Foreigners leave Gaza after threats over the cartoons
(2 Feb 2006) 1. Erez border checkpoint 2. Border sign 3. Journalists with porters carrying equipment 4. Various of TV crews leaving 5. Various of people driving through gate 6. Foreign cars driving through checkpoint with diplomatic plates 7. Journalist crossing border 8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Sarah de Jong, International News Safety Institute: "It's a bit tense, you get the feeling that people are angry. They don't know what is going on, they don't understand why the French newspaper now took the cartoon from the Danish newspaper so the people are upset. Q. And a lot of foreigners go outside now? A. Not necessarily, we are not too bothered with it, not necessarily people look at us but they don't bother us, no. I mean we are all journalists, they know we are there to do a job." 9. Journalist shakes hands with colleague STORYLINE: Foreign diplomats and journalists began pulling out of the Palestinian areas and two countries closed diplomatic offices on Thursday after masked Palestinian gunmen, incensed by cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in European newspapers, threatened to kidnap foreigners. Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank searched several hotels and apartments for foreigners to kidnap, and militants in Gaza briefly surrounded the local office of the EU Commission. "It's a bit tense, you get the feeling that people are angry," Sarah de Jong, from the International News Safety Institute, said after crossing into Israel at the Erez checkpoint. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the protests came just a week after the Islamic militant Hamas defeated the ruling Fatah Party in parliament elections and prepared to form the next government. In the West Bank and Gaza, there had been some rumblings about the cartoons in recent days, but no large-scale protests. On Monday, gunmen briefly took over the EU Commission's office in Gaza and several shots were fired at the Danish representative office in the West Bank town of Ramallah, which was empty at the time. Earlier this week, protesters also threw stones at the headquarters of an international observer mission in the volatile West Bank city of Hebron. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
