Would-Be Viewers Can Purchase Video Exposé of Hebron Settlers

By Kurt Holden

For Washington Report readers who missed a showing on their local PBS television station of "Inside God's Bunker," a filmed portrait of Jewish settlers in the West Bank town of Hebron, or whose local PBS stations chose not to show it, there is good news. A video of the film produced, written and directed by Micha X. Peled, and aired on PBS stations starting in the first week of February, can be purchased by calling Vicki Botnick at (310) 581-5126. To find out when individual PBS stations are showing the film this spring, readers can telephone Al Rose at (215) 968-3369, or fax Al Ortez, the publicist for the broadcast, at station WLIW, fax (516) 454-8924.

The film, a chillingly honest documentary filmed in Hebron in the months leading up to the massacre of 29 Muslim men and boys at prayer by Dr. Baruch Goldstein, a medical doctor from the nearby Kiryat Arba Jewish settlement, results from three months Peled spent with the fundamentalist settlers. His intimate access enabled him to capture the strong sense of community and family among the messianic religious settlers, as well as the militant intolerance and self-righteous hatred that make the horrifying massacre seem almost inevitable. The film also includes post-massacre footage filmed in Hebron at the time Israeli authorities closed the city to the media. The film has been hailed in England, Australia, France and, where it has been shown, in the United States. The San Francisco Examiner called it "a strong, important document and a chilling one."

Readers who have not seen it listed on the schedules of their local PBS stations may want to ask why. Viewers who have seen it find it informative, horrifying, and real.

Turkish Newspaper Lists 500 Arrested Journalists

Perhaps illustrating the selective application of press freedom in Turkey (fairly free if you're of ethnic Turkish origin, not at all free if you're Kurdish), the Turkish Daily News published an entire page in its Dec. 20 edition listing the names and sentences (ranging from two months to 30 years) of more than 500 journalists prosecuted since Turkey's Anti-Terrorism law went into effect on April 12, 1991.

"Belying its purpose of fighting terrorism, the law in practice became a mechanism for punishing the press," the newspaper said. "A favorite target for the law were articles or statements containing alleged 'pro-Kurdish propaganda.' Any mention of the words 'Kurd' or 'Kurdistan' were seen as a legitimate reason for punishment. The lion's share of the law's wrath fell on the editors and writers of left-wing dailies or periodicals."

The newspaper also reported that "hundreds of other cases are being processed by the courts or awaiting the final verdict of the appeals courts." The Turkish Daily News reported that, "beside those detained, arrested or sentenced, the number of journalists manhandled or beaten up has reached a very significant number."

U.S. Committee Urges Iran To Reopen Banned Newspaper

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is urging the Iranian government to lift a ban on the daily Jahan-e Eslam, which is close to hard-line religious factions within Iran. "The authorities have not given us a clear reason why the newspaper was banned," Ali Tashakori, an editor at the paper, told The New York Times. "We recently ran a series of interviews with Hojatolislam Ali Akbar Motashemi in which he openly criticized the president," the editor said.

In fact, Motashemi frequently criticizes President Hashemi Rafsanjani for abandoning revolutionary doctrines and for no longer trying to export revolution. The newspaper also had presented a cartoon character called "Uncle Napoleon," CPJ reported. Readers might assume the figure represented Iran's current spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Another newspaper, Salam, reported the ban was a reaction to "actions against the security and honor of the country, affronting Islam and Iran's supreme leader, and libeling authorities." Oddly, the banned newspaper is owned by Hojatolislam Hadi Khamenei, younger brother of the Iranian leader allegedly lampooned by the cartoon. In a statement urging lifting of the ban, the CPJ said it "fears that Jahan-e Eslam has been banned simply for having exercised its right to free expression."

Armenian Editors Protest Government's Media Closures

Editors of Armenian newspapers whose offices were invaded and closed last Dec. 28 by agents of Armenian President Ter Petrosian have circulated a letter to fellow editors worldwide protesting the closures, which coincided with an edict suspending activities of the leading opposition party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF). Newspapers closed included two ARF newspapers, the daily Yergir, which had the largest circulation in Armenia, and the weekly Azadamart. Other publications which had no ties to the ARF but whose editors were ARF members also were closed. These included Arakasd, dedicated to women's issues, Mounedig(dealing with youth issues), Antratarts (a political digest), and Nork, the literary magazine of the Armenian Writers Union. Other closed media included the Hailour news agency, the Mikael Varantian printing plant (a joint Armenian-Canadian venture) and the Armenian Documentation Center.

The protesting editors pointed out in their letter, dated Jan. 30 and circulated to U.S. editors by the Armenian National Council of America, that when Armenian President Petrosian visited the United States in August 1994, he cited as evidence of the existence of democracy in Armenia the fact that 50 news outlets were functioning in his country, of which only five supported the authorities.

"Today in our country," the protesting editors wrote, "fewer than 10 newspapers are published, of which only one or two could, more or less, be considered in opposition."

Independent Press Under Attack In Both Serbia and Croatia

Although the world spotlight is trained on former Yugoslavia, government crackdowns on the media in both Serbia and Croatia make it increasingly difficult to determine how much support the two strongmen nationalist presidents, Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Franjo Tudjman of Croatia, actually enjoy.

In December, Tudjman arranged for a friendly bank to buy Vjesnik, a leading Zagreb daily, and dismiss its independent editor. In the same month Milosevic sent Information Minister Dragutin Brcin to take over the Belgrade newspaper Borba, and fire its editorial staff. The former staff continued publishing, however, using a private printer.

"The reason for all this is that we are the only daily paper here that is against any war option, against ethnic cleansing, against nationalism and for human rights" said former Borba editor Gordana Logar in a telephone interview with The New York Times from Belgrade. From Zagreb, ousted Vjesnik editor Kresimir Pijaco told The New York Times, "both regimes seem prepared to do unbelievably stupid things. They want to show the world that they are open societies, but whenever they have a spare minute they go out and kill a newspaper."

Kurt Holden, a former educational film producer, divides his time between the Middle East and the United States.