Israeli officials have given no explanation for the army's detention of 23-year-old Palestinian cameraman Jussry al-Jamal in the West Bank city of Hebron Tuesday.

Neither the army nor the Israeli government's press office has responded to protests by Reuters, which has demanded Jamal's release and denounced his treatment as a "blatant violation of international standards for conduct."

Israeli authorities have also held Hossam Abu Alan, a Palestinian photographer with the French news agency Agence France-Presse, for eight days without explanation.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based reporters rights watchdog, today named the West Bank the worst place to be a journalist on a list released to mark World Press Freedom Day.

The CPJ, which issues the annual ranking of places where dangers and restrictions represent the worst threats to press freedom, criticized Israel for using force to try to keep journalists from covering a military offensive launched in the West Bank on March 29.

Israel began the offensive after a wave of Palestinian suicide attacks that killed dozens of Israelis as part of a 19-month-old uprising against Israeli occupation.


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