For CNN Correspondent Michael Holmes, who arrived in Israel just a week ago, it was the "most extraordinary" news conference of what he said was a twenty-five year journalistic career.

Holmes, together with several other correspondents and photographers, had accompanied a group of pro-Palestinian activists who had come to Ramallah to express solidarity with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. "About 40 or 50 Palestinian and international peace protesters," Holmes reported, "marched down the street to one of the entranceways into the compound, walked straight past some armored personnel carriers and tanks, and walked straight toward Yasser Arafat's compound."

Holmes and the other journalists tagged along. "We followed, and as we did, Israeli troops fired warning shots. The group did not stop. They marched straight in, past Palestinian gunmen at the entrance to Yasser Arafat's office building, walked straight past the Palestinian gunmen who seemed shocked and surprised and not a little pleased to see everybody."

The Israeli government was less pleased. The journalists had entered what the Israel Defense Forces had defined as "a closed military area." Danny Seaman, the director of the Government Press Office, said one of the reasons for isolating Mr. Arafat was to prevent him from any contact with lieutenants in the field, so giving him an outlet "providing him with the means of obstructing the goals of the Israeli operation." There were Israeli accusations that Arabic broadcasts and cell phones brought by reporters were being used to communicate military instructions to the field.

Israeli officials were also displeased by what they claimed was uncritical coverage that Arafat was receiving in Ramallah from the international media. Asked by the CNN anchor whether Arafat had condemned the wave of terrorist attacks, Holmes' answer implies that he did not ask the Chairman the question. "Yasser Arafat has said in the past he has already made those statements. He has condemned bombings. He says that he has done everything he possibly can to stop the bombings. Israel, of course, has a very different viewpoint. He says that he has already made those statements. He's calling for peace; he's calling for the full implementation once again of the Tenet peace plan."

Interviewed on an Israeli late night radio show, Seaman was incensed by the report that a Palestinian stringer employed by ABC television had given Arafat a cell phone. The Israeli Government Press Office later warned news organizations that it would enforce a prohibition on hiring Palestinians who lacked permits to work in Israel, saying that organizations that did so would risk a stiff fine and even closure of its offices.

"There is a war today between the Jewish people, the Israeli people, and the Palestinians," Seaman said. "They will use every method to hurt us, including exploiting the media and Israeli democracy. We have to put a stop to this matter."

Fugitives tried to escape with activists and reporters
Most seriously, the Israeli government reported that when the reporters and some members of the activist group left the compound, between 13 (according to the New York Times) and 20 (according to IDF Chief of Operations, Maj. Gen. Giora Eiland) Palestinians wanted by Israel attempted to leave the compound with them, trying to blend in with the group. "When they came out, there were double the number that had gone in. Some [of those coming out] were wanted fugitives. They exploited Israeli openness," Eiland said. The wanted Palestinians were captured when the members of the group were detained and interrogated by the IDF.

Surprisingly, this "smuggling attempt" was not, to the best of our knowledge, reported on or followed up by CNN, even though the presence of the fugitives with Arafat is a major issue of contention between the Israeli and Palestinian sides, was the subject of numerous government press releases and media reports.

Indeed, Holmes incorrectly, and disingenouly, reports the detention of the fugitives as if they were "foreign activists." In a dispatch the following day to CNN, he reported that "Thirty-two of those foreign activists, who [sic] we accompanied into Yasser Arafat's office yesterday, are still there. Nine, we are told, tried to leave the compound last night well after we had left, and we are told they were detained by Israeli forces."

Seaman expressed concern about the safety of journalists. A staff writer for The Boston Globe, Anthony Shadid, 33, was shot in the shoulder Sunday while walking down a street, trying to get out of Ramallah. He was taken to a private hospital in the city, where his injuries were described as light and his condition stable. It was not clear who fired the shot, although the Jerusalem Post reported that "sources who were involved [in] the incident said he was hit by Palestinian gunfire."

While the IDF declared Ramallah a closed zone, it remains unclear how strictly the citywide ban will be enforced. Senior IDF officers said, however, that Arafat's compound was, from now on, strictly off-limits and that non-residents would be removed by force "if necessary."

Reuters reported that the army has taken over the Ramallah offices of foreign news organizations, including Reuters, forcing staffers out. There were reports that the IDF had closed the office of Al-Jazeera, the Qatari television station, in the city.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel protested the army's actions. "The media must be allowed to cover this major story. We call upon the Israeli government to allow free and independent coverage of the operation in Palestinian Authority areas," the FPA said in a statement.

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