ARCHIVES: Palestinian Territories
The West Bank-based Palestinian Authorities have detained since Monday even as the Hamas-led government in Gaza continued harassing journalists, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has reported. Mohamed Eshtewi, Al-Aqsa television bureau chief in the West Bank, was arrested on Monday near a supermarket in the city of Tulkarem following two days of intermittent police interrogation, his wife and brother told CPJ. "Over the past years, he has been arrested nearly 40 times,”... MORE
The Hamas interior ministry has decided to deny Palestinian and foreign journalists access to the southern city of Rafah and to all hospitals in the Gaza Strip until further notice. The ban was issued on August 14, after fighting broke out in Rafah between the Hamas government and a radical Islamist group. "The Hamas-led government's interior ministry has again demonstrated a desire to control news and information in the Gaza Strip," Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) said. "Only the presence of... MORE
The Palestinian Authority has suspended the operations of Al-Jazeera in the West Bank after the satellite channel aired a controversial interview on Tuesday. The suspension, according to a Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information statement, came on Wednesday and will remain in place until "the judiciary issues a ruling on the subject." The Ministry of Information's actions came a day after Al-Jazeera broadcast its talk show "Behind the News" from Doha, Qatar, to discuss accusations made... MORE
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Hamas government in the Gaza strip to release Palestinian journalists who have been arbitrarily detained by their respective security forces. "We condemn this latest crackdown against journalists in Palestine," said Paco Audije, IFJ Deputy General Secretary. "Our colleagues must not be pawns in the war between the two rival Palestinian organisations." According to reports, security... MORE
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has released two journalists in the West Bank on Monday, but yet another remains in custody, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). The PA's Preventive Security Service freed Samer Khuaira, the Nablus correspondent for the London-based al-Quds TV station. Khuaira was arrested on January 24 after being summoned to the service's Nablus offices. He said that he and al-Quds TV were accused of having a bias toward Hamas, which he denied. Khuaira told... MORE
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the "unjustified" detention of journalists by the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security Services. The latest case of this media repression concerns Isam Al Remawi, a cameraman with the Palestine News and Information Agency (WAFA), who was arrested January 26 and finally released on February 10. "We condemn these arbitrary arrests and detentions of journalists. They are unjustified and have become routine in the West Bank,"... MORE
A journalist from the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiyya has been expelled from the Gaza Strip to Egypt, allegedly because of his coverage of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, and its aftermath, Media Line website has reported. Police belonging to the Interior Ministry in the Hamas’ Gaza-based deposed government ordered Al-Arabiyya correspondent, Wa'il Issam, to leave the Gaza Strip immediately. Issam said plainclothes police forces turned up at his office in Gaza and told him to gather... MORE
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has denied claims from political leaders in Gaza that it was biased in its claims of Hamas interference and intimidation of journalists. In a statement issued on January 25, Hamas accused IFJ of "baseless statements" and "unacceptable partiality" following its comments after a two-day mission of international journalists' leaders to Gaza last week. "Hamas is completely wrong to say that we do not criticise all sides in this conflict," said Aidan... MORE
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has detained at least three journalists in the West Bank since Saturday, according to local news reports and journalists who spoke to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). On Monday, security forces detained Ahmad Dikkawi, correspondent for the London-based al-Quds TV station in Jenin. They also detained Samer Khuaira, the Nablus correspondent for the same station, on Saturday, news reports said. Issam al-Rimawi, a cameraman with the PA-... MORE
Hamas security forces have freed three Palestinian journalists who they had arrested last month and accused of fabricating news critical of the Islamist group, agency Reuters has reported. The journalists, freed on December 3, worked in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip for the Palestine Press, a local news agency with ties to the group's main rival, President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction. The Reuters report also said: [ Link ] A Hamas internal security official said the three men were released... MORE
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