The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Arab journalists’ groups have called for urgent action to protect journalists working in the Gaza area of Palestine where they say threats from political extremists and recent violence against media have created a “climate of intolerable intimidation.”
“Free reporting and professional journalism has become all but impossible in Gaza as extremists are targeting reporters and media outlets,” warned Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary in Algeria today at a meeting of leaders of IFJ affiliates and journalists groups from ten Middle Eastern countries. The meeting called on the Palestinian government and Hamas leaders to take action to provide protection to journalists and to crackdown on extremists who are targeting journalists.
On Tuesday hundreds of Palestinian journalists protested a bombing the day earlier of the Gaza office of Al-Arabiya television. They called on the Hamas-led government and President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah to press the security sources to find the culprits. Palestinian journalists from various media outlets also held a day-long news blackout on Tuesday to protest over the attack.
An armed group called Suyuf Al-Haq Al-Islamiya, which means 'The Islamic Swords of Right Group', has claimed responsibility for the attack on Al-Arabiya. The group said in a statement that the explosion was part of its campaign "Al-Ard Al-Baida", that means 'The White Land'. It said that the campaign has been launched to make "the land of Rabat pure from infidelity and corruption". 'The land of Rabat' is an Islamic term referring to the region surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, the land of historic Palestine.
The statement accused Al-Arabiya of lying, hypocrisy and infidelity over several months. The group accused the channel of being the voice of the Jewish state and not an Arabic channel. It said, "The perpetrators of this explosion send a message to the channel and other channels that put themselves in the service of Zionism whose main concern is to fight Islam and Muslims."
This group has also claimed responsibility for the bombing of several Internet cafes and stores selling popular music cassettes in the Gaza Strip, and also for threatening women who wear Western clothes and do not wear veils over their faces in the Gaza Strip.
A bomb exploded around 9 pm Monday outside the entrance to Al-Arabiya’s office in the Al-Shurouq towers building, which houses several other local and foreign media outlets in central Gaza City. Other media offices were damaged in the attack, according to news reports.
“Palestinian journalists, and those in Gaza in particular, are now targeted by groups with links to Hamas and others,” said White. “They are in a political trap, with the government or other groups trying to intimidate and attack them if they attempt anything approaching critical or independent journalism. Gaza is becoming as deadly an area as the suburbs of Baghdad.”
“Journalists in Gaza and the West Bank are becoming victims of a worsening climate of violence and intimidation,” Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director Joel Simon said. “The ability of the press to report on this critically important story is at stake, and it is up to Palestinian authorities to put an end to the cycle of impunity for those who target journalists.”
"This attack highlights the climate of violence in which journalists are working in the Palestinian territories," Reporters sans Frontières (RSF)said. "We reiterate our call to the Palestinian Authority to thoroughly investigate such attacks. It is also essential that measures are taken to protect the journalists and news media that are threatened." RSF added: "In the current political tension, we urge the country's authorities not to refer to journalists as 'enemies' any more. When senior officials, especially the prime minister, stigmatise the work of journalists, this kind of attack is to be feared."
The bombing, an IFJ release said, was apparently in response to a tape the Dubai-based satellite channel played on the air. On the tape Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said that "even if Allah gave us orders, we would never make concessions" to the Israelis. Hamas alleged his words were taken out of context and it threatened legal action.
Haniyeh’s aides protested the coverage and threatened to close the station, saying the comment was taken out of context, online Palestinian news agency Ma’an reported. They said Haniyeh was merely informing his advisers of a statement made by Azzam al-Ahmad, head of Fatah’s parliamentary bloc, during a televised discussion with Ahmed Yousef, Haniyeh’s political advisor, on Al-Manar TV, the satellite news channel affiliated with the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah, Ma’an reported. Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad said the party deplored the attack on Al-Arabiya and offered protection to the station’s offices, according to Ma’an.
IFJ urged the Palestinian government to bring those responsible for the Al Arabiya bombing to justice and to make it clear that it will protect journalists even when their reporting is critical of the government or any political groups in the country.
Al Arabiya’s local manager, an IFJ report said, accused the Palestinian government of failing to prevent the attack. She said the company had told the government about threats made against its staff. “We hold the Palestinian government responsible for what happened because it had been informed of the threats against Al-Arabiya team members and correspondents,” said Reham Abdel-Karim, Gaza director of the satellite channel, Reuters reported.
Although Hamas has said it was not involved in the attack or the telephone threats and Hamas and the rival al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, part of Fatah, condemned the bombing, the journalists remain convinced that political extremists from within the bubbling political confrontation in the region are responsible for this and other actions against media.
