MIFTAH
Friday, 29 March. 2024
 
Your Key to Palestine
The Palestinian Initiatives for The Promotoion of Global Dialogue and Democracy
 
 
 


"The policy of the Israeli authorities towards the international media, especially Palestinian journalists, must be condemned for what it is: a massive, deliberate and conscious violation of press freedom and an unprecedented low in the history of Israel. The figures show the brutality of the Israeli army and its discriminatory, even racist attitude towards the Arab media and Palestinian journalists."[1]

Reporters sans Frontiers, 2002-04-18

In May 2002, the West Bank was declared the world's worst place to be a journalist by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), primarily due to the Israel forces' harsh actions to prevent journalists from covering the recent Israeli military incursion in the Occupied Territories.[2] Israeli violations of press freedom have furthermore earned the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon a place on Reporters sans frontiers' (RSF) list of predators of press freedom, a privilege seldom given to leaders of democratic countries.[3] Ariel Sharon is accompanied by the Palestinian Security Forces, and until recently, Shaul Moffaz, the former Israeli army chief of staff, was also listed as a predator of press freedom. Moffaz was removed from the list as his term of office ended in July 2002.

As the above indicates, a large number of press freedom violations are committed in Israel and the Occupied Territories. According to a publication released by the International Press Institute (IPI), at least 220 incidents of press freedom violations took place between September 28, 2000, and April 20, 2002.[4] The vast majority of the press freedom violations during this period were carried out by Israeli authorities. These violations, together with violations committed by Israeli settlers, make up at least 81 percent of the 220 violations. 10 percent of the violations were perpetrated by Palestinians, and for the remaining incidents, the executer is unknown. While most of the perpetrators were of Israeli origin, the majority of the victims were Palestinian journalists. The report shows that 52 Palestinian journalists and other media workers were attacked, 17 were beaten, 29 were shot and eight were shot at.

Eight journalists have so far been killed during the al-Aqsa Intifada. This year alone, three journalists have been killed. The most recent one, the Voice of Palestine journalist Issam Hamza Tillawi, was shot in the back of the head, allegedly by an Israeli sniper, as he was covering a demonstration in Ramallah, the night of 21-22 September.[5] Tillawi was, according to witnesses, wearing a jacket marked "press", and was equipped with a tape recorder, a notebook and a bag. At the time of the shooting, Tillawi was running from the scene. This year's deaths also include the first killing of a foreign media worker during the al-Aqsa Intifada. On March 13, Raffaele Ciriello, an Italian free-lance photographer, was shot six times by Israeli gunfire from a tank in the center of Ramallah.[6] The third journalist killed was the Palestinian photographer Imad Abu Zahra, who was shot in the thigh with no warning as he and a colleague were taking pictures in Jenin, July 11.[7] The shot was fired from an Israeli tank.

Whilst a fairly limited amount of shootings end with death, many journalists have been injured by gunfire, shelling, shrapnel and rubber coated metal bullets. According to the IPI report, 59 journalists were injured by live ammunition, shelling, shrapnel, or rubber coated metal bullets between the outbreak of the al-Aqsa Intifada and end of April, 2002. By 25 September, 2002, the RSF had received 46 cases of journalists wounded by gunfire.[8] For example, on April 20, 2001, the Abu Dhabi TV correspondent Layla Odeh was shot by Israeli forces as she and two colleagues were making a report about house demolitions in the town of Rafah. Initially, two shots were fired in the direction of the journalists, and as they attempted to flee, another shot was fired, hitting Odeh in the back of the thigh.[9] Shooting to intimidate has also frequently occurred, stun grenades have been thrown at media workers, and journalists have, on some occasions, been threatened by Israeli soldiers. In only a few cases have the IIsraeli Authorities carried out serious investigations into the incidents.

Journalists have furthermore been arrested and held in "administrative detention", a measure which allows the Israeli authorities to hold persons for renewable periods of six months without charges, and hence, without trial.[10] Since the reoccupation of Palestinian towns and cities in the end of March, 2002, more than 20 Palestinian journalists have been arrested, some held for a few hours, some for months. Most of them appear to have been blindfolded and handcuffed for several hours, and some have been beaten. There are currently 2 Palestinian journalists held in administrative detention. A third Palestinian who was held in administrative detention, Hussam Abu Alan, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) photographer, was finally freed on 22 October, 2002, after being held by Israeli authorities without charge for nearly six months, the longest period a journalist has been detained.

