JERUSALEM (September 16) - About 1,500 Palestinians, many supporters of
Hamas, marched in a Gaza Strip refugee camp Friday, burning Israeli flags
and carrying a large poster of Osama bin Laden, an exiled Saudi millionaire
who US Secretary of State Colin Powell has named a key suspect in last
week's terror attacks in the United States.

After the rally, plainclothes Palestinian policemen questioned several
journalists, including members of foreign news agencies, and confiscated
videotape, film, and other camera equipment. An Associated Press Television
News video was among the materials taken, and an AP photographer was warned
by officials not to publish pictures of the bin Laden poster.

AP protested and demanded the return of the video and other material.

The journalists were told police would review the material before deciding
whether or not to release it.

Palestinian Authority officials refused to comment on the record and did not
respond immediately to AP's protest.

The Palestinian Police said in a statement that the rally in the Nusseirat
refugee camp took place without a permit.

"The Palestinian Police confiscated media material which documented illegal
acts," the statement said.

Earlier last week, Palestinian Police stopped camera teams and photographers
from covering a rally in Nablus in which several thousand Palestinians
celebrated the attacks in the US. Palestinian officials said the
demonstration did not represent widespread Palestinian opinion.

According to one source, the Reuters correspondent in Nablus not only agreed
to the PA demand not to document the rally, but attempted to press his AP
counterpart to follow suit. He was unable to reach him in time. The AP
cameraman later received death threats.