Palestinian journalists hold posters of Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana'a, during a demonstration asking the Israeli government to take responsibility for Shana's death, in Gaza City. (Wissam Nassar, Maan Images)

For more than 40 years the Gaza Strip has played a key role in the Arab-Israeli conflict, making it a place of keen interest to journalists.

But for nearly three weeks now, Israel has blocked media access to the 25-mile-long coastal territory in what journalists are calling a "mortal blow against freedom of the press."

On Monday, the Foreign Press Association (FPA) in Israel filed a petition to the Supreme Court asking it to rule on the issue, essentially forcing an overturn of the ban.

"We believe the Israeli government has an obligation to keep the Gaza border open to international journalists," says Steven Gutkin, the FPA Chairman and Jerusalem bureau chief of Associated Press. "The foreign media serve as the world's window into Gaza and it's essential that we be allowed in."

The border has been closed in the past during periods of heightened tensions and violence, but never for more than a few days at a time.

"It's been open throughout very difficult periods, and it's been closed during periods of heavy fighting. But it's been open during more tense periods than this one, and we've received no plausible explanation of why this period is any different," says Mr. Gutkin.

Israeli officials have given no specific reason why it has been closed for such a long period of time, except to indicate that opening the border - the only legal route into Gaza - would endanger the personnel who work at the heavily guarded Erez crossing.

Israel's Supreme Court responded on Tuesday by giving the state 15 days to respond to the FPA demand. But lawyers for the FPA appealed the decision, suggesting that it was an old-fashioned schedule in an age of real-time news.

"We're trying to make it clear to them that 15 days is too long," says Naomi Vestfrid, one of the lawyers on the case.

"We're in the 21st century: news travels in minutes, even seconds. We're trying to tell them that obviously, you didn't understand the urgency in the matter," says Ms. Vestfrid.

Israel has long maintained careful control over the amount of goods and people allowed to come in and out of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, home to about 1.5 million Palestinians living under great economic hardship.

To read the full article please visit The Christian Science Monitor.