Confiscation of press cards, I.D.'s, and passports is another problem that a large number of journalists have suffered from. On other occasions, journalists have been forced to hand over material or equipment, such as camera films and tapes. Many Palestinian journalists have moreover been refused renewal of their press cards by the Israeli government press office for "security reasons".[11] Moreover, journalists continually risk having there equipment destroyed, both in the field and at their offices, by Israeli forces. On many occasions as journalists were filming incidents in the occupied territories, the Israeli army would destroy the camera and sound equipment, and compensation for these acts of aggression is seldom provided.

Direct attacks on media offices have also been reported. For instance, on 19 January, 2002, Israeli forces detonated explosives, which they had placed on the upper floor of the building hosting the offices of the radio station Voice of Palestine and Palestine TV. The explosion set the five-story building on fire, and caused half of it to collapse. A month earlier, Israeli forces had fired missiles against the building, and blew up the station's main antenna.[12] Private Palestinian radio and television stations have in other cases been ransacked or occupied by Israeli forces.

Israeli authorities have furthermore sought to restrict media coverage by declaring certain West Bank areas as "closed military zones", making them off-limit for journalists and humanitarian personnel. During the first month of the reoccupation of Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank, Ramallah, Qalqiliya, Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Nablus, Tulkarem, Jenin and Hebron, as well as a number of villages, were declared off-limit by the Israeli army.[13] Reporting and broadcasting from these areas was made virtually impossible as journalists risked arrest or being fired at, to even a larger extent than before. As the CNN and NBC correspondents continued to broadcast from the areas, they received written complaints from the Israeli Government Press Office, threatening to take legal action against the stations for violating Israeli law.[14] In response to the closing of certain areas, the IPI issued a protest letter addressed to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, stating that "Attempting to prevent journalists from witnessing events on the ground is a flagrant act of censorship".[15]

Press freedom groups such as the International Press Institute (IPI), Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF), and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have called on the Israeli Authorities to halt all attacks on journalists and other media workers, and to undertake thorough investigations into all incidents of journalists getting injured or killed since September 2000. However, an index of countries according to their respect for press freedom, published Wednesday, 23 October, 2002, for the first time by Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF)[16] ranked Israel in 92nd place in the Press Freedom Index. The report states, "since the start of the Israeli army's incursions into Palestinian towns and cities in March 2002, very many journalists have been roughed up, threatened, arrested, banned from moving around, targeted by gunfire, wounded or injured, had their press cards withdrawn or been deported."[17] This shows that Israel has been ambivalent towards the appeals and criticisms of press freedom groups.



[1] Reporters sans frontiers, "The grim toll of attacks on press freedom: Three weeks of Israeli occupation of Palestinian towns", www. rsf.org
[2] Committee to Protect Journalists, "CPJ Names World's Worst Places To Be A Journalist", www.cpj.org
[3] Reporters sans frontiers, "Predators of Press Freedom, www.rsf.org
[4] International Press Institute, "Press Freedom Violations in Israel and Occupied Palestinian Areas: September 28, 2000 - April 20, 2002", www.freemedia.at
[5] Reporters sans frontiers, " Palestinian journalist shot dead in Ramallah: Reporters Without Borders demands Israeli army stops attacking Palestinian journalists", www.rsf.org
[6] Committee to Protect Journalists, "Attacks Against Journalists in the West Bank and Gaza since September 2000", www.cpj.org
[7] Committee to Protect Journalists, "CPJ calls for investigation of photographer's death", www.cpj.org
[8] Reporters sans frontiers, " Palestinian journalist shot dead in Ramallah: Reporters Without Borders demands Israeli army stops attacking Palestinian journalists", www.rsf.org
[9] Committee to Protect Journalists, "Attacks Against Journalists in the West Bank and Gaza since September 2000", www.cpj.org
[10] Reporters sans frontiers, "Reuters journalist freed : Reporters Without Borders demands release of three others", www.rsf.org
[11] Reporters sans frontiers, "The grim toll of attacks on press freedom: Three weeks of Israeli occupation of Palestinian towns", www. rsf.org
[12] Committee to Protect Journalists, "Attacks Against Journalists in the West Bank and Gaza since September 2000", www.cpj.org
[13] International Press Institute, "Press Freedom Violations in Israel and Occupied Palestinian Areas: September 28, 2000 - April 20, 2002", www.freemedia.at
[14] CBS, "Israel Clamps Down on Foreign Press", www.cbsnews.com
[15] Committee to Protect Journalists, "CPJ protests Israeli press crackdown on West Bank", www.cpj.org
[16] http://www.rsf.fr/content.php3
[17] http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=4116

Sources:

Reporters sans Frontiers
Committee to Protect Journalists
International Press Institute
CBS News

 
 
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