused the deaths of five journalists in Iraq. And it said the Israeli army was guilty of injuring and threatening journalists in the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli army’s repeated abuses against journalists in the occupied territories constitute unacceptable behaviour by two nations that never stop stressing their commitment to freedom of expression. Read more about Media watchdog slams US, Israel 

Yesterday, Reuters cameraman Mazen Dana was shot and killed by US occupation forces in Iraq. In 2001, Dana was honored by the Committee to Protect Journalists ago for his years of courageous reporting on the conflict in his hometown of Hebron in the West Bank. He worked for the Reuters news agency covering one of the most dangerous beats in the world, the West Bank city of Hebron, where journalists are routinely targets of violence. Dana has been wounded repeatedly during the seven years he has documented the clashes in his hometown for Reuters. Read more about Mazen Dana: In his own words 

The International Federation of Journalists has called for an independent and open inquiry into the killing yesterday afternoon of a Palestinian cameraman in Iraq by US troops, only days after the Federation accused the Pentagon of a “cynical whitewash” over a previous attack on media in which two journalists were killed. The shooting of Mazen Dana, an award-winning journalist working for the Reuters news agency, is “more tragic evidence of what appears to be casual disregard of journalists’ safety by military commanders,” said IFJ’s Aidan White. Read more about IFJ calls for Iraq probe after Palestinian journalist shot dead by US troops 

Mazen Dana, a veteran television cameraman for Reuters, was killed in Baghdad on Sunday while filming outside the city’s Abu Ghraib prison. According to wire service reports, Dana was shot by U.S.soldiers riding on a tank in the Iraqi capital. The 43-year-old Palestinian was honored by CPJ two years ago for his years of courageous reporting on the conflict in his hometown of Hebron in the West Bank. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for a full investigation into the shooting, and a public accounting of the circumstances. Read more about Palestinian cameraman Mazen Dana killed in Baghdad 

In a report issued today on the Israeli army’s enquiries into the fatal shootings of two journalists in the Occupied Territories in April and May, Reporters Without Borders accuses the military of acting with a flagrant lack of rigour and determination and calls for proper investigations that could lead to the prosecution and punishment of those responsible. Read more about Report criticises botched Israeli army investigations, lack of follow-up, in deaths of two journalists in Occupied Territories