ARCHIVES: Palestinian Territories
There has been a new wave of harassment and violence against journalists in the occupied Palestinian Territories as the political tension between Hamas and Fatah continues to take its toll on the media. In one of the latest cases, Ahmed Fayadh of the Aljazeeranet news website was beaten by police Thursday in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) reported. “The climate is becoming more and more unbearable for the media,” RSF said... MORE
Amer Abu Arfa, a correspondent for the Shihab news agency, has been convicted and imprisoned in connection with his news coverage. The agency, based in the Gaza Strip, is perceived by the Palestinian Authority as being pro-Hamas. Abu Arfa was arrested on May 11 by Palestinian security forces, according to his father, who told Shihab that his son was taken from their home by the Palestinian Intelligence Services for reasons linked to his work as a journalist. The father said he is worried Abu... MORE
Israeli soldiers attacked a group of local photojournalists in the West Bank last week as they were covering demonstrations in the area for three international news agencies, according to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). IFJ has learnt that three photographers were attacked by soldiers on Saturday as they covered a demonstration taking place in Beit Omar, near Hebron. They were Hazem Bader from French news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), Reuters Abdul Rahim Al-Aqusini and... MORE
Three pro-Fatah Palestinian newspapers published in the West Bank have been barred from distribution in the Gaza Strip, and told not to criticise the Hamas government in order to be permitted into the country, according to the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Index on Censorship. MADA has also condemned the use of tear gas and sound bombs by Israeli forces on Palestinian journalists covering protests last week. Al-Hayat... MORE
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on authorities in Gaza to allow three pro-Fatah Palestinian papers published in the West Bank to be allowed entry into the territory. The newspapers say they were told they had to sign an agreement stating they would not criticise the government before they’d be allowed to distribute in Gaza. The West Bank-printed newspapers had been banned since 2008 as part of Israeli sanctions on the Gaza Strip. On July 6, the Israeli authorities... MORE
The deposed government of Hamas movement still bars the circulation of the three major West Bank-based Palestinian dailies in the Gaza Strip for the third day after Israel allowed their entrance into the costal enclave on Wednesday, the dailies' circulation agents said Friday, according to Xinhua. Shukri Shublaq, one of the circulation agents in the Gaza Strip, told Xinhua that officers from the Hamas interior security apparatus barred the agents from receiving the three major newspapers, al-... MORE
The climate continues to be very oppressive for Palestinian journalists, who are still subject to arrests, physical attacks and searches as a result of tension between the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). In one of the latest incidents, Samer Rwayched, a correspondent of Sawt Al-Aqsa (a radio station linked to Hamas), was arrested by Palestinian Authority security forces at his home in the West Bank city... MORE
Palestinian journalist Mustafa Sabri’s home in Qaliqilya, in the north of the West Bank, was raided by members of the security forces as he was about to give an interview on March 9, just hours after he was released from prison on payment of 5,000 Jordanian dinars (5,160 euros) in bail, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The newspaper Filastine’s former bureau chief, Sabri had been detained since January 4. No date has been set for his trial. “Sabri’s release is good news, but... MORE
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to heed a High Court order and release journalist Tariq Abu Zaid immediately. A four-person special military court in Nablus sentenced Abu Zaid, a correspondent who reported on camera for Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV, to 18 months in prison on February 16 on charges of "undermining the status of the authority, and resisting the public policy of the Palestinian Authority," his lawyer, Bassam Karajeh, told New York-... MORE
There has been a tit-for-tat arrests of journalists by Palestinian political rivals Hamas and Fatah of late, each side carrying out an arrest in response to an arrest by the other faction, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The latest victim is Mohammed Eshtawi, the head of pro-Hamas satellite TV station Al-Aqsa’s operations in the West Bank, who was arrested by the Palestinian Authority’s security forces in the West Bank city of Ramallah on December 14. He was previously arrested a... MORE
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