Palestinian Territories

Journalists are being used to an unprecedented degree by the main political factions in the Palestinian Territories. Around 10 have been arrested since the start of the year, acording to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The media is at the centre of the dispute between the Islamist party Hamas, controlling the Gaza Strip and President Mahmoud Abbas’ party, Fatah, in the West Bank. “Relations...

Physical attacks against journalists have been the most common form of press freedom violations in Palestinian areas, according to a recent report. On many occasions, reporters and cameramen have been exposed to teargas and arrested. A report on press freedom in the Palestinian territories between January 1 and September 30 this year by the Palestine Partners Centre for Media Development has found

Hamas has decided to stop dealing with the Palestine Journalists’ Syndicate (PJS) and has gone to the extent saying that it would be dissolving the journalists union, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has reported. Journalists are increasingly under pressure in the region as the rivalry of Hamas and the Fatah faction in Palestinian politics has led to the growing separation of Gaza...

Hamas is planning to enforce a 12-year-old Palestinian press law designed to silence dissident journalists amid a crackdown that has raised fierce protests from the local media. "We are all bound by this 1995 press law, and its articles carry the force of the law," said a statement from what was described as Hamas's "information ministry" in the Gaza Strip, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP)...

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the constant harassment of Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas paramilitary Executive Force. The press freedom organisation is also concerned about the Islamist party’s intention to enforce a press law dating back to 1995 that will enable it to control the media even more closely. “The situation of journalists in the Gaza Strip has got...

Hamas is planning to enforce a 12-year-old Palestinian press law designed to silence dissident journalists amid a crackdown that has raised fierce protests from the local media. "We are all bound by this 1995 press law, and its articles carry the force of the law," said a statement from what was described as Hamas's "information ministry" in the Gaza Strip, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP)...

Palestinian journalists on Sunday announced a series of protests to demand that Hamas and Fatah stop targeting them. The announcement, made during several journalist demonstrations, came after a crackdown on newsmen in both the Fatah-controlled West Bank and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. Embattled Palestinian reporters said such attacks had become the norm in the Palestinian territories. “Both Hamas...

Members of the Hamas Security Force beat up journalists covering a demonstration Friday held by the rival Fatah movement, briefly arresting four of them and confiscating their cameras in a sign of growing intolerance for political opposition, Arabnews.com has reported. The Hamas men fired guns over the heads of the protesters and scuffled with Fatah members, who threw stones and bottles at a...

The partition of the Palestinian Territories resulting from the Islamist party Hamas’ takeover in the Gaza Strip in June has eroded media diversity. Broadcast media that are affiliated to Fatah or support it have stopped operating in Gaza, while pro-Hamas journalists are exposed to threats in the West Bank, controlled by the Palestinian Authority, Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has said....

Hamas militiamen Monday prevented distribution of three Fatah-affiliated newspapers in the Gaza Strip and briefly detained the local agents of the dailies. This is the first time that the newspapers published in the West Bank were prevented from being distributed in the Gaza Strip, according to reports. Palestinian journalists said thousands of copies from the three newspapers were seized by Hamas...