Press Association Says Israel Restricts Free Press

After a number of days of press reports (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/world/middleeast/07media.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink) that Israel was not allowing journalists to enter Gaza– even after the Israeli Supreme Court ruled against this restriction– it seems appropriate to publish the statements of the Israeli Foreign Press Association (FPA). 

On January 6: "The FPA strongly protests the Israeli government's decision to continue the ban on international journalists entering Gaza despite the Supreme Court ruling requiring it to allow access.
The unprecedented denial of access to Gaza for the world's media amounts to a severe violation of press freedom and puts the state of Israel in the company of a handful of regimes around the world which regularly keep journalists from doing their jobs.
We call on the Israeli authorities to lift this ban immediately in line with the decision of their own country's Supreme Court and the basic principles of democratic statehood." -http://www.fpa.org.il/?categoryId=406

According to the FPA, Gaza was also closed for most of November, but was reopened on December 4. 

Foreign press in Israel are expected to register with the government press office and face regular scrutiny and oversight